Testing Hypotheses for the Success of Different Conservation Strategies

Evaluations of the success of different conservation strategies are still in their infancy. We used four different measures of project outcomes--ecological, economic, attitudinal, and behavioral--to test hypotheses derived from the assumptions that underlie contemporary conservation solutions. Our hypotheses concerned the effects of natural resource utilization, market integration, decentralization, and community homogeneity on project success. We reviewed the conservation and development literature and used a specific protocol to extract and code the information in a sample of papers. Although our results are by no means conclusive and suffer from the paucity of high-quality data and independent monitoring (80% of the original sample of 124 projects provided inadequate information for use in this study), they show that permitted use of natural resources, market access, and greater community involvement in the conservation project are all important factors for a successful outcome. Without better monitoring schemes in place, it is still impossible to provide a systematic evaluation of how different strategies are best suited to different conservation challenges.

[1]  M. Wells.  Investing in Biodiversity: A Review of Indonesia's Integrated Conservation and Development Projects , 1999 .

[2]  W. Sutherland,et al.  The need for evidence-based conservation. , 2004, Trends in ecology & evolution.

[3]  R. Askins,et al.  Judicious Use of Multiple Hypothesis Tests , 2005 .

[4]  John G. Robinson,et al.  Hunting for Sustainability in Tropical Forests , 1999 .

[5]  Norman L. Christensen,et al.  Disconnects in Evaluating the Relative Effectiveness of Conservation Strategies , 2004 .

[6]  Richard Margoluis,et al.  A Systematic Test of an Enterprise Strategy for Community‐Based Biodiversity Conservation , 2001 .

[7]  K. Redford.  The Empty Forest Many large animals are already ecologically extinct in vast areas of neotropical forest where the vegetation still appears intact , 1992 .

[8]  Daniel C. Nepstad,et al.  Arguing Tropical Forest Conservation: People versus Parks , 2000 .

[9]  Sidney C. Sufrin,et al.  The Logic of Collective Action: Public Goods and the Theory of Groups. , 1966 .

[10]  B. P. Farm,et al.  Consequences of different forms of conservation for large mammals in Tanzania: preliminary analyses , 1998 .

[11]  Thomas O. McShane,et al.  Getting biodiversity projects to work : towards more effective conservation and development , 2004 .

[12]  D. Hulme,et al.  African wildlife and livelihoods: the promise and performance of community conservation. , 2001 .

[13]  M. Olson,et al.  The Logic of Collective Action: Public Goods and the Theory of Groups , 1969 .

[14]  A. Balmford,et al.  Who should pay for tropical conservation, and how could the costs be met? , 2003, Oryx.

[15]  L. Campbell.  Use them or lose them? Conservation and the consumptive use of marine turtle eggs at Ostional, Costa Rica , 1998, Environmental Conservation.

[16]  Catherine A. Christen,et al.  Shifting the power : decentralization and biodiversity conservation , 2000 .

[17]  S. Muller.  Towards Decolonisation of Australia's Protected Area Management: the Nantawarrina Indigenous Protected Area Experience , 2003 .

[18]  P. Ferraro,et al.  Ecology. Direct payments to conserve biodiversity. , 2002, Science.

[19]  M. Borgerhoff Mulder,et al.  Are East African Pastoralists Truly Conservationists?1 , 1999, Current Anthropology.

[20]  J. Browder.  THE LIMITS OF EXTRACTIVISM , 1992 .

[21]  C. Holmes.  The influence of protected area outreach on conservation attitudes and resource use patterns: a case study from western Tanzania , 2003, Oryx.

[22]  N. Brokaw,et al.  The effect of income on the extraction of non-timber tropical forest products: Model, hypotheses, and preliminary findings from the Sumu Indians of Nicaragua , 1995 .

[23]  G A da Fonseca,et al.  Effectiveness of parks in protecting tropical biodiversity. , 2001, Science.

[24]  T. Struhsaker,et al.  Conserving Africa’s rain forests: problems in protected areas and possible solutions , 2005 .

[25]  R. Wade,et al.  Village Republics: Economic Conditions for Collective Action in South India , 1989 .

[26]  Jonathan Padwe,et al.  Impact of Hunting on Large Vertebrates in the Mbaracayu Reserve, Paraguay , 1997 .

[27]  Richard R. Marcus.  Seeing the Forest for the Trees: Integrated Conservation and Development Projects and Local Perceptions of Conservation in Madagascar , 2001 .

[28]  David H. L. Thomas,et al.  Understanding the Links Between Conservation and Development in the Bamenda Highlands, Cameroon , 2001 .

[29]  Wayne M. Getz,et al.  Sustaining Natural and Human Capital: Villagers and Scientists , 1999, Science.

[30]  N. Brokaw,et al.  Do levels of income explain differences in game abundance? An empirical test in two Honduran villages , 2002, Biodiversity & Conservation.

[31]  Philip M. Fearnside,et al.  Extractive reserves in Brazilian Amazonia , 1989 .

[32]  P. Coppolillo,et al.  Conservation: Linking Ecology, Economics, and Culture , 2004 .

[33]  Paul J. Ferraro,et al.  Direct Payments to Conserve Biodiversity , 2002, Science.

[34]  G. Yadama,et al.  How Do Local Institutions Mediate Market and Population Pressures on Resources , 1997 .

[35]  J. Oates.  Myth and Reality in the Rain Forest: How Conservation Strategies Are Failing in West Africa , 1999 .

[36]  R. Pomeroy,et al.  Fisheries Management of San Salvador Island, Philippines: A Shared Responsibility , 1999 .

[37]  E. Wollenberg,et al.  Linking Livelihoods and Conservation: A Conceptual Framework and Scale for Assessing the Integration of Human Needs and Biodiversity , 2000 .

[38]  Rich Block.  Conservation Education in Zoos , 1991 .

[39]  C. Barrett,et al.  Are Integrated Conservation-Development Projects (ICDPs) Sustainable? On the conservation of large mammals in sub-Saharan Africa , 1995 .

[40]  David R. Lee,et al.  Community Participation in Ecotourism Benefits: The Link to Conservation Practices and Perspectives , 2003 .

[41]  John D. Storey.  A direct approach to false discovery rates , 2002 .

[42]  David Hulme,et al.  Communities, wildlife and the 'new conservation' in Africa , 1999 .

[43]  M. Honey,et al.  Book Review: Ecotourism and Sustainable Development: Who Owns Paradise? , 1999 .

[44]  L. A. Goodman,et al.  Measures of association for cross classifications , 1979 .

[45]  K. Brown.  Innovations for conservation and development , 2002 .

[46]  K. Brandon,et al.  The role of protected areas in conserving biodiversity and sustaining local livelihoods , 2005 .

[47]  Harold B. Sackrowitz,et al.  An Evaluation of Some Tests of Trend in Contingency Tables , 1992 .

[48]  Y. Benjamini,et al.  Controlling the false discovery rate: a practical and powerful approach to multiple testing , 1995 .

[49]  R. Hinde,et al.  Governing the Commons: The Evolution of Institutions for Governing the Commons: The Evolution of Institutions for Collective Action Collective Action , 2010 .

[50]  M. Alvard.  Evolutionary ecology and resource conservation , 1998 .

[51]  D. Nepstad,et al.  Rethinking Tropical Forest Conservation: Perils in Parks , 2000 .

[52]  Jean-Philippe Platteau,et al.  Halting degradation of natural resources: is there a role for rural communities? , 2000 .

[53]  J. Ribot.  Waiting for democracy: The politics of choice in natural resource decentralization , 2004 .

[54]  C. Freese.  Harvesting wild species : implications for biodiversity conservation , 1997 .

[55]  A. Agresti,et al.  Categorical Data Analysis , 1991, International Encyclopedia of Statistical Science.

[56]  Matt Walpole,et al.  Local attitudes towards conservation and tourism around Komodo National Park, Indonesia , 2001, Environmental Conservation.