Community-conserved Areas Research Articles

A sustainability analysis of community‐conserved areas in Sabah, Malaysia using Ostrom’s design principles

Community‐conserved areas (CCA) have the potential to improve local ecological knowledge, ecosystem services, livelihoods, and biodiversity conservation. This study examined the sustainability and community management structure of two recently established CCAs in Sabah, Malaysia. Data were gathered using Ostrom’s design principles (ODP), content analysis, and focus group discussions. Both CCAs met all eight ODPs and were sustainably maintained by their communities through the evolution of several endogenous CCA management structures. Land tenure security for CCA sustainability may be enhanced through formal recognition (ODP‐7), nested enterprises (ODP‐8), and conflict resolution (ODP‐6). The findings reveal that indigenous communities can sustainably manage their natural resources and suggest ways to improve CCA management. Inclusion of indigenous communities in legal frameworks and CCA management should be fostered in the National Forestry Policy. The concept of CCA can be promoted elsewhere towards conserving natural resources and empowering communities for their wellbeing.

Impact of Artisanal Gold Mining in Community Conserved Areas with High Biodiversity Using a Multi-Criteria Approach: A Case Study in Colombia

Artisanal small-scale gold mining (ASGM) using mercury affects community agreements for the conservation of forests (CoS) and lakes (CoH), which have a high level of biodiversity in the Peasant Reserve Zone of the Cimitarra River Valley (ZRC-VRC) in Colombia. In this research, a multi-criteria approach (MCA) was applied to analyze the impact of ASGM. This analysis is based on the community environmental agreements to preserve CoS and CoH areas, the ecological importance of these areas, as well as the results of mercury dispersion in the Cimitarra river basin, with concentrations found 40 km downstream of the mining area of 0.09 µgTHg L−1 in the Cimitarra river, 0.07 µgTHg L−1 in the CoH, and 0.01 mgTHg kg−1 in the tissues of macrophytes, as well as the increase in deforestation since 2020 in the CoS, due to a 1.8% (990 ha) loss of forest cover, with 693 ha of the forest cover loss coinciding with areas related to the opening of new mines. The MCA showed that the main impact is found within the criterion Social and armed conflict, followed by Deforestation. This research offers recommendations to reduce impact scores, such as the implementation of a sustainable development plan (PDS) of the ZRC-VRC, and it highlights the urgent need to safeguard the community conservation areas.

Community-based conservation in Eastern Himalayan biodiversity hotspot- a case study

Biodiversity resources of southern bank of Yarlung Tsangbo river valley in South Tibet and Bumdelling-Tawang corridor in the eastern Bhutan are less explored by tourism and urbanization. Institutional initiatives for the conservation of these rich biodiversity areas under the traditional ownership of local communities of Arunachal Pradesh led to a community-based conservation model of Community Conserved Areas (CCA). Spontaneous participation of the stakeholders in these CCA was lacking because conservation objective was conflicting with traditional livelihood practices. To create new livelihood opportunities, the village institutions mobilized community-based leisure models and aligned these alternate livelihood objectives with ecological conservation. These economic initiatives met the challenges of bureaucratic administration, restricted access being close to international boundary with Bhutan & China, ineffective promotion by government agencies, and, the threats caused by the hydroelectric dam project. Strategy implementation was flawed because of the information sharing mechanism between China-India and India-Bhutan is constrained due to international borders. Internal challenges of indigenous CCA were limited customer integration, skewed societal acceptance of leisure-based livelihood practices, and capital cost of conservation capacity. Marketing of tourism in CCAs of Thembang and Zemithang as nature tourism destination requires all-weather road, sustained technical and financial support, and distribution linkages. This research discusses the critical success factor of Zemithang as an expanding CCA and limitations of Thembang CCA in mobilizing host community support. The authors argue that the community-based biodiversity conservation in the western Arunachal Pradesh must be supported by a participatory format of alternate livelihood opportunities.

Biocultural approaches to pollinator conservation

Pollinators underpin sustainable livelihoods that link ecosystems, spiritual and cultural values, and customary governance systems with indigenous peoples and local communities (IPLCs) across the world. Biocultural diversity is a shorthand term for this great variety of people–nature interlinkages that have developed over time in specific ecosystems. Biocultural approaches to conservation explicitly build on the conservation practices inherent in sustaining these livelihoods. We used the Conceptual Framework of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services to analyse the biocultural approaches to pollinator conservation by IPLCs globally. The analysis identified biocultural approaches to pollinators across all six elements of the Conceptual Framework, with conservation-related practices occurring in 60 countries, in all continents except Antarctica. Practices of IPLCs that are important for biocultural approaches to pollinator conservation can be grouped into three categories: the practice of valuing diversity and fostering biocultural diversity; landscape management practices; and diversified farming systems. Particular IPLCs may use some or all of these practices. Policies that recognize customary tenure over traditional lands, strengthen indigenous and community-conserved areas, promote heritage listing and support diversified farming systems within a food sovereignty approach are among several identified that strengthen biocultural approaches to pollinator conservation, and thereby deliver mutual benefits for pollinators and people. Pollinators are integral to ecosystem functions and human wellbeing, yet conservation approaches often ignore indigenous and biocultural perspectives and practices. This Analysis uses the IPBES framework to categorize biocultural practices and identify policies to support their roles in pollinator conservation.

Community Based Tourism Model for Conservation: A Case Study of Arunachal Pradesh, Part of Himalaya Biodiversity Hotspot

The protected areas (PA) of western Arunachal Pradesh of India are less explored by tourism and urbanization, but high dependency on forest resources by the indigenous Monpa communities is a threat to Himalayan biodiversity hotspot. Institutional initiatives for the conservation of the forests in this PA led to community-based conservation model of Community Conserved Areas (CCA). Spontaneous participation of the stakeholders in CCA was lacking because conservation objectives was conflicting with traditional livelihood practices. To create new livelihood opportunities, the village institutions mobilised community-based tourism (CBT) and aligned the livelihood generation objective with ecological conservation. The CBT initiative faced challenges of bureaucratic restrictions, accessibility from Bhutan, government promotion and threat of large hydroelectric dam project. Internal challenges to CBT and CCA were limited customer integration, skewed societal acceptance of leisure-based livelihood, and, upgrading homestay facilities. Marketing of Thembang and Zemithang of the PA as nature tourism destination requires all-weather road, CCA funding, and distribution linkages. Research hypothesis indicates that the community-based biodiversity conservation is supported by a participatory form of tourism. The case study method discusses the critical success factor of Zemithang as an expanding CA and limitations of Thembang CCA in mobilizing primary stakeholder’s support.

Accidental Environmentalists

Abstract In the highlands of Ethiopia, the only remaining stands of native forest are around churches of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido Church. Though hailed as community-conserved areas by environmentalists, we argue that the conservation of such forest is not intentional, but rather an indirect result of the religious norms, beliefs and practices surrounding the sites. In actuality, the religiosity surrounding church forests maintains the purity of the most holy space in the center of the shrine, the tabot, a replica of the Ark of the Covenant, which ensures that the church is a legitimate and effective portal to the divine. An underlying cultural logic of purity and pollution structures the spatial organization of the site outward into a series of concentric circles of diminishing purity and shapes the social order into an elegant hierarchy. This article seeks to understand the norms, beliefs and practices of this sacred geography in its social and religious context, arguing that ignorance of or inattention to these can undermine the conservation goals that have brought these forests, along with so many other sacred natural sites, to the attention of environmentalists around the world.

Spiritual commons: sacred sites as core of community-conserved areas in Kyrgyzstan

We analyze sacred sites in Ysyk-Kol Biosphere Reserve, Kyrgyzstan, from the commons perspective. There are some 130 sacred sites in the region, and these fit into the subcategory of cultural/spiritual commons within the broader category of new commons. They can be classified according to their biophysical characteristics, and the reasons why people visit them. Communities have developed rules to protect sacred sites, including the traditional institution of sacred site guardians, people who voluntarily take responsibility to look after a site. Sacred sites as commons have many similarities to conventional commons. But there are also some differences: the more people visit a particular site, the stronger is the ‘power’ of that site and more conservation effort is directed to it. This characteristic distinguishes sacred sites from commons characterized by subtractability. As community-conserved areas, sacred sites have the potential to contribute to biocultural conservation networks. They are an important means of expression and transmission of culture, necessitating recognition and support for the rights of their traditional caretakers and local communities.

Christian monastic lands as protected landscapes and community-conserved areas: an overview

Christian monastic lands as protected landscapes and community-conserved areas: an overview

Participatory mapping to identify indigenous community use zones: Implications for conservation planning in southern Suriname

Large-scale development projects often overlap forest areas that support the livelihoods of indigenous peoples, threatening in situ conservation strategies for the protection of biological and cultural diversity. To address this problem, there is a need to integrate spatially-explicit information on ecosystem services into conservation planning. We present an approach for identifying conservation areas necessary to safeguard the provision of important ecosystem services for indigenous communities. “Community use zones” (CUZs) were generated using participatory mapping methods that identify place values indicating significant hotspots for ecosystem services. Using principles from landscape ecology, these areas are buffered to provide connectivity and to delineate ecosystem service delivery areas. We demonstrate the use of CUZs for five villages in southern Suriname (n=191 participants) to inform the South Suriname Conservation Corridor project. The mapped data reveal overlapping hotspots for different ecosystem services depicting multifunctional landscapes that provide an empirical foundation for delineating CUZs. In the absence of legal and traditional land rights for indigenous people, CUZs based on the provision of ecosystem services provide a defensible, spatially explicit approach for integrating indigenous needs into regional conservation plans in southern Suriname. We discuss the utility of CUZ maps for promoting land tenure and security and as a basis for collaborative governance in indigenous and community-conserved areas (ICCAs).

Using Analysis of Governance to Unpack Community-Based Conservation: A Case Study from Tanzania.

Community-based conservation policies and programs are often hollow with little real devolution. But to pass a judgment of community-based or not community-based on such initiatives and programs obscures what is actually a suite of attributes. In this paper, we analyze governance around a specific case of what is nominally community-based conservation-Ikona Wildlife Management Area (WMA) in Tanzania-using two complementary sets of criteria. The first relates to governance "powers": planning powers, regulatory powers, spending powers, revenue-generating powers, and the power to enter into agreements. The second set of criteria derive from the understanding of governance as a set of social functions: social coordination, shaping power, setting direction, and building community. The analysis helps to detail ways in which the Tanzanian state through policy and regulations has constrained the potential for Ikona WMA to empower communities and community actors. Although it has some features of community-based conservation, community input into how the governance social functions would be carried out in the WMA was constrained from the start and is now largely out of community hands. The two governance powers that have any significant community-based flavor-spending powers and revenue-generating powers-relate to the WMA's tourism activities, but even here the picture is equivocal at best. The unpacking of governance that we have done, however, reveals that community empowerment through the processes associated with creating and recognizing indigenous and community-conserved areas is something that can be pursued through multiple channels, some of which might be more strategic than others.

Triggering Community Conservation Through the Trade of Carbon Offsets: The Case of the Ejido Felipe Carrillo Puerto, Mexico

Based on qualitative research and a case study analysis, this article describes how a local conservation initiative grounded on the potential to trade carbon offsets in the voluntary market has triggered a multipurpose scheme for community conservation in the ejido of Felipe Carrillo Puerto, Mexico. We describe how the Felipe Carrillo Puerto has engaged in the creation of two community-conserved areas, an ecotourism venture, and two projects of payment for environmental services. We show how creating a portfolio of conservation projects has allowed the ejido to diversify their sources of income in addition to creating an important number of jobs related to conservation. We discuss the implications of the community experiences with different conservation schemes, the market-based instruments that can trigger community conservation, and the importance of giving local communities the opportunity to define their own conservation paths.

Spatio-temporal variation in forest cover and biomass across sacred groves in a human-modified landscape of India’s Western Ghats

Although the potential for community-conserved areas (CCAs) to extend conservation beyond formal protected areas is widely acknowledged, the scarcity of conservation assessments and monitoring hinders the rigorous evaluation of their effectiveness in many regions. In India, which hosts a high density and diversity of CCAs, the need for more assessments of the ecological and socio-economic properties of these systems to guide conservation planning and policy has been emphasised in recent years. We inventoried the extant sacred grove network against official records of 407 groves across 70 villages in the Kodagu District of India’s Western Ghats, and interviewed local communities about their management and conservation. We also evaluated recent trends in aboveground biomass of sacred groves using time-series satellite data from six time-points during the 2000–2010 period, and made comparisons to corresponding trends in nearby State-managed protected forests. Although most of the larger (>2ha) groves officially listed were forested at present, over two-thirds of the smaller groves listed were either not forested or could not be located. Local communities attributed these declines to encroachment and illicit logging. Time-series satellite data revealed aboveground biomass declines of ∼0.5% annually across the sacred grove network over the 2000–2010 period. In contrast, biomass increased during this period at the interiors and edges of State-managed forests in the landscape. Our results highlight that the conservation status of even well-protected CCAs can vary considerably over time, especially given the dynamism in socio-economic, cultural and ecological factors that govern their status. We argue that understanding and addressing this dynamism is crucial to the conservation of CCAs.

Legal Framework for Protected Areas: Canada

This case study focuses on terrestrial national parks in Canada, where the protected areas system has evolved for over a century since the creation of a national park at Banff in 1885. The role of 'ecological integrity' as a statutory standard following recent legislative renewal of the Canada National Parks Act is a distinctive feature of the Canadian system. While the national parks system has experienced significant recent expansion in conjunction with the resolution of northern aboriginal land claims, there are only limited indications in Canada of either co-management or community-conserved areas. The Canadian framework incorporates a wide range or reporting and accountability mechanisms which contribute importantly to public and non-government participation in the development of parks policy and administration. The national terrestrial parks system, while a keystone of Canada's protected areas framework, does not appear to be fully integrated with other federal protected areas initiatives or with corresponding protected areas regimes operating at the provincial level, although a jointly agreed biodiversity strategy has been developed through federal-provincial-territorial consultation.

Conservation of the jaguarPanthera oncain a community-dominated landscape in montane forests in Oaxaca, Mexico

AbstractWe examined the presence of the jaguarPanthera onca, and human–jaguar interactions, in a community-dominated montane tropical forest landscape with formally recognized indigenous/community conserved areas in the Sierra Norte of Oaxaca state, Mexico. We used camera traps to detect jaguars, and social data were collected through informal interviews and 46 semi-structured and 106 structured interviews with community leaders and members. During June 2007–June 2008 camera traps registered two jaguars in the four study communities after 1,164 trap nights, with a photo-capture rate of 7.8 jaguar captures per 1,000 trap nights. Interviews documented 86 jaguar sightings since 1990. Despite some history of livestock predation, 68% of the interviewed farmers indicated jaguar presence was positive, 20% that jaguar presence was both positive and negative, and 12% thought jaguars were a negative presence. All of the respondents with negative attitudes had either owned cattle previously or lost cattle to predation. Despite ongoing risks to jaguars the emergence of community-conserved areas, local conservation initiatives, and a community-imposed hunting ban are supported by 93% of community members. An emerging culture of conservation in the study communities suggests there is an opportunity for jaguar conservation on community lands that should be explored elsewhere in jaguar range countries.

A comparison of the management models of protected areas between China and the southern Africa region

A comparison of the management models of protected areas between China and the African south region allows reading and evaluating the similarities and differences in the use of management model as a management tool for protected areas and specifically some positive and negative features of the management approaches in these two regions. Previous to this study it verified the designation of protected areas as increasing at a faster rate than ever before, comparatively much faster now in China than southern Africa regions. With the aim of evaluating similarities and differences in the use of management model as a management tool for protected areas in China and southern Africa Region, both qualitative and quantitative data were collected. Qualitative data were mainly from policy documents, scientific articles and magazine reports, whereas quantitative (secondary data) statistical data from International Union for Conservation of Nature Resources (IUCN) and World Database on Protected Areas (WDPA). In view of the data sources above, the study found that in China all the protected areas are state owned whilst in southern Africa regions there are some protected areas that are privately owned; also that the models or typology of governance applied are successful for the fact that they both combine co-management or collaborative management, community-conserved areas and private protected areas that are subject to greater success and can help design planning and management than those who use exclusively government management. To this, the study concluded that the use of management model is influenced by the type of governance a country applies to its reserved areas.

Do community-conserved areas effectively conserve biological diversity? Global insights and the Indian context

The view that biodiversity-rich areas partially or largely managed by local residents, sometimes referred to as community-conserved areas (CCAs), can be effective in biological conservation has gained considerable ground over the past decade. In this paper, we review available scientific information on the conservation effectiveness of such areas globally. We compiled studies undertaken during the last 5 years (2004–2009) that use quantifiable ecological attributes to: (1) compare CCAs with strictly protected areas (SPAs); (2) compare CCAs with open-access ecosystems and (3) study trends in biological attributes of CCAs over time. We found that there were few consistent differences in diversity/species richness of flora or fauna protected under the two types of management or in deforestation rates. However, CCAs tend to harbour a species complement distinct from that of SPAs and show lowered abundances of monitored taxa that are of conservation importance. CCAs conserve biological values more effectively than open-access areas. Also, biological values tend to decline in CCAs over time. We conclude that CCAs could represent a significant improvement over open-access areas in terms of conservation effectiveness, yet fall short of the needs of comprehensive biological conservation. While extremely few studies have been undertaken in India, the trends seen largely concur with global ones. This review, based on a limited sample size, is only a beginning, and is expected to serve as an invitation for further research to address both the question of biological effectiveness of diverse forest governance regimes as well as the socio-economic, demographic and institutional reasons underlying these differences.

Comparison of Outcomes of Permanently Closed and Periodically Harvested Coral Reef Reserves

In many areas of the developing world, the establishment of permanent marine reserves is inhibited by cultural norms or socioeconomic pressures. Community conserved areas that are periodically harvested are increasingly being implemented as fisheries management tools, but few researchers have empirically compared them with permanently closed reserves. We used a hierarchical control-impact experimental design to compare the abundance and biomass of reef fishes, invertebrates, and substrate composition in periodically harvested and permanent reserves and in openly fished (control sites) of the South Pacific island country of Vanuatu. Fished species had significantly higher biomass in periodically harvested reserves than in adjacent openly fished areas. We did not detect differences in substratum composition between permanent reserves and openly fished areas or between permanent reserves and periodically harvested reserves. Giant clams (tridacnids) and top shells (Trochus niloticus) were vulnerable to periodic harvest, and we suggest that for adequate management of these species, periodically harvested community conservation areas be used in conjunction with other management strategies. Periodic harvest within reserves is an example of adaptive and flexible management that may meet conservation goals and that is suited to the social, economic, and cultural contexts of many coastal communities in the developing world.

Breaking down fences: Recoupling social–ecological systems for biodiversity conservation in Namibia

Herero communities in northern Namibia recently formed the Ehi-rovipuka Conservancy under a national Community-Based Natural Resource Management Programme (CBNRM) that has received international acclaim for wildlife conservation and poverty alleviation. Nearly a century ago ancestors of the Herero were ousted from Etosha National Park, contiguous to the Ehi-rovipuka Conservancy. The communities have been denied access ever since. Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) methods were employed to elucidate relationships of the Herero and their communal conservancy with the Etosha National Park. Memory mapping and villager interviews revealed a profound sense of lost traditional territory inside Etosha and a strong desire to return to the Park, not to harvest wildlife but to restore cultural practices and reap certain benefits from the Park. We term the separation of the communities from their traditional territory as a ‘decoupling’ of people from their local environment. We further suggest that the potential benefits that villagers identify from the Park represent mechanisms for ‘recoupling’ local social–ecological systems, requiring the literal and figurative breakdown of the Park fence. We describe a model to illustrate decoupling and recoupling mechanisms, and argue that recoupled social–ecological systems are necessary for long-term conservation of biodiversity. We further suggest a collaborative landscape model for biodiversity conservation featuring institutional linkages and integration between community-conserved areas, integrated conservation corridors for connectivity, and dynamic, mobile reserves collaboratively integrated with national parks management. This model may have applicability in Namibia and similar regions elsewhere with low population densities, high species endemism and prevailing or emerging threats to biodiversity.

What Constitutes Success in Pacific Island Community Conserved Areas?

In recent years, few if any community conserved areas (CCAs) in the Pacific island region have been regarded as being successful. However, as success is rarely defined, what constitutes “success” is not clear. This paper reports an investigation into the way “outsiders” perceive success in Pacific island CCAs. An exploratory survey revealed six umbrella themes of success: the locus of control; local benefits; resource aspects; management; external stakeholder involvement; and sustainability. Multivariate analysis distinguished two groups, a Big picture group and a Locally focused group. These differ in how they define success, as well as their organizational alignment. The Big picture group, largely from funder agencies and international NGOs, were focused on the broad issues of success, especially the sustainability of CCAs. The Locally focused group was concerned with the practical workings and needs of successful CCAs in the Pacific; many in this group were based with Pacific island governments and NGOs or CCAs. The study concludes that success in CCAs should not be defined solely on project objectives, especially when these have been developed by an external entity or under their guidance. If they are, high rates of failure are to be expected.