In many places, globalisation, inappropriate policies and malpractices in government and non-government organisations have resulted in the degradation of many ecosystems. Official conservation policies are often failing to stop this decline. Can community-based conservation efforts achieve better results?

A recent report  from the International Institute of Environment and Development, UK, discusses the importance of community-conserved areas (CCAs) in transforming approaches to conservation. CCAs are natural and modified ecosystems that are voluntarily conserved by indigenous, mobile and local communities through customary laws.

CCAs perform several important functions:

• CCAs can provide corridors for animal movement, often between officially protected areas. In Uttaranchal, India, two critical protected areas are linked by a large area of community forest land managed under the traditional ‘van panchayat’ (village council) system. This prevents animal populations from becoming isolated and enables the sharing of genetic materials across a wider area.
• CCAs help to strengthen the links between agricultural diversity and wild biodiversity. In Peru, communities are establishing bio-cultural heritage sites such as the Potato Park, where indigenous populations are reviving many traditional species of potato. This conserves the landscape, enhances livelihoods and preserves traditional knowledge.
• CCAs often combine traditional knowledge and modern science, helping to achieve conservation that is more effective. The Alto Fragua-Indiwasi National Park, Colombia, was established at the request of the Ingano indigenous people. Zoning and management planning within the park have combined the ecological knowledge of local people with scientific Geographical Information System-based mapping.

The sustainable use of resources in many CCAs is often more effective and longer established than in government-managed conservation areas, yet they are often neglected or not recognised by official conservation policies. The report argues that they are important for meeting several Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

The first MDG aims to halve extreme poverty through increasing the security of poor peoples’ jobs and livelihoods. CCAs can provide this through continued or increased access to vital ecological services, such as clean water. CCAs can provide an opportunity to empower marginalised people, encouraging communities and individuals to participate more confidently in social and political processes. Women are often at the forefront of community conservation initiatives, which can help to achieve the third MDG of gender equity.

Perhaps most importantly, CCAs contribute to MDG7 of ensuring environmental sustainability. CCAs are a valuable mechanism for expanding the criteria for achieving MDG7 and for making links between environmental sustainability and human well-being. Policies now need to ensure that CCAs are recognised and supported.

The report recommends:

• Governments should acknowledge and promote CCAs as a legitimate form of biodiversity conservation.
• Where communities agree, CCAs should be included in national systems of protected areas, with the appropriate changes to legal processes and policies.
• Governments should ensure that official policies, guidelines and principles recognise the diversity of local arrangements developed by communities for the management of CCAs. Informal arrangements are as important as formal ones.

Source(s):
‘Conservation with social justice? The role of community conserved areas in achieving the Millennium Development Goals,’ by Neema Pathak, Ashish Kothari and Dilys Roe, Chapter 3 of ‘How to Make Poverty History – the central role of local organizations in meeting the MDGs’ Edited by Tom Bigg & David Satterthwaite, IIED, 2005 Full document.

Funded by: European Commission

id21 Research Highlight: 6 March 2006

Further Information:
Dilys Roe
International Institute of
Environment and Development
3 Endsleigh Street
London, WC1H 0DD
UK

Tel: +44 (0)20 7388 2117
Fax: +44 (0)20 7388 2826
Contact the contributor: dilys.roe@iied.org

International Institute of Environment and Development, UK

Other related links:
id21 insights #57 'People and protected areas'

'Linking conservation and sustainable livelihoods'

'Monitoring the role of environmental management in the MDGs'

'Who conserves the world’s forests?'

'Supporting community forest management in Lao PDR'