Many protected areas (PAs) have followed the conventional and exclusionary approach applied at Yellowstone in 1872. As such, many parks have failed to fully integrate other important factors, such as social, cultural, and political issues. In some cases, this has triggered adverse social impacts on local communities, disrupting their traditional ways of living and limiting their control of and access to natural resources. Such an outcome can undermine protection policies through conflicts between park managers and local communities. The success of conservation strategies through protected areas may lie in the ability of managers to reconcile biodiversity conservation goals with social and economic issues and to promote greater compliance of local communities with PA conservation strategies. However, there are very few quantitative studies identifying what the key factors are that lead to better compliance with PA conservation policies. To address this issue, we conducted a meta-analysis of 55 published case studies from developing countries to determine whether the level of compliance of local communities with PA regulations was related to: (1) PA age, (2) PA area, (3) the existence of a buffer zone, (4) the level of protection as defined by IUCN categories, (5) gross domestic product per capita, (6) population density in the vicinity of PAs, and (7) the level of local community participation in PA management. We found that local community participation in the PA decision-making process was the only variable that was significantly related to the level of compliance with PA polices. In general, the higher the level of participation, the higher the level of compliance. This has important implications for PA management and suggests that greater inclusion of local communities in management should be a key strategy for ensuring the integrity of PAs.

/pdf/protected-areas-and-local-communities-an-inevitable-6e886t8p76.pdf

Protected Areas and Local Communities: an Inevitable Partnership toward Successful Conservation Strategies?

1. Questionnaires, or social surveys, are used increasingly as a means of collecting data in ecology. We present a critical review of their use and give recommendations for good practice.

2. We searched for papers in which questionnaires were used in 57 ecological academic journals, published over the period 1991–2003 inclusive. This provided a total sample size of 168 questionnaires from 127 papers published in 22 academic journals.

3. Most questionnaires were carried out in North America and western Europe, and addressed species-level issues, principally focusing on mammals. The majority were concerned with impacts of species and/or their conservation, and just under half with human–wildlife interactions.

4. Postal survey was the method used most frequently to carry out the questionnaires, followed by in-person interviews. Some questionnaires were conducted by telephone, and none was web-based.

5. Most questionnaires were concerned with obtaining factual information or perceptions of facts. Ground-truthing (independent verification of the facts) was carried out in less than 10% of questionnaires.

6. The mean (± SE) sample size (number of respondents) per questionnaire was 1422 ± 261 and the average (± SE) response rate was 63 ± 3%. These figures varied widely depending on the methods used to conduct the questionnaire.

7. The analysis of data was mostly descriptive. Simple univariate methods were the most frequently used statistical tools, and data from a third of questionnaires were not subjected to any analysis beyond simple descriptions of the results.

8. Synthesis and applications. We provide recommendations for best practice in the future use of questionnaires in ecology, as follows: (i) the definition of the target population, any hypotheses to be tested and procedures for the selection of participants should be clearly documented; (ii) questionnaires should be piloted prior to their use; (iii) the sample size should be sufficient for the statistical analysis; (iv) the rationale for the choice of survey method should be clearly stated; (v) the number of non-respondents should be minimized; (vi) the question and answer format should be kept as simple as possible; (vii) the structure of the questionnaire and the data emerging from it should be unambiguously shown in any publication; (viii) bias arising from non-response should be quantified; (ix) the accuracy of data should be assessed by ground-truthing where relevant; (x) the analysis of potentially interrelated data should be done by means of modelling. Researchers should also consider whether alternative, interpretative methods, such as in-depth interviews or participatory approaches, may be more appropriate, for example where the focus is on elucidating motivations or perceptions rather than testing factual hypotheses.

https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1365-2664.2005.01032.x

REVIEW: Questionnaires in ecology: a review of past use and recommendations for best practice

Attitudinal studies are increasingly being adopted as tools for evaluating public understanding, acceptance and the impact of conservation interventions. The findings of these studies have been useful in guiding the policy interventions. Many factors affect conservation attitudes positively or negatively. The factors inspiring positive attitudes are likely to enhance the conservation objectives while those inducing negative attitudes may detrimentally undermine these objectives. The magnitude of the resultant effects of each particular factor is determined by the historical, political, ecological, socio-cultural and economic conditions and this may call for different management interventions. In this study we examined how conservation attitudes in western Serengeti are shaped by the following factors: level of conflicts with protected areas; wildlife imposed constraints (inadequate pasture, water, diseases, loss of livestock during migration, theft and depredation); participation in the community based project; and socio-demographic factors (age, education level, wealth, immigration, gender and household size). The results indicated that the level of conflicts, participation in the community based project, inadequate pasture, lack of water, diseases, wealth and education were important in shaping peoples’ attitudes. However, in a stepwise linear regression analysis, 59% of the variation in peoples’ attitudes was explained by three variables i.e., conflict level with protected areas, lack of water and participation in the community based project. In addition to these variables, level of education also contributed in explaining 51% of the variation in people’s attitude regarding the status of the game reserves. Five variables (lack of water, level of education, inadequate pasture, participation in the community based project and diseases) explained 12% of the variation in people’s attitude towards Serengeti National Park. The paper discusses the implications for conservation of these results and recommends some measures to realise effective conservation of wildlife resources.

Factors influencing conservation attitudes of local people in western Serengeti Tanzania

Throughout much of the tropics, human-wildlife conflict impedes local support for national parks. By channelling tourism revenue to local residents, conservationists hope to offset wildlife costs and improve local attitudes toward conservation. To date tourism revenue-sharing (TRS) programmes have met mixed success. Local conditions and national policies that shape the success of TRS programmes were identified by comparing the experiences of both implementers and beneficiaries of pilot TRS programmes at three parks in western Uganda. Between 1995 and 1998, communities around these parks used a total of US $83 000 of tourism revenue to build 21 schools, four clinics, one bridge, and one road. In 1996, the Ugandan parliament passed legislation that changed both the amount of money available for TRS and the institutions responsible for sharing the money. The programme was suspended at all three parks while the implementing agency (Uganda Wildlife Authority) struggled to design a programme that complied with the new legislation. TRS funds collected before 1996 were shared through 1998, but since then no revenue has been shared. However, a revised TRS programme is expected to resume in 2001. In semi-structured interviews, both implementers and beneficiaries evaluated local TRS programmes and compared them to other benefit-sharing projects, particularly those promoting sustainable use of non-timber products within park boundaries (n = 44). Both groups of respondents listed revenue-sharing as the most important advantage of living next to a national park. Seventy-two per cent of respondents indicated that they thought TRS had improved attitudes towards the protected areas, and 53% thought TRS was more important then sustainable use of non-timber forest products. Although respondents were generally positive about TRS, in informal discussions respondents repeatedly mentioned four potential obstacles to TRS success, namely poorly defined TRS policies and unsteady implementing institutions, corruption, inadequate funds, and numerous stakeholders with differing priorities. From this survey and literature from experiences in other African countries, there are four key components of successful revenue-sharing programmes: long-term institutional support, appropriate identification of the target community and project type, transparency and accountability, and adequate funding. With firm institutional support and realistic expectations, TRS can play an important role in improving local attitudes towards conservation.

https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0376892901000145

Tourism revenue-sharing around national parks in Western Uganda: early efforts to identify and reward local communities

SUMMARY Conflict between wildlife and people can erode local support for conservation. Wildlife-based benefits are intended to offset costs and encourage tolerance or stewardship, but where the linkage between benefits and wildlife is not understood, benefits may be ineffective at bolstering conservation. In Laikipia, Kenya, wildlife and areas devoted to wildlife are on the increase, but most residents still suffer losses to wildlife and derive minimal benefits. The elephant situation is particularly problematic because elephants may compete with livestock for resources, raid people’s crops, and chase and kill livestock and people. Although most unprotected elephant range in East Africa is in semi-arid rangelands occupied by pastoralists, previous research has emphasized agricultural, not pastoral or agri-pastoral conflicts. Between 1999 and 2002, interviews were conducted in Laikipia District to examine whether pastoralists also experience conflict, and to determine whether

Conservation outside of parks: attitudes of local people in Laikipia, Kenya

In recent years there has been a proliferation of projects aiming to integrate human development needs with conservation objectives, and to establish mutually beneficial relationships for the management of natural resources between rural communities and the state. This paper presents data from a case study of human-wildlife interactions in villages along the northern boundary of the Selous Game Reserve in south-east Tanzania. Since 1989, this area has been the site of a project working to promote community wildlife management (CWM). Questionnaire survey data were used to examine villagers' conservation attitudes towards wildlife, the Game Reserve, and the activities of the CWM project and state wildlife management authority. Despite local support for the conservation of wildlife, many respondents were either unaware or held negative views of the activities of the wildlife management institutions. Logistic regression analyses show that while access to game meat from the CWM project has had a positive influence on perceptions of wildlife benefits and awareness of the project's activities, it has had no significant effect on local perceptions of the Game Reserve and the activities of the state wildlife management authority. The factors underlying the observed pattern of conservation attitudes were identified as the inequitable distribution of benefits from the CWM project, and the limited nature of community participation in wildlife management. The importance of institutional issues for the future progress of participatory approaches to conservation with development is emphasized.

https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0376892999000302

The impact of wildlife-related benefits on the conservation attitudes of local people around the Selous Game Reserve, Tanzania

This paper presents an analysis of perceived patterns of wildlife crop-damage in relation to an on-farm assessment of damage in an area bordering the Selous Game Reserve (SGR) in south-eastern Tanzania. Data from an attitudinal questionnaire survey of 202 households in four villages are used to examine local perceptions of wildlife crop-damage in terms of relative impact and which wildlife species were responsible. We explore the influence of wildlife crop-damage on attitudes to the adjacent game reserve. Data on the frequency of crop-damage events and estimated severity of impacts, recorded during a 6-month programme of crop-damage monitoring in one of the survey villages, are used to describe on-farm patterns of crop-damage. Comparison of the two data sets indicates a disjunction between the nature of the wildlife crop-damage conflict as perceived by local villagers, and as it actually occurs in the study area. This disjunction is discussed in relation to the effect of extreme damage events on local people's views, the opportunity costs involved in guarding farm plots against crop-damage, and the tenure arrangements for wildlife that define the relationship with the state wildlife management authority.

/pdf/people-and-protected-areas-a-study-of-local-perceptions-of-4blaqe8h5u.pdf

Sarah Gillingham

Papers

The impact of wildlife-related benefits on the conservation attitudes of local people around the Selous Game Reserve, Tanzania

People and protected areas: a study of local perceptions of wildlife crop-damage conflict in an area bordering the Selous Game Reserve, Tanzania