Community-Based Strategies to Promote Primate Conservation in Agricultural Landscapes: Lessons Learned from Case Studies in South America

Abstract

The increasing demand for natural resources has led to continued changes in land use, affecting the survival of many wild species, including non-human primates. One of the major challenges for primate conservation in landscapes dominated by agriculture is to find environmentally friendly alternatives that provide economic benefits to local communities while improving the health of the ecosystems that primates and humans rely on. Community-based conservation is an approach whereby researchers and conservationists work in collaboration with local people to plan, implement, and assess conservation projects. This ensures effective and sustainable management of their natural resources based on the specific needs and cultural traditions of each community. In this chapter, we present an overview of primates living in agricultural landscapes and provide some guidelines for developing community-based conservation projects based on experiences of three case studies from Colombia and Ecuador. It is important to create participatory spaces for local communities to become involved in the co-planning and co-design of conservation actions and provide training that strengthens people’s capacities to acquire the necessary skills for implementing sustainable practices that bring revenue to the communities while protecting wildlife. Due to the social nature of community-based approaches, these conservation projects must also consider the socioeconomic and political contexts that influence the relationships between people and wildlife at each intervention site.