Equity in Protected Area (PA) Conservation. Lessons

from Bwindi Impenetrable National Park-UgandaExpert Workshop on Equity, Justice and Well-being in Ecosystem Governance

March 26-27, 2015 IIED, 80-86 Gray’s Inn Road, London

Medard Twinamatsiko -Social Research Leader

Institute of Tropical Forest Conservation (ITFC)-Mbarara University

of Science and Technology (MUST)

www.itfc.org

A brief history…1989 ILO on rights of indigenous people

1992 – Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) article 8(j) and 19(2)-fair and equitable

distribution of benefits

1998 Aarhus convention on environmental procedural rights

2000+ – Millennium Development Goals “Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger”

“Ensure environmental sustainability”

2003 – IUCN World Parks Congress

“protected areas should strive to contribute to poverty reduction at the local level, and at

the very minimum must not contribute to or exacerbate poverty”

2004-CBD programme on work of PAs on equitable sharing of costs and benefits

2010 – UN General Assembly

“Preserving biodiversity is inseparable from the fight against poverty”

2011-2020 Strategic Plan for the CBD

Bwindi Impenetrable National Park

Was gazetted as a:

• Forest Reserve 1942

• Game Reserve 1961

• National Park 1991

The forest covers 330.8 km2

A home of about 400 gorillas- half

the world’s population of mountain

gorillas (CR)

Border is densely populated, 350

people per km2

>95% rely on subsistence farming

Conflict between Park and people-

inequitable distribution of benefits

What are the key costs conservation at Bwindi

and other PAs?

Costs

1. Historical costs of no access..

• Loss of a ‘home’ and identity (Batwa)

• Loss of livelihoods (especially socio-economic aspect)

• Loss of rights -no resettlement and no compensation• Loss of rights -no resettlement and no compensation

2. Emerging costs after gazettement

• Limited alternative livelihoods (350 people per sqkm)

• Crop raiding-triggers Human Wildlife Conflicts (HWC)

• Inequitable distribution of benefits e.g. Revenue sharing, jobs

• Governance deficits (Procedural and recognition)

• Tourism social impacts

Conservation benefits

High investments with many ICDs, e.g.

Revenue Sharing, the Multiple Use

Program (MUP), Tourism development,

the Trust, NGOs, research…

… The mountain gorilla population is

increasing hence more revenue generation

(20000 visitors in 2013)..(20000 visitors in 2013)..

… But the greatest threat

remains poaching, which

still continues…why?

Poaching dilemma for PA managers

Increase law enforcementImprove Integrated

Conservation and Development

policy- practice

Less unauthorised activity? ?

Win-Win situation: Does this enable equity in PAs in terms of;

• Benefits distribution to and governance and by local communities?

• Conservation of the PAs?

Reduced threats to Bwindi and gorillas

Dilemma in achieving equity at Bwindi

Property rights

Contradictory laws and legislations

PA ‘owners’

PA managers

Customary

Conventional

Bye-laws/ordinances

Conservation costs Vs benefits

Illegal resource access

Targeting the right people

Making a trade-off

Distributive equity

Who?

Why?

Theory and practice! Decision making

Definition of

equity

Procedural context

Property rights and Legislations

Property rights Access Benefit

1. Who has the rights? (formal and customary, rights Vs privileges,

substantive Vs procedural)

2. Who can access resources and who determines access?

3. Who benefits and how does the community define benefits?

• Batwa ancestral rights as forest people (Kabananukye & Wily,

1996; Kidds, 2008)

• Rights of access and use -EX-pit sawyers and miners (R2P, 2013)

• Agrarian rights (Ribot and Peluso, 2003)

International national customary laws

• Theory and application

Conservation costs Vs benefits

Villagers within 0.5km of the

national park boundary were

significantly poorer than

villagers living beyond 0.5km

• Frontline villagers are therefore the poorer members

of local communities neighbouring Bwindi

• They are also more likely to suffer from crop raiding

• Likely to receive fewer benefits and less involvement

compared to other villagers

Resource users

at Bwindi and

frontier villagers

Illegal resource access-Who and

why?Compared to ARUs and the baseline sample, URUs:

• are poorer,

• live closer to the Park boundary,

• are more likely to live further from trading centres

Both ARUs and URUs have larger family sizes.

ARU Baseline URU

Ba

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0.0

0.2

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ARU Baseline URU

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ARU Baseline URU

Dis

tan

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m P

ark

bou

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(km

)

0.0

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0.8

1.2

ARU Baseline URU

Dis

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(km

)

0.0

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ARU Baseline URU

Pro

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ARU Baseline URU

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ARU Baseline URU

Ho

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46

8

ARU Baseline URU

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8

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Bush meat hunting- for

food, medicine, culture

and social capital. Mostly

driven by poverty....

Firewood: Due to

land scarcity, no

Which resources and why?

Bushmeat Firewood Medicine Honey Poles

Pro

po

rtio

n o

f p

05

1

Bushmeat Firewood Medicine Honey Poles

Pro

po

rtio

n o

f p

05

1 land scarcity, no

alternative fuel for

subsistence needs

Medicine-Beliefs in

traditional

medicinal plants

compared to

conventional

Honey for eating,

sale and medicine

but also important

in Batwa culture

Poles: Scarcity of

building materials

in community. They

also support

farming

Our Aim Our Findings

Who?

What?

Poor and remote

• Close to Park boundary

• Far from markets and other vital social services

Important resources scarce or unavailable outside the Park

• Meat

• Firewood

Why?

• Firewood

1) Poverty - subsistence and minor income

2) Resentment – personal compensation for conservation

costs (crop raiding) and inequitable benefit sharing

Full report: http://pubs.iied.org/14630IIED

How then

do people

influence

choice and

distribution distribution

of Revenue

Sharing

benefits?(Community Based

Monitoring -RS

beneficiaries n=184, 12

villages)

Knowledge of RS guidelines

Policy statement -RS guidelines are availed to everyone and all RS projects will be

officially launched prior to implementation to give them visibility and to raise

awareness about them

Attendance of meetings

Policy statement -People should be made aware of RS guidelines before

benefit and to be followed during implementation

Grass root consultations and

involvement

Policy statement –The communities will meet every July of the year to

identify community needs and priorities and identify potential projects for

funding

Allocation of money to HWC

Policy statement - implementation of these guidelines will contribute significantly

towards reduction of human-wildlife conflict and improvement of livelihoods of

households in communities adjacent to wildlife protected areas

Accountability to the local people

Policy statement - Qualitative inquiries and studies like annual beneficiary assessments,

impact assessments…will be commissioned.. and local people will get feedback on project

outcomes

What does equity in PA Conservation mean to stakeholders?

How do we ensure that PAs are equitably

managed to address conservation and

development?

1. Ensure equitable share of costs and benefits of

conservation

Targeting those who bear conservation costs and

bring benefits direct to the people

2. Ensure equitable governance

Ensure there is collaborative (inclusive) decision

making and accountable/transparent systems in

procedural safeguards

Thank you!

CONTACT

Medard Twinamatsiko

Institute of Tropical Forest Conservation-MUST

email: twinamatsikomedard@yahoo.com

skype: medard.twinamatsiko

Phone: +256 751 892 953