Evaluating Biodiversity Conservation around a Large Sumatran Protected Area

Abstract

Many of the large, donor-funded community-based conservation projects that seek to reduce biodiversity loss in the tropics have been unsuccessful. There is, therefore, a need for empirical evaluations to identify the driving factors and to provide evidence that supports the development of context-specific conservation projects. We used a quantitative approach to measure, post hoc, the effectiveness of a US$19 million Integrated Conservation and Development Project (ICDP) that sought to reduce biodiversity loss through the development of villages bordering Kerinci Seblat National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Indonesia. We focused on the success of the ICDP component that disbursed a total of US$1.5 million through development grants to 66 villages in return for their commitment to stop illegally clearing the forest. To investigate whether the ICDP lowered deforestation rates in focal villages, we selected a subset of non-ICDP villages that had similar physical and socioeconomic features and compared their respective deforestation rates. Village participation in the ICDP and its development schemes had no effect on deforestation. Instead, accessible areas where village land-tenure had been undermined by the designation of selective-logging concessions tended to have the highest deforestation rates. Our results indicate that the goal of the ICDP was not met and, furthermore, suggest that both law enforcement inside the park and local property rights outside the park need to be strengthened. Our results also emphasize the importance of quantitative approaches in helping to inform successful and cost-effective strategies for tropical biodiversity conservation.

Implementing REDD+ in view of integrated conservation and development projects: Leveraging empirical lessons

“…It has also been suggested that REDD+ could utilise its multilevel institutional connectedness with State and global actors to address underlying drivers of deforestation (Blom et al, 2010). Such institutional strategies could correct ICDP failures, related to poor linkages with broader institutional contexts, to address underlying drivers of deforestation (Linkie et al, 2008;Kremen et al, 2000).…”

A participatory approach for modeling alternative future land use scenarios around Nairobi National Park using Bayesian Belief Networks

“…The second factor cited above -the myths, paradigms, or ideologies that frame human activities -has also been identified as a weakness of many conservation strategies [1][2][3][4]. Indeed, ICDPs and CBCs have emerged over the last few decades in response to the recognition that humans and protected areas must successfully coexist in order to ensure the long-term viability of conservation efforts.…”

“…The challenges and limitations facing conservation strategies such as integrated conservation and development projects (ICDPs), community-based conservation (CBC), and traditional protected areas like national parks are well documented in the literature [1][2][3][4]. These include the need for thematic coherence at the design phase, an understanding of community heterogeneity and complexity, including local communities in all phases of a project, mechanisms for monitoring and evaluation with respect to project goals and objectives, collaboration with other relevant projects, and the adoption of adaptive and flexible management approaches [1,4].…”

“…Wells et al [11] review lessons learned from past ICDPs and offer advice for financial sustainability. Here, an important first-step is the creation of a participatory process that brings together diverse interests during the conceptual phase of a project to ensure that local-and national-level policies and conservationdevelopment linkages are better understood and represented [3,12].…”

“…First, the allocation of resources and power (or lack thereof) is often cited as a primary factor limiting the success of conservation efforts such as ICDPs, CBC projects, and national parks and reserves [1][2][3][4]. Indeed, few conservation strategies succeed without long-term financial support and effective laws, policies and regulations [2].…”