Abstract

Nepal formally embarked on decentralized participatory conservation programmes in 1990. To assess who participates in and benefits from such programmes, stratified random questionnaire surveys of 234 households and interviews with 29 user group chairs were conducted in the buffer zones of two protected areas of the Nepalese Terai: Bardia National Park and Suklaphanta Wildlife Reserve. The Poisson regression shows that gender, education, household affluence, and conservation attitudes were significant predictors of people's participation in decentralized conservation programmes, while family size, ethnicity and resource dependency were not. The benefits of participation outweighed the costs based on respondents' estimates. The performance of grassroots organizations and levels of participation were correlated. Nepal's decentralized participatory conservation has achieved efficiency, relative equity and effectiveness to some extent. Yet the central government should devolve more power to local communities to sustain the achievements as well as to provide more equitable benefits to residents to ensure the effectiveness and sustainability of conservation programmes.

Talk to us

Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have

Schedule a call

Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.