Community-based conservation (CBC) is an approach to biodiversity conservation wherein local communities involve themselves in the preservation, protection, restoration and/or management of an area’s biodiversity.
The movement began in the 1980s following mass protests that emerged in response to international biodiversity conservation efforts. This was because classical biodiversity conservation did not take into consideration the needs and rights of indigenous and local communities.
Decolonizing Conservation : The Yellowstone Tragedy
The early conservation movement was primarily rooted in western ideologies. Its development in policies and mindsets may be traced back to its subsidization in America since the European settlement. These ideologies presented the belief that nature is separate from culture.
As traditional conservation adhered to a top-down approach, governments and private institutions gained ownership of local territories with a consequent disregard for communities that reside there.
This was the case in 1872 during the establishment of Yellowstone National Park, where an estimated total of 20 million people were displaced from their own land by European settlers in order to ‘preserve the natural wilderness’.
Most conservation projects continued to be implemented using this strategy until the 1970s when indigenous people started demanding their rights to autonomy and land ownership. Thus emerged the concept of community-based conservation.
CBC’s Principles and Values: The Biocultural Approach
What separates community-based conservation from its traditional counterpart lies in its recognition of the interconnection between culture and nature.
The IUCN describes this biocultural approach as the co-evolution of two ways of diversity because cultural diversity is driven by biodiversity and biodiversity is influenced by human cultural practices.
Community conservation is a bottom-up, rights-based approach where community agency, access and autonomy in decision making are prioritized whilst recognizing and responding to the injustices occurring towards them (land grabs, territorial enclosures etc.).
Moreover, CBC focuses on promoting equity in the distribution of benefits and recognizing the role and efforts of women in conservation. The aim is to create multi-levelled inter-cultural relationships formed glocally to combat biodiversity loss worldwide.
CBC Model
Since its conception, community conservation has been developed in a number of countries around the world. The strategies and practices adopted to integrate communities in conservation management therefore differ based on a variety of factors and vary from region to region. Ecosystem type, socio-economic background, government involvement, cultural and religious beliefs play a vital role in determining success.
Objectives, interventions and intended outcomes for CBC can be seen in the conceptual model below.
A Pioneer Project: Community Baboon Sanctuary
An example of successful community-based conservation is the community baboon sanctuary (CBS) in Belize. CBS was a pioneering experimental project in the conservation of private lands. Its conservation area centered on the riparian forests along Belize river, which contained the largest population of black howler monkeys in Central America.
The sanctuary was created in 1985 by Dr Rob Horwich and community leader Fallet Young to protect the habitat of black howler monkeys through addressing the local communities’ need for alternative livelihoods and land management.
After identifying the conservation area and contacting local community members, the researchers formalized a conservation strategy which involved educational awareness programs, locally controlled eco-tourism, and contacting local government for support. Additionally, a sanctuary development plan was devised which involved property and vegetation mapping, howler censusing, preparation of land management as well as landowner engagement.
3 years into the project, over 120 landowners signed voluntary pledges to manage their lands for black howler monkey protection. Due to these conservation efforts, the species population increased from 800 in 1985 to 3,500 in 2017.
Now run by a local Women’s Conservation Group, the sanctuary is still generating revenue through tourism and other small businesses.
The Role of ICCAs in Conservation
Territories and areas that are conserved by indigenous people and communities are known as Indigenous and Community Conserved Areas (ICCAs).
ICCAs have three main characteristics –
- A strong relationship between indigenous communities and their territorial area/s. In many cases, the communities’ socio-cultural identity, history, health, and well-being are intertwined with their place of residence.
- Indigenous and local people are major stakeholders in decision-making processes and implementation with regards to environmental protection and management.
- Community efforts and management has led to an overall positive effect on the conservation of nature.
The IUCN and CBD (Convention on Biological Diversity) have formally recognized ICCAs as key factors in nature conservation.
Approximately 20% of ICCAs have already been designated as ‘Protected Areas’, making up 40% of global PAs. These numbers are increasing, with countries like Canada developing indigenous led PAs, some of which are as large as 109,000 sq km.
ICCAs are the forefront of community conservation as they allow formal involvement of communities as stewards and prevent the large-scale exploitation of culturally and ecologically valuable regions.
Potential Drawbacks
Although CBC is a cost-effective, long term and efficient method of biodiversity conservation, research on long-term projects have discovered factors that could hinder the effectiveness of CBC projects –
1. Poverty
There is a disconnection between conservation initiatives and economically underdeveloped communities. While the need for conservation can be well understood by local people, the effects of severe poverty compels an individual to focus on the immediate issues of food and shelter rather than saving forests or endangered species.
CBC projects in Madagascar have found this to be a potential setback since poorer households comprises the vast majority of inhabitants, whose lack of support could be detrimental to conservation efforts. Development support activities employed as part of these programs were found to be not effective in alleviating poverty, disease burden or public health.
Though these issues indirectly impact biodiversity loss, community conservation projects have found it difficult to effectively address and mitigate them.
2. Ecological Outcomes vs Social Outcomes
Community based conservation projects have produced contrasting results in socio-economic benefits to local communities. While CBC interventions in Africa resulted in largely positive ecological outcomes, they were seen to produce overall negative or mixed social outcomes. The negative social outcomes were mainly related to unequal distribution of benefits and reduced social capital.
3. Devolution of rights
Devolution of local community rights is a hallmark feature of CBC. Unfortunately, its implementation has not been as prevalent in the field. In 1997, the national government of Malawi constituted the Forest Policy Act to devolve authority rights of forest management to local village forest committees. However, very few of the forest committees were allowed to exercise their rights as it had to be approved by the national-level minister.
The devolution of community rights is crucial to create a stronger local structure, promote leadership and deeper engagement amongst communities members.
Moving Towards A Collaborative Approach
Conservation through the aid of local communities is only a partial solution to the problem. To address the current limitations, multi-levelled management and greater collaboration between local community members, NGOs, governments, and international bodies is crucial. This will allow stakeholders to effectively deal with multiple objectives through multiple knowledge systems and practices.
Thus, Community-based conservation should be viewed as a pluralistic approach – One that starts from the ground-up and links with various levels of organisation.
Nevertheless, the future of our endangered flora and fauna lies in the hands of the communities that have evolved with them. It is our duty of care to protect the rights of these communities in order to protect the ecosystems they are a part of.
Help us Help Them! Think Wildlife Foundation is a non profit organization with various conservation initiatives. Our most prominent campaign is our Caring for Pari intiative. Pari is a rehabilitated elephant at the Wildlife SoS Hospital. 25% of the profits from our store are donated to the elephant hospital for Pari. Other than buying our wonderful merchandise, you could donate directly to our Caring For Pari fundraiser.
Written by: Namita Nalamala