Protected Areas and Poverty Reduction in Africa / Aires protégées et réduction de la pauvreté en Afrique

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    Role of values in a community-based conservation initiative in Northern Ghana
    (2011) Robinson, Lance W.; Ampadu Sasu, Kwame
    In this paper we demonstrate the importance of non-economic values to community-based conservation by presenting findings from research into Kunlog Community Resource Management Area (CREMA) in northern Ghana. One of the central motivations for creating the CREMA was to reinforce a traditional taboo on bushbuck, and while some respondents mentioned the possibility of eventually attracting tourists, the primary desire behind the CREMA is to protect bushbuck and other wildlife for future generations. Several respondents emphasized wanting children and grandchildren to be able to grow up seeing the wildlife. Material benefits should not be the sole focus of those involved in promoting and legislating frameworks for community-based conservation-frameworks such as Ghana’s CREMA policy. Government frameworks for the creation, registration, and regulation of conservation initiatives should be flexible and able to accommodate diverse community-based conservation initiatives driven from a variety of mixes of motivations, including motivations deriving from non-material values.
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    Wildlife monitoring and conservation in a West African protected area
    (University of California, 2010) Cole Burton, Andrew
    Existing monitoring programs may generate data unsuitable for strong inferences regarding wildlife community dynamics, and careful attention to objectives and methodology is needed. Pressure from hunting and other anthropogenic impacts remains high for West African wildlife, even within protected areas. Park patrol observations underrepresented Mole National Park’s mammal community, recording only two-thirds as many species as camera traps over a common sampling period. Long-term patrol data were also subject to considerable sampling variation that could make interpretation of wildlife trends unreliable: additional methods are suggested in which this locally based monitoring program may be improved.
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    Sea otter tourism in British Columbia : the effects of interpretation on the conservation attitudes and behavioural intentions of boat-based and aquarium visitors
    (Department of Geography, University of Victoria, 2010) Poirier, Sarah Victoria; Department of Geography
    Visitation to marine wildlife viewing tours has increased steadily in the last few decades. Despite concerns over negative impacts, one of the anticipated benefits to wildlife viewing is increased visitor support for marine conservation. In this study, sea otters were used as a case study to determine how wildlife viewing may alter visitor attitudes and behavioural intentions towards marine conservation. In particular, the effects of the inclusion of interpretation in marine wildlife observation were analysed. This study includes the experiences of marine wildlife visitors to boat-based tours in Tofino, on the west coast of Vancouver Island, as well as the experiences of visitors to the Vancouver Aquarium Marine Science Centre. A questionnaire was used to determine the importance of sea otters to wildlife viewing tours, how both aquarium and boat-based wildlife viewing experiences influence visitor learning, and what implications this has for marine conservation. Sea otters were found to be important incidentally-viewed species in the boat-based tours. Sea otters were oftentimes not the main draw, but visitors very much enjoyed their presence. The provision of interpretation on its own affected visitor attitudes and behavioural intentions. However, the most significant difference in the promotion of conservation attitudes and behaviours was when the observation of sea otters was coupled with interpretation regarding sea otters. The same trend was observed in both the boat-based tours in Tofino and the captive wildlife viewing at the aquarium. These results indicate that the most important role of the tour guide is in locating marine species, and providing targeted interpretation about the species during observation. Thus, marine wildlife tourism can increase overall visitor support for marine conservation through affecting attitudes and behaviours.
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    Role of the sea kayak tour guide : mixed methods exploration into the guides' perspective
    (Royal Roads University, 2011-01) Kellow, Matthew
    Sea kayak guides believe themselves to be facilitating opportunities for environmental and cultural learning and behavioral change with their clients; however, field observations from this study did not completely support the survey results, highlighting a difference between what sea kayak guides self-reported, compared to actual experiences with guides in the field. Located within the nature tourism experience is an opportunity to connect participants to the environment in a real way that can increase participant knowledge, and ultimately lead to and reinforce behaviours that benefit the environment. The tour guide is positioned to act as a motivator for environmentally sensitive behaviour.
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    Potential for Community-Based Natural Resource Management (CBNRM) affiliated with BC's protected area system
    (Department of Sociology, University of Victoria, 2010) Rozwadowska, Anna; Department of Sociology
    Community-based natural resource management (CBNRM) related to protected areas (PAs) originated in the 1980‟s in Zimbabwe, Africa, in the buffer zone communities of Africa‟s National Parks. CBNRM attempted to address the problems associated with colonial, protectionist style „fence and guns‟ conservation management approaches, which excluded resource-based communities from conservation areas. CBNRM attempts to meet the biodiversity conservation objectives of conservation areas, and the sustainable development and livelihood objectives of neighbouring communities. While CBNRM initiatives have been well documented internationally over the past decades, little is known about the status of CBNRM within Canada. In order to bridge this knowledge gap and to link trends in conservation and protected areas management internationally to Canada and to British Columbia (BC), this thesis examines the potential for community-based natural resource management (CBNRM) affiliated with BC's Protected Area System. “Potential” is determined by comparing the situation in BC to the international CBNRM experience. The study draws on a sample of Conservancies from the categories of the BC Protected Area (PA) System, focusing particularly on the nine Sea-to-Sky Land and Resource Management Plan (LRMP) Area Conservancies and neighbouring First Nations communities: Squamish, L‟il‟wat and In-SHUCK-ch. Information has been obtained through interviews (guided by semi-structured questionnaires) conducted with BC government informants and First Nations representatives, supplemented by key documents. The questionnaire examined the potential for CBNRM according to a.) the community's perspective: potential (costs and) benefits of the protected area, including goods and services, cultural and social benefits and sustainable economic development opportunities provided by the protected area; and benefits of community involvement in natural resource management and protected area governance; and b.) the conservation perspective: benefits through community cooperation in biodiversity conservation within the targeted protected area. Other factors that have been identified through the international experience to affect CBNRM initiatives, such as use regulation; tenure; policies and legislation; awareness of and support for the protected area; and community capacity were thoroughly examined across all sources of information. This study finds that there is potential for CBNRM affiliated with the BC PA system in protected area designations such as „Conservancies‟. Potential relates to the role of CBNRM in biodiversity conservation, meeting the aspirations of BC‟s First Nations communities, and in recognizing First Nations as legitimate stakeholders in protected areas and conservation management. As in the international experience, numerous social, political, economic and other factors present opportunities and challenges to the adoption of CBNRM in BC. This thesis concludes with key recommendations for protected areas and conservation management in BC and Canada and identifies opportunities to further explore key topic areas that arose from the research findings.
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    Assessing community conditions that facilitate implementation of participatory poverty reduction strategies
    (University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, CA, 2011-11) Muruvi, Wanzirai
    The study describes organizational and institutional foundations within traditional rural communities that can facilitate implementation of participatory community poverty reduction programs. The focus was on communities within or adjacent to protected areas. Not surprisingly, community groups with the highest potential as implementing agents have strong ties to traditional institutions, suggesting that groups with well recognized power and legitimacy within the community are better positioned to facilitate implementation of community poverty eradication initiatives. A number of indicators of community competence were identified, useful for developing an analytical framework that can be used as a diagnostic tool for determining community competence.
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    Applying resilience thinking to questions of policy for pastoralist systems : lessons from the Gabra of Northern Kenya
    (Springer Science+Business Media, 2010) Robinson, Lance W.; Berkes, Fikret
    The aim of this paper is to explore the relevance of a systematic application of resilience thinking to questions of pastoralist policy, a task that requires taking the concept of resilience beyond the level of a metaphor and operationalizing it. One approach to accomplishing this is the components-relationships-innovation-continuity framework (Cumming et al. 2005), which, in this paper, we apply to analysis of the social-ecological system of the Gabra people in north-central Kenya. While some types of indicators, such as those monitored by humanitarian information systems, can help to identify when the resilience of a system has been eroded, indicators of the components, relationships, and sources of innovation and continuity help o make clear the dynamics of how resilience is being lost. In the case of the Gabra, our analysis suggests that there is a need to envision a third alternative—a stability domain that is distinct both from traditional pastoralism whose viability has been undermined and from the perversely resilient poverty trap that is coming to dominate. While this kind of conclusion may not be new, a resilience-based analysis helps to uncover specific details regarding what such a third alternative might entail and what kinds of policy levers might help to make it possible.
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    Towards an ecosystem approach to policy process : insights from the sustainable livelihoods and ecosystem health approaches
    (2010) Robinson, Lance W.; Fuller, Anthony M.
    The paper outlines factors that should be considered in an ecosystem approach to policy process. Merely exhorting policymakers to avoid reductionism is not enough. The more difficult questions are: how to avoid reductionism, how to employ multiple perspectives, and how and when to make necessary value judgements. In a complex system where value judgments are made, a strong argument for stakeholder engagement and participation emerges. As well, particular attention must be paid to how governance takes place, and the flow of information across scales. Funding agencies will need to encourage policy processes that are not straight-jacketed by sectoral boundaries.
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    Multi-level participation for building adaptive capacity : formal agency-community interactions in Northern Kenya
    (2011) Robinson, Lance W.; Berkes, Fikret
    The ways in which multi-level participation contributes to adaptive capacity helps formulate a theory of participation based on resilience thinking. This paper argues there are three keys to meaningful multi-level participation: an institutional environment where the various levels of institutions are linked, inclusivity in decision-making at these various levels, and deliberation. Since much of research literature on pastoralists extols their flexibility, coping capacity, and ability to adapt, this case study among Gabra pastoralists of Kenya details ways in which traditional institutions for governing commons are adapted to the unique biophysical realities of environment, describing their social-ecological system in terms of resilience and adaptive capacity.
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    Traditional pastoralist decision-making processes : lessons for reforms to water resources management in Kenya
    (2010) Robinson, Lance W.; Sinclair, A. John; Spaling, Harry
    Traditional approaches to collective decision-making among Gabra pastoralists of north central Kenya represent an egalitarian, inclusive and deliberative model that stands in contrast to some aspects of conventional approaches to participation, including those most evident in Kenya’s water sector reforms. The management of water resources is the focus of this paper. Whereas the "institutional model" of participation being pursued through the creation of Water Resource User Associations is particularly problematic for mobile pastoralists such as the Gabra, the paper suggests that an alternative strategy would focus on fostering deliberation processes. Around eighteen percent of Kenya's population are pastoralists.