Community conservation in belize: Demography, resource use, and attitudes of participating landowners

Abstract

Surveys of local population resource use and attitudes are essential to the success of tropical conservation projects aiming to promote sustainable development. The following is a report from a survey of landowners participating in a voluntary conservation program for the black howler monkey Alouatta pigra known as the Community Baboon Sanctuary (CBS) in Belize, Central America. Interviews revealed a variety of issues requiring consideration by CBS managers: continued urban flight may jeopardize community stability; hunting and agricultural production methods will require management to lessen impact on wildlife resources and habitat; protection of the black howler monkey is enthusiastically supported for a variety of non-economic reasons; a majority of respondents feel they have benefited from participation in the CBS, but showed diminished confidence in deriving direct economic benefit from increased tourism to the CBS when compared to benefits from tourism at local or national levels. The continued success of the CBS will depend on locally-driven sustainable resource use and agricultural development in addition to well-planned tourism development in order to foster conservation of biodiversity.