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.