Asian nations employ communities in a bid to conserve nature

Asian nations employ communities in a bid to conserve nature

By Mahesh Uniyal

NEW DELHI (IPS): After decades of using fences and guards to
protect nature, wildlife authorities in some of Asia's developing
nations are realizing that this cannot be done without the help
of the local people.

More and more countries in Asia are now modifying conservation
schemes and laws to give greater say in nature protection to
those who are in constant contact with it.

"Communities, which were once in control of their immediate
surroundings are once again gaining center-stage after having
been sidelined for decades, in some cases, centuries," says a
background note for a meeting of conservationists from 11 South
and Central Asian nations under way in the Indian capital.

The three-day conference on Community-based Conservation
Policy and Practice has been sponsored by the U.N. Educational,
Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

Community involvement in conservation can range from token
consultation by forest officials to full control of their natural
resources by local people, who, in some areas, now do not even
allow government officials to enter, the nature experts said.

One of the reasons for the change in attitude of conservation
authorities is said to be the growing realization that it is
impossible to exclude local people from even the most strictly
protected areas. In India, two-thirds of protected areas have
human settlements.

This has often led to conflicts between authorities managing
nature reserves and the people living there who have become
assertive about their traditional rights in these areas and
complain that their livelihoods are threatened.

In the famed Keoladeo bird sanctuary in India's western
Rajasthan state, little of the sizeable tourism earnings come to
the local peasants. Instead, they are estimated to suffer an
annual loss worth 60,000 dollars, on account of waterlogging of
their farms caused by wetland conservation measures in the park.

This is why political support for conservation is also
declining in many countries as the view gains ground that this
stands in the way of poverty alleviation. In India, several state
governments have now allowed commercial activity inside protected
areas to generate jobs for locals and outsiders.

Over-worked and under-staffed wildlife departments have also
learnt that local communities can help them with their labor and
know how.

"All over the world, but especially in developing countries,
it is being realized that central agencies are simply not able to
carry out this task, being understaffed, underfunded, ill-trained
and ill-equipped (to handle) the myriad threats that habitats and
species face," says well known Indian conservationist Ashish
Kothari.

Concern

Having won a say in conservation management for local
communities, environmentalists are now concerned that this be
done in the right way. One of the purposes of the New Delhi
gathering which concludes Tuesday is to look into this issue.

The most basic question in community participation is
determining who the local people are, the experts said.

However, they differ on who among the local people should be
involved in such conservation schemes. Some think only the
communities who depend on the natural resources for their
livelihood. Others say that those living for a long time in a
protected area have the right to take part in conservation
efforts.

Most, however, think the latter rule cannot be applied
strictly. They cite the case of the Attidiya sanctuary in Sri
Lanka where locals go to nearby towns to work. Also in the Rajaji
National Park in north India, not all the residents of the 200
hamlets within five km of the sanctuary depend on the forest for
their livelihood.

"A careful understanding of the relationship between
communities and the resources ... is an essential prerequisite to
planning community-based co-management projects, particularly if
they are to make the community the primary focus of resource
management activities," say Sri Lanka's Philip J. DeCosse and
Sherine S. Jayawickrama in their paper sent to the meeting.

To succeed, community-based conservation schemes must also
clearly spell out the role, rights and duties of local people and
aim to reduce disparities between and within communities, they
added. It is specially important to ensure a fair share of the
benefits and responsibilities of participation for women, they
pointed out.

This is because while it is the women who have the main
responsibility of collecting fuel, fodder and other forest
produce, they have very little say in the management of these
natural resources.

Unless women are consulted, conservation decisions by the
community may not work. In the Kailadevi Sanctuary in Gujarat, on
the west coast of India, the ruling of the all male village
forest protection not to allow axes in the village forest was
resented by the womenfolk because they would have to walk much
farther to collect firewood.

The experts said that most Asian countries need to change
their traditionally male-dominated community decision systems to
give voice to the concerns of women.