Integrated conservation and development: an overview

Phnom Penh, Cambodia

19th November 2007

Conservation methods

• National Parks and other forms of protected area (“fortress conservation”) were the standard approach for conserving biodiversity worldwide

• However, in developing countries the benefits of conservation through preservation accrue mainly to the national and global economy the while the costs are often borne by local communities

• Hence, attempting to integrate conservation and development has become a popular means of reducing the “trade-offs” felt by communities in terms of loss of access to resources

Local people and conservation

• Integration of local people into conservation has been a major feature of conservation policy over the past twenty years but is not without controversy

• However, even many conservation professionals agree that local people should capture some of the benefits of biodiversity conservation

• Need to avoid human rights issues conservation NGO’s are often accused of

The “marriage” of conservation and development

• Sealed at Earth Summit in Rio (1992)• The term “Integrated Conservation and

Development Projects” (ICDPs) was mainstreamed (Brandon and Wells, 1992)

• Very rapidly, ICDPs became the standard management approach for international NGO’s and development agencies, fueled by an influx of funding

ICDPs use three main approaches:

• Compensation: development (schools, clinics, roads) in some form or another for benefits forgone when protected areas are established

• Alternatives: Reducing pressure on the environment through agricultural intensification or livelihood alternatives

• Enhancement: Increasing the value of the natural area itself through developing previously unexplored markets or through ecotourism

However, Guha (1997) describes community development initiatives as “bribes” to local people to mitigate the effects of conservation and by Ferraro (2001) as “conservation by distraction”

However, early assessments of ICDPs began to realize that:

• The direct impact of development projects (agricultural schemes, schools, clinics, roads etc) as compensation in terms of conservation is “obscure” (Wells et al., 1992)

• There are often major trade offs: “conservation projects with development” vs “development projects with conservation” (Redford and Sanderson, 1992) often not acknowledged

• Rural development (certain agricultural schemes, roads) can actually impact negatively on conservation efforts (Oates, 1997)

More recent reviews (e.g. Christenson, 2004: “Win-win

illusions”) have suggested that ICDPs have not achieved the

success initially predicted

• have been based on naïve assumptions• have unconvincing notions of local

participation• have often targeted the wrong threats• have unrealistic notions of financial

sustainability• don’t generate enough benefits to provide

local incentives for conservation• are implemented by the “wrong people”

According to many critics: ICDP’s…

Other implementation problems of conservation projects?

• More resources spent on conservation planning than implementation

• Lack of critical review (donor reports etc)• Gap between conservation biologists and field

and practitioners• Governance issues and elite capture rarely

addressed• Lack of interdisciplinarity in implementation• Poor on-site collaboration between NGO’s• Community development attracts migration

In summary:• Clearly biodiversity simply cannot be conserved if

people’s needs and aspirations are not taken into account

• Creation of protected areas while controlling unregulated resource extraction can create conflict with local communities which often leads to conservation objectives being compromised: “non-compliance” is the norm

• Arresting biodiversity loss is a challenge due to the dependence of a significant number of people on rural resources

• There is no doubt that poverty alleviation through development and biodiversity conservation must work hand-in-hand but there are trade offs that need to be recognized

So what is the answer?

Core challenge for sustainable livelihoods and biodiversity conservation

Livelihood improvement

Biodiversity conservation

Combining