Exploring the effectiveness of integrated conservation and development interventions in a Central African forest landscape

Abstract

Integrated conservation and development projects (ICDPs) have had limited success in addressing the often conflicting objectives of conservation and development. We developed a model with local participants to explore the trade-offs between conservation and development in southeastern Cameroon, where illegal hunting is regarded as the greatest challenge to conservation. We simulated the effects of different ICDP strategies by varying the degree of focus on antipoaching activities, anticorruption measures and direct development investments, and by varying the overall budget for such activities. Our outcome variables were numbers of selected wildlife species and household incomes. The model outcomes from the different scenarios were used to stimulate debate among stakeholders. Contributing to poverty alleviation while maintaining current animal population sizes will be extremely difficult and will require long-term external financial support. Devoting greater attention to improving local environmental governance emerged as the highest priority for this investment. We used the model outputs to inform some of the major policy makers in the region. Participatory modeling is a valuable means of capturing the complexities of achieving conservation at landscape scales and of stimulating innovative solutions to entrenched problems.

Estate Crops More Attractive than Community Forests in West Kalimantan, Indonesia

“…The sustainable livelihoods framework's capital assets provide our framework for determining landscape explicit assets [51]. We conducted participatory modeling to begin to allow for scientific rigor in establishing the links between interventions and outcomes [52][53][54]. The process was driven by a multi-stakeholder forum.…”

Study on impacts of artisanal gold and diamond mining on livelihoods and the environment in the Sangha Tri-National Park landscape

“…These inhabitants are distributed Population growth in the 'South East Technical Operational Unit'' (SE TOU), has been predicted to increase 1.6 fold over 25 years, mainly due to births because in-and out-migration are estimated to be about equal. Out-migration is predicted to increase in the future, with a continuation of the present trend of moving to cities (Sandker et al 2009). …”

“…Household surveys conducted in 2008 in the SE TOU, part of which is in the Sangha Tri-National Landscape, indicate an average cash income of 250 US$ per capita per year (Sandker et al 2009 (Ngakeu et al 2002).…”

The Role of Citizen Science in Landscape and Seascape Approaches to Integrating Conservation and Development

“…It soon emerged that adoption rates for these micro-interventions were low but that macro-economic changes and large scale investments had far higher impacts on local livelihoods and the environment [33,34]. Development initiatives such as mining, sawmills and, potentially, palm oil plantations, were recognised by local citizens as the real drivers of change in the landscape.…”

“…The citizens engaged in this science compiled data and accumulated evidence that supported the case that micro-interventions were less effective in achieving conservation and development outcomes than larger scale initiatives [31,34,35]. The stakeholder forum included both local citizens of both local Bantu groups and the Baka Pygmies who inhabit the forests, together with representatives of the aid agencies and conservation organisations active in the landscape.…”