“Living a good life”: conceptualizations of well-being in a conservation context in Cambodia

Abstract

ABSTRACT. Conservation practice has sometimes been criticized for relying on simplistic assumptions about social contexts in natural resource management. Despite recent advances conceptualizing the interface between human well-being and the environment, very few studies moving from theory to practice exist. We address this gap by providing one of the first careful examinations of local conceptualizations of well-being in a conservation context, using mixed methods to examine the multidimensionality and heterogeneity of well-being conceptualizations across three sites in northern Cambodia. Each site faced different levels of conservation activities and development pressures, the latter being mainly linked to the degree of impact from economic land concessions. Our results highlight village context as a key line of variation in individual well-being, rather than differences related to age, gender, or wealth. Our results suggest that conservation incentives that mirror people's aspirations can balance out negative trade-offs linked to compliance and can contribute to well-being. We show that multifaceted values are attached to well-being components, highlighting the importance of subjective indicators and perceptions to capture fully the social changes and impacts of conservation in complex contexts. We conclude that enquiries into subjective well-being should become an integral part of participatory assessments and adaptive management of conservation interventions.

Capabilities Under Telecoupling: Human Well-Being Between Cash Crops and Protected Areas in North-Eastern Madagascar

“…During this period, we conducted eight focus group discussions (FGDs), two in each of our four study villages, with a group of men and a group of women, respectively. The methodology employed draws on previous experiences on conducting FGDs to explore local understandings of well-being (Abunge et al, 2013;Dawson and Martin, 2015) and is in line with approaches of subsequent work conducted on these issues (Beauchamp et al, 2018;Woodhouse and McCabe, 2018). Distances are estimated from the center of the main built-up area in each village.…”

“…The main intensification pathway we focus on in this study is the conversion of shifting cultivation rice fields into permanent cultivation of cash crops. We understand well-being as the capacity of a person to satisfy the components they require to live a "good life" (Beauchamp et al, 2018). We explore these dynamics through the "capabilities approach, " introduced in the following section.…”

Learning from Local Perceptions for Strategic Road Development in Cambodia’s Protected Forests

“…It also contributes to tenure insecurity, with 32% of respondents to the household survey stating they do not feel secure about their land rights ( Figure 6). When asked to explain, the majority of respondents stated it was because they do not have a land certificate or are concerned about companies taking their land-a recent and highly publicized issue in Cambodia (Beauchamp, Clements, & Milner-Gulland, 2019;Gironde & Peeters, 2015).…”

A brave new world: integrating well-being and conservation

“…al. 2017, McCarter et al 2018, defining well-being to inform the design of future conservation initiatives and evaluations (Gross-Camp 2017, Beauchamp et al 2018), and assessing the influence of conservation practices on human communities (Gross-Camp 2017, Rodriguez 2017, Cooper and Kainer 2018). Although the institutional drivers for integrating human well-being and conservation differed, all articles had the same outcome: identifying dimensions of well-being as defined by those being influenced by conservation.…”

“…Six of the contributed papers focus on defining well-being within the context of local populations (Biedenweg et al 2017, Caillon et al 2017, Gross-Camp 2017, Beauchamp et al 2018, McCarter et al 2018, Woodhouse and McCabe 2018, highlighting some heterogeneity across demographics and geographies. In addition to describing local conceptions of well-being, the studies provide diverse examples for how practitioners and researchers can elicit such definitions.…”