Natural Resource Management Projects Research Articles

What are the Impacts on Community Wellbeing of Social Relations in Conservation Projects?

Abstract Organisations working on conservation and community-based natural resource management (CBNRM) projects with communities have sometimes damaged the wellbeing of those communities. The social and political dynamics between organisations funding or implementing projects and the communities in which they work might be a factor causing this damage. This review paper explores the literature for evidence of and methods for evaluating impacts on community wellbeing from social relations in conservation and natural resource management projects. We found 101 papers addressing social connections in the human wellbeing-conservation nexus, acknowledging the damage done by colonising project relations and detailing proposals for or examples of more equitable relationality, and also evaluations of social equity in conservation/CBNRM work. However, we found few explicit evaluations of how the social, economic, and political relations of projects impact the wellbeing of participating communities. We call on researchers to address this gap, especially those working in evaluating project outcomes. To advance this agenda, we present literature that sheds light on what more equitable project relations look like, and how project relationality might be evaluated. We finish with ideas for how organisations can diagnose internal relationality problems likely to affect project outcomes, and how to transform those.

A review and SWOC analysis of natural heritage tourism in sub-Saharan Africa

ABSTRACT The paper analyses the state of natural heritage tourism in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and assesses its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and challenges (SWOC), accordingly. Data were obtained from secondary information sources and analysed using the inductive qualitative approach. The paper illustrates the existence of a mutual relationship between natural heritage and tourism in the SSA region. Identified strengths include a diverse and extensive protected area (PA) network, foreign direct investment inflow, and community-based natural resource management projects. The main opportunity lies in the great untapped potential for natural heritage tourism in the region. Findings reveal that most of the weaknesses of SSA countries are related to budget constraints. The main challenges to the sustainability of natural heritage include political instability, climate change, wildlife crime, and land use changes. The paper concludes that while the region has several strengths and opportunities, there also exist several weaknesses and challenges, which negatively impact the sustainability of both the natural heritage legacy and tourism. To enhance the sustainability of both, there is need for a sustained management of tourism impacts at the natural heritage sites, and persistent engagement of necessary stakeholders to devise innovative ways of enhancing sustainable revenue streams for nature and wildlife conservation.

Co-management for sustainable development and conservation in Sanjiangyuan National Park and the surrounding Tibetan nomadic pastoralist areas

The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau plays an essential role in national to regional ecological security, biodiversity conservation, and sustaining livelihood. An array of natural resource management, environmental conservation, and ecological restoration projects have been trialed and implemented in recent years in the vast Sanjiangyuan region of the central Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, aiming especially to ensure socio-ecologically appropriate and sustainable development of animal husbandry in the alpine grasslands. Novel approaches in China have included the introduction of more collaborative approaches in protected area management and the development and formal establishment of a new multi-purpose national park system. Many milestones have been achieved. However, such developments are driven largely by national and global goals and very little has been heard to date directly from the people most affected: those residing within the protected landscapes, i.e. the community stakeholders themselves. This empirical, perceptions-based study aims to partially fill this gap, drawing on the results of focus group discussions with community representatives supplemented by key informant interviews and a targeted review of the literature, to provide synthesized feedback and priority recommendations for improving “community co-management” collaborations for the joint benefit of Tibetan herders and protected areas. The mixed-method approach employed in this study was based on a conceptual model derived from Elinor Ostrom’s social–ecological systems framework, calibrated to local residents’ self-assessments of their household well-being. Results highlight how the most recent configuration of China’s national park model (i.e., its form and the approaches it utilizes) is generally deemed successful by community stakeholders, albeit with some notable perceived limitations mainly relating to a sense of lack of fairness and inclusiveness in the “one household, one post” co-management mechanism. The paper closes with discussion and recommendations around fundamental issues of equity, empowerment, and gender, finally pointing to the significance and, ultimately, the need to move even beyond co-management per se and to adopt a model of inclusive governance for conservation wherein joint deliberations and decision-making amongst diverse stakeholders are prioritized over the simple implementation of externally developed programs and management plans.

Biodiversity on private land: Lessons from the Mid‐Murray Valley in South‐eastern Australia

SummaryIn this article, we use an autoethnographic approach to explore relationships between landholders and government agencies and natural resource management projects. We use this exploration to argue for a holistic, collaborative approach to decision making around the implementation of biodiversity conservation on private and public land. This approach aligns with principles underpinning reconciliation ecology, which emphasises the inclusion of grass‐roots communities for promoting biodiversity conservation in human‐dominated landscapes where approaches to the management of natural resources may be contested. We present three projects (Environmental Champions; Fencing Incentive programmes; Plains‐wanderer programme) and other research from the Mid‐Murray Valley region of southern New South Wales to highlight the positive and negative aspects of relationships between landholders and others in natural resource management. We argue that for a more collaborative approach; we need to build relationships based on understanding, trust, respect, ownership and partnerships between rural communities, landholders, education and research institutions and government agencies as recognised in reconciliation ecology.

A Five-Step Stakeholder Communication Plan for More Effective Natural Resource Management

Effectively communicating with diverse groups involved in environmental management is critical to facilitating successful projects. This five-step communication plan is designed to enable resource managers and extension professionals to successfully engage their stakeholders. This plan, which uses oyster reef management as an example, was informed by two primary sources: an expert meeting with stakeholder leaders and coastal res- idents and a review of relevant literature. By incorporating stakeholder input throughout the planning and imple- mentation of natural resource management projects, new and innovative ideas emerge, and relationships between stakeholders, managers, and extension agents are strengthened.

Citizen Science, Experts, and Expertise.

Interest in citizen science is growing among both scientists and community groups who are interested in creating natural resource management projects. Such projects have the potential to result in social learning, which can further reinforce resource stewardship. Data to study this learning process, however, remain scant. Using transcripts from four different natural resource management projects, we use discourse analysis to investigate the discursive practice between project scientists and community members in the development of models that were used to test ideas and subsequently modified with citizen collected data. We found that only a portion of the discussion focused on knowledge building and that only experts provided challenges to ideas being discussed. Subsequently to these challenges, however, a greater proportion of knowledge co-creation occurred.

Assessing impacts of environmental peacebuilding in Caquetá, Colombia: a multistakeholder perspective

Abstract A major challenge in the field of environmental peacebuilding is showing the impact of its initiatives. Questions emerge, such as what kind of postwar peacebuilding dimensions are more likely to be affected by natural resource management projects? Although quantitative studies assess the relation between natural resource management programmes and conflict, the question remains: what are the mechanisms involved in implementing projects designed for environmental peacebuilding? To answer these questions, a mixed methods research approach is chosen, combining four qualitative and quantitative methods to triangulate results. First, we identify a set of peacebuilding dimensions and mechanisms based in the literature that facilitate assessing the impact of sustainable land-use systems (SLUS) design in the post-peace agreement region of Caquetá, Colombia. Second, not only do we interview experts and practitioners at global, national (Colombia) and local (Department of Caquetá) levels in the fields of peacebuilding, natural resource management and environmental peacebuilding, we also conduct three workshops and a survey in Caquetá to prioritize dimensions and discover explanatory mechanisms. The case of Caquetá, Colombia, shows that peacebuilding dimensions, such as socio-economic inclusion (e.g. sustainable livelihoods), creation of governance scenarios, and building capacities for dialogue and a peace culture, should be addressed to take account of the impacts of SLUS projects in post-conflict peacebuilding.

Evaluating the Impact of Multi-Intervention Development Projects: The Case of Ethiopia’s Community-Based Integrated Natural Resources Management Project

Evaluating the Impact of Multi-Intervention Development Projects: The Case of Ethiopia’s Community-Based Integrated Natural Resources Management Project

Sustainability as an Effective Strategy for Development of Human Settlements.(Dept.A)

Sustainable development has become popular phrase in the 1990. The term came into wide use after publication in 1988 of our common future, the report of the World Commission on Environment and Development, and was further spread after the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, the concept of sustainable development has been used to evaluate the development projects and rural natural resource management projects in developing countries. Recently, it has been applied to evaluate cities, communities and human settlements on the field of planning and growth management. Developing countries are in great need of sustainable development that meets the needs of the current generations without compromising the ability of future generations to obtain their own requirements.

Strategic adaptive management planning—Restoring a desert ecosystem by managing introduced species and native herbivores and reintroducing mammals

AbstractArid rangelands are degraded worldwide, suffering vegetation transformation, soil erosion, introductions, and extinctions. Wild deserts is restoring a desert ecosystem in Sturt National Park, New South Wales, Australia (35,000 ha), eradicating or controlling introduced animals, managing native herbivores, and reintroducing regionally extinct mammals. We describe a Strategic Adaptive Management Plan for restoration of this desert ecosystem, including a vision, model of ecosystem processes, stakeholder input, a hierarchy of objectives linked to triggers and their management actions, producing outcomes and outputs. Our management treatments included two “no restoration” areas and three “restoration” areas. The latter include two exclosures (each 2,000 ha), free of introduced animals (foxes, cats, rabbits), with previously abundant kangaroos removed and regionally extinct mammals to be reintroduced. The third management treatment is a Wild Training Zone (10,400 ha), with introduced animals and kangaroos managed at low levels, using innovative methods, improving survivorship and avoidance behavior of reintroduced mammals to introduced predators. These measures will allow populations of threatened animals to establish, initially in the exclosures, then the Wild Training Zone and potentially more widely. Our strategic adaptive management planning approach is generic and implementable for any natural resource management project, providing explicit steps and processes that track and report transparently on outcomes, fostering learning by doing.

¿Medimos lo que es valioso o valoramos lo que es medible? Comparación interorganizacional del uso de evaluaciones en una reserva de la biósfera

La investigación compara el grado en que cuatro organizaciones usan evaluaciones para identificar la obtención de resultados y mejorar su práctica. Las organizaciones estudiadas (una organización de la sociedad civil (OSC), una dependencia federal, una universidad pública y una administración municipal) llevan a cabo proyectos de manejo de recursos naturales en una reserva de la biósfera terrestre de México. En el marco de un estudio de casos, se combinó el análisis de documentos institucionales con entrevistas semi-estructuradas para acceder a la información. La OSC tiene el sistema de evaluación más adecuado para identificar el cumplimiento de objetivos de conservación y desarrollo. En contraste, la administración municipal carece por completo de procedimientos evaluativos.

Evaluating the Process and Outcomes of Collaborative Conservation: Tools, Techniques, and Strategies

Collaborative conservation has been touted as a viable option for addressing contentious natural resource stewardship issues in a way that represents the diverse voices impacted by, and involved in, conservation decisions. Engaging meaningfully in collaborative conservation involves overcoming a unique set of challenges while also realizing opportunities. In this special issue, we use the term collaborative conservation evaluation to encompass research and evaluation related to collaborative governance and collaborative natural resource management projects, programs, or decision-making processes that leverage a participatory approach, involve multiple stakeholders, and incorporate a range of contemporary evaluation approaches. Here, we provide a series of articles and tools intended to highlight different approaches to evaluation that utilize a variety of methodologies adapted for different contexts. We intend for these articles to spark further conversation and inspire future directions in evaluating collaborative conservation for researchers and practitioners.

Participatory natural resource management in rural China: Making and unmaking environmental narratives

Environmental and development discourses in China can be categorised into three narrative motifs framing human–nature relationships: peasant, indigenous, and community. Indigenous and community narratives have been widely adopted by environmental NGOs (eNGOs) in China in promoting community‐based natural resource management projects, but there has been very limited critical research on such phenomena. Analysis of socio‐economic change in two ethnic minority communities in Yunnan shows that neither narrative theme is fully internalised by the relevant communities. Instead narratives may be strategically modified or even rejected by local communities. This is due to different agendas being held by local communities and eNGOs, and two factors pertinent to rural China: the incompatibility of concepts of ‘community’ in Chinese and international contexts results in confusion, and a lack of recent territorial and cultural claims by rural communities since the collectivist era makes it difficult to construct the identity of a community. It remains challenging for eNGOs in China to advocate either community or indigenous narratives in contexts of rapid socio‐economic change.

Public Participation in Agriculture and Natural Resource Management Projects in South and Southeast Asia: A Literature Review

Facilitators of participatory approaches to community development in agricultural and natural resource management settings frequently encounter dilemmas due to embedded social and power structures that potentially interfere with achieving desired outcomes. These dilemmas underscore the need for better facilitation structures and techniques to mediate the complexity of disagreements. This paper reviews the literature on selecting and applying participatory facilitation methods in Asia, focused on South and Southeast Asia. The analysis acknowledges critics of participation and identifies elements for involving marginalized communities when using participatory approaches to increase the likelihood of successful outcomes.

Barriers to sharing water quality data: experiences from the Shale Network

The Shale Network is a group of stakeholders collating, publishing, and conducting research on water quality data collected in the northeastern United States experiencing natural gas extraction from shale using hydraulic fracturing. In developing the Shale Network, we have experienced reluctance to share data from all participating sectors. This paper explores this reluctance, identifying barriers to greater collaboration among multiple stakeholders in natural resource management projects. Findings are derived from participant observation of the Shale Network team, surveys conducted during Shale Network workshops, interviews with water quality stakeholders, and participant observation of water quality monitoring training sessions. The barriers identified include perceptions about data problems and quality, technical capacity, regulatory and legal limitations, competition for resources, and resource allocation decisions. This paper identifies strategies the Shale Network has used to overcome data-sharing barriers to expand a culture of data sharing that supports enhanced nature resource management and citizen engagement.

Ephemeral ‘communities’: spatiality and politics in rangeland interventions in Mongolia

In recent years, the number of community-based natural resource management projects for rangeland conservation and development has grown rapidly in Mongolia. Such projects seek to develop social capital through the formation of herder groups and pasture user groups, in order to enable the coordination of complex, collective tasks needed for sustainability. Through analysis of social networks, interviews and ethnographic data from two places where such projects have been implemented, Bayanjargalan, Dundgovi, and Tariat, Arkhangai, the paper demonstrates that the spatiality of pastoral social relations is much more extensive than assumed by these projects. Furthermore, rather than being neutral technical interventions, such projects are embedded in and proliferate politics. They often bolster the informal power of wealthy herders who gain more access to pasture, while at the same time leading to tensions between different levels of government and becoming objects of struggle between Mongolia’s two dominant political parties. For all of these reasons, these efforts have tended not to build trust, and the ‘communities’ they create, in the form of herder groups and pasture user groups, have tended to be ephemeral.

Participatory action research for rural and regional development

Participatory action research for rural and regional development

Policy Change and Its Effect on Australian Community-based Natural Resource Management Practices

The authors of this article report on a qualitative study of Australian community-based natural resource management groups known as Landcare groups. They discuss how four Landcare groups contributed to sustainability practices and how a policy change implemented in 2003 influenced the efforts of the groups to remain active in their activities. Using case-study methodology and drawing on Habermasian theory to support their work, the authors show that changing administrative structures created a tighter connection among government policies, projects and landholders carrying out natural resource management projects. The tighter connections provide more efficient processes to deliver officially valued outcomes as they are mediated by the catchment management authorities, but that efficiency is achieved at a cost because each landholder is now in competition with other landholders in the catchment to improve his/her own properties. Now the landholders are clients of the system, as private consumers rather than as a local community.

An innovative Agroforestry System for Food and Fuel Production

In the Philippines, as the population passes 100 million, issues of food security, clean energy access and natural resource use have come into sharper focus, as well as the growing threats from climate change. New and innovative agricultural systems are required to satisfy these critical challenges. For the past 20 years, the Sustainable Agriculture and Natural Resource Management Project in Mindanao has been developing solutions to some of these issues. Its conservation agriculture with trees (CAT) system has helped stabilize and build up soils, conserve water, and prevent landslides in the uplands, while increasing food productivity. However, the clean energy component, which is vital for both greenhouse gas mitigation and food security, has been missing. This paper describes the integration of bioenergy into the CAT system. It draws upon cutting edge bioenergy models in the Philippines and internationally to highlight the potential for an integrated food–energy system using agroforestry, livestock, and bioenergy. It outlines the feasibility and merits of such an approach in the upland farms of the Southern Philippines.

Impacts of Ulpotha Micro-cascade Restoration in Galkiriyakanda Mesocascade

The main purpose of this article is to study the viability of Ulpotha micro-cascade rehabilitation under Sri Lanka Australia Natural Resource Management Project (SLANRMP). Rehabilitation of Ulpotha with its natural resources was started on pilot basis in 2004 and completed in the year 2010. It is opportune to study the impacts of Ulpotha rehabilitation with its natural resources. Case study methodology was used for this study and the impacts were analysed by using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) system. A Likert scale questionnaire was used to collect required information and data for the study. The research commenced in 2013 and more positive impacts of the Ulpotha rehabilitation were noted during the study.