Abstract
Abstract This study supplements spatial panel econometrics techniques with qualitative GIS to analyse spatio-temporal changes in the distribution of integrated conservation–development projects relative to poaching activity and unauthorized resource use in Volcanoes National Park, Rwanda. Cluster and spatial regression analyses were performed on data from ranger monitoring containing > 35,000 combined observations of illegal activities in Volcanoes National Park, against tourism revenue sharing and conservation NGO funding data for 2006–2015. Results were enriched with qualitative GIS analysis from key informant interviews. We found a statistically significant negative linear effect of overall integrated conservation–development investments on unauthorized resource use in Volcanoes National Park. However, individually, funding from Rwanda's tourism revenue sharing policy did not have an effect in contrast to the significant negative effect of conservation NGO funding. In another contrast between NGO funding and tourism revenue sharing funding, spatial analysis revealed significant gaps in revenue sharing funding relative to the hotspots of illegal activities, but these gaps were not present for NGO funding. Insight from qualitative GIS analysis suggests that incongruity in prioritization by decision makers at least partly explains the differences between the effects of revenue sharing and conservation NGO investment. Although the overall results are encouraging for integrated conservation–development projects, we recommend increased spatial alignment of project funding with clusters of illegal activities, which can make investment decision-making more data-driven and projects more effective for conservation.
Highlights
Poaching and unauthorized resource use, such as fuelwood harvesting, present ongoing challenges for biodiversity conservation in the contiguous national parks at the intersection of the borders of Rwanda, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, part of the Greater Virunga Transboundary Landscape
Advances by Albers ( ), Plumptre et al ( ) and Beale et al ( ) adapted spatial modelling methods for unauthorized resource use. Studies utilizing such data often focus on the ecological effects of human disturbance within protected areas, and few link observations of unauthorized resource use with socio-economic factors. We believe this is the first study within the integrated conservation–development literature that directly links the network of government, conservation NGO and private sector interventions to unauthorized resource use in protected areas
The study was undertaken in Volcanoes National Park, Rwanda and surrounding landscape; the spatial distribution of integrated conservation–development projects bordering the Park is not well-defined relative to hotspots of illegal activity inside the Park, nor relative to each other
Summary
Poaching and unauthorized resource use, such as fuelwood harvesting, present ongoing challenges for biodiversity conservation in the contiguous national parks at the intersection of the borders of Rwanda, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, part of the Greater Virunga Transboundary Landscape. Ecotourism provides a justification for protected areas in contexts where parks or reserves are collocated with poor communities that have high population densities, and where agriculture is a dominant economic sector and arable land is limited (Honey, ; Sabuhoro et al, ). In such areas, ongoing conservation challenges result from community dependence on resources in nearby protected areas for basic necessities such as fuelwood and water, or additional earnings from bushmeat poaching (Mackenzie et al, ; Munanura et al, ). Communities and individuals do not perceive benefits from conservation but have to bear its high costs, primarily from crop-using
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