Biodiversity loss caused by human activities is considered to be one of the greatest challenges to the stability of our planet. Protected areas emerged as a solution to this challenge, but they are not always successful due to the exclusion and displacement of local communities that live in proximity to the protected area, especially in low income countries. The Maasai Mara conservancy model presents an opportunity to mitigate these problems by increasing wildlife habitat and simultaneously improving the livelihoods of surrounding Maasai communities. However, the model is threatened by the Covid-19 pandemic which has suspended the international tourism on which the conservancies rely. In order to understand how the model can potentially increase its resilience to future global shocks, I interviewed stakeholders about their experiences within the model, during the pandemic and relating to past global shocks. Using the concept of environmentality, I sought to evaluate the structure of the model, its historical roots and the governance tools which enable its function. Some already existing issues were emphasised by the impact of the pandemic, while new opportunities for evolution were also unearthed. The most prominent theme arising from these conversations was that of equity - between tourism partners and landowners, relating to the rights of women and to the place of Maasai youth in the future of the model. The colonial history of wildlife conservation also created discussions around the exclusion of local tourists and the underlying biases that may exist. Finally, I attempt to understand how the governance enacted within the conservancy model creates different kinds of environmental subjects. Although previous discussions on environmental governance have assumed that regulation is successful, I illustrate here that power is not unidirectional because resistance and negotiation by the governed population is common. By interrogating the different layers of environmentality and how they interplay, I trace the creation new environmental subjectivities in those who are involved in the conservation of wildlife in the Maasai Mara.

The study considers whether blended finance helps scale up private investment in southern Africa's community-based conservation. It examines what are stakeholder's perspectives on the opportunities, barriers and risks of using blended finance to help scale up private investment in this context. Further, it delves into which, if any, of the revenue- generating activities available to communities from conservation are most viable to upscale with blended finance, and via which blended finance tools. The questions were answered via an exploratory sequential mixed methods design, utilising interviews in Phase 1 and a survey completed by 104 respondents in Phase 2. The output from the research is a publicly available inventory of blended investment options for community-based conservation, including seven types of non-tourism, conservation-related revenue streams. Five of these are ranked positively for scalability, wildlife economy, Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) in carbon and restoration, and forestry and agriculture related supply chains. The study suggests some viable space between demand and supply for conservation finance at the community level and provides insight into how to overcome the barriers to these; particularly in the context of communal land, which is a common arrangement for southern African conservation. There are limited first-hand examples of blended finance being used for community-based conservation. The research points to a gap in using insurance and guarantees as blended finance tools to address the challenges of credit risk for investors on communal land; such tools could be catalytic in unlocking private investment in conservation that returns environmental and development benefits in this region. The study addresses the missed opportunity for communities to benefit from conservation at a much greater scale than presently experienced. It also serves to update the working theory of conservation finance to the context of community-based conservation.

To explore the institutional resilience of community-based conservation, I undertook empirical research in the Annapurna Conservation Area (ACA), Nepal, a protected area managed by the Annapurna Conservation Area Project (ACAP) and local communities organized into 56 Conservation Area Management Committees (CAMCs). I conducted scripted interviews with 212 members of 30 representative CAMCs, 13 ACAP staff members who closely monitor those CAMCs, and 868 local villagers who are the beneficiaries of the conservation programs. The field research was undertaken during the summer of 2007 and fall of 2008. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected and analyzed. I estimated capital stocks and assessed the organizational resilience of each CAMC during and following the Maoist insurgency. I used confirmatory factor analysis to develop scales for measuring the two theoretical constructs of legitimacy and institutional resilience, the latter of which refers to the overall system of community-based conservation in the area. I used the adaptive cycle framework of growth, maturation, collapse and reorganization to assess changes in structures and processes and to explore the past, present and possible future trends in ACA. Villagers largely considered the CAMCs as legitimate institutions, and their executive members as trustworthy. CAMC members understood the organizational mission and were confident about assuming greater management responsibility of the area in the near future. Human and social capital stocks were positively related to the resilience of the CAMCs. Particularly, themes of intra-committee trust, help networks, and the duration of members' tenure on the committees were important. Furthermore, natural capital stocks showed a parabolic relationship with organizational resilience; the most resilient CAMCs had moderate amounts of natural capital under their jurisdictions. The scales used to measure legitimacy and institutional resilience were reliable, and showed a significant positive correlation with each other. Five variables significantly predicted the villagers' perceptions of legitimacy: performance assessments of CAMCs, social norms as measured by perceptions of peers' attitudes towards CAMCs, empowerment as measured by villagers' perceptions of their influence in the CAMCs' decision making processes, perceived benefits and costs associated with having the CAMC in a village, and reported levels of personal participation in CAMCs' activities. The conservation institution appeared to have been resilient to the insurgency, as the system maintained its identity throughout, avoided alternative undesirable states, and entered into the reorganization phase following collapse. All forms of capital and institutional performance decreased to some extent during collapse but institutional memory, available capital and some structural changes facilitated reorganization. The institutional system is reorganizing along the original regime, but it has also developed an alternative pathway of a new governance model for the area that will transform the present regime in the near term. / Ph. D.

M Sc (Botany) --University of Limpopo, 2010 / The Kruger National Park is a world renowned organization and is rated as one of the best nature reserves in nature conservation in the world. Despite all the efforts made to control and protect nature in the Park, there is a need for the involvement of the community around the Park. Community-based conservation in particular has been subjected to a series of scathing criticisms, and it has become increasingly acceptable to advocate a return to more coercive forms of conservation. The establishment of the Park forum consisting of the neighbouring communities and the Park requires new strategies for better integration of conservation and rural development. The interest of conservation can be threatened by various factors, mainly poverty, poaching and wildlife conflicts. The interests of the population residing in the immediate neighbourhood of Kruger National Park can be threatened by proposed wildlife management options, other neighbouring conservation areas, and new tourist development activities. Effective conflict prevention mechanisms need to be developed together with the communities and especially in the implementation process. The study presents a critical analysis of the impact of the development made by the Park to the local communities. The available policies need to be implemented in order to assess their developmental impact they are making on the communities. The community has developed a negative attitude towards the park because they think the park is not doing enough in terms of development and training and skills development. The issue of a budget is a concern because it is not clear whether the park has a budget or not for the community. In as far as the community is concerned, there is no budget available and in as far as the park is concerned, the budget is available for community development. There is no cooperation between the park and the community. It seems the park is operating parallel to the community. There are a lot of uncertainties on the side of the community which has developed into mistrust. Communities like Makuleke are involved in farming such that some of the community members have got some subsistence farming skills. If training may be given to these people, most of them may begin to engage in commercial farming. There is also a strong feeling that the Hlanganani forum which represents the community is not recognized by the KNP management. It is there to fulfill the requirement of the policy. It became clearly that Kruger National Park does not involve the forum which has been formed to function as a link between the Park and the community. The negotiated partnership between the park and the community in terms of nature conservation is now at stake. The community is now more concerned about their safety and that of their livestock because of the wild animals roaming around day and night. This is a very serious problem which exists between the park and the community which in a way may hamper the progress in terms of sustaining the relationship 5 currently being nurtured. It is recommended that the park management as the main active role player should put in place a good, viable and effective communication strategy which will form the basis of communication between the park and the community. This will assist both the park and the community to communicate the available developmental policies to the community. And if that is well communicated it is going to eliminate unnecessary conflict in terms of not knowing what the park has for the community and the policies available to address such developmental issues. / N/A

This is a qualitative study examining conservation attitudes and resource use of 63 individuals in Kasigau, Kenya. Community members described their perceptions of conservation, the resources that they use, the location and availability of these, their support for the protection of Mt. Kasigau, their likes and dislikes of plant and animal species, and their support of ecotourism in Kasigau. All individuals listed conservation behaviors and agreed that protecting Mt. Kasigau is important. Many recognized the mountain as the only source of water. Some resources were limited, especially at certain times of the year. All interviewed community members except one would like tourists to visit Kasigau and are interested in cultural exchange. There is an apparent difference between conservation and ecotourism attitudes in Makwasinyi and the other six villages which could be because Makwasinyi has a lower level of education and is isolated on the northeastern side of the mountain. Gender differences between males and females were also present as each gender uses different resources coupled with a division of labor. The main theory that evolved was rational choice theory. People of Kasigau are trying to sustain their livelihoods and will pick conservation activities due to their benefits and chance they will increase income. When developing a community-based conservation model, these attitudes, education level, and gender differences must be considered to make a plan the whole community can agree on and from which it will benefit.

Thesis (M.Ed. (Education)) - Rhodes University, 2009.

The Nandi Hills and Nandi Forests in Nandi County, Kenya are major water catchments for Lake Victoria. However, these resources have faced significant decline and degradation in recent times, thereby impacting the hydrological quality and quantity in the Lake Victoria Basin. This study was informed by the observed degradation of the Nandi Hills and Nandi Forests, epitomized by the receding forest cover, drying up of previously permanent streams, instances of mudslides and rock falls, and downstream flooding. The study therefore sought to interrogate the current institutional environmental and educational arrangements and practices which are pertinent to the sustainable management of the Nandi Hills Forests, the perceptions and understandings of the local population in terms of forest resources and land use, and the information that can be provided by GIS and Remote Sensing data, in order to produce a heuristic for planning community environmental education in the Nandi County. To achieve this, a mixed methodological design which incorporated both qualitative and quantitative data was embraced. The mixed method approaches used in this study were the concurrent triangulation and nested/embedded designs. A four-tier analysis was carried out once all the data had been coded and grouped. The analysis covered three categories of the population in the study area; namely the households, institutions and community groups, and analysis of Landsat images for change detection. The study reveals that there are several state and non-state institutions that are involved in the management of the Nandi Hills Forests and that their efforts have seen an improvement in the perceptions of the local population in terms of the importance of environmental management of the forests. Analysis of the Landsat images has revealed receding natural forest cover. The contribution of informal, local and indigenous knowledge to sustainable management of the Nandi Hills Forest was notable (85 percent of the population attribute their knowledge on forests and forestry to informal knowledge sources). These results informed the development of a heuristic to enable the adoption of strategies using readily accessible, though loosely applicable, information for problem solving in developing and implementing community environmental education practices for effective forest management and conservation practices that are responsive to the needs of the Nandi Forest community.

Marine Areas for Responsible Artisanal Fishing (AMPR) have emerged as a new model for co-managing small-scale fisheries in Costa Rica, one that involves collaboration between fishers, government agencies and NGOs. This thesis aims to examine the context for collective action and co-management by small-scale fishers; evaluate the design, implementation, and enforcement of AMPRs; and conduct a linguistic analysis of fisheries legislation. The present work relies on the analysis of several types of qualitative data, including interviews with 23 key informants, rapid rural assessments, and legal documents. Findings demonstrate the strong influence of economic factors for sustaining collective action, as well as the importance of certain types of external organizations for community development and co-management. Additionally, significant enforcement gaps and institutional deficiencies were identified in the work of regulating agencies. Legal analysis suggests that mechanisms for government accountability are unavailable and that legal discourse reflects some of the most salient problems in management.

No description available.

Wildlife Management Areas (WMA) are established all around Tanzania, giving the incentive to local communities to preserve nature, and simultaneously promoting socio-economic development for the local communities. Having a capability approach, this paper is leveraging theories of justice in order to establish a perception of local communities freedom to improve their well-being in ways they see fit their wills. Through semi-structured interview, and literature review, I found the local communities' inclusion within the WMA is regarded as important as important infrastructure could thus be established, however, from perspectives of justice, local communities ́capability to freedom of choice are diminishing. This is demonstrated in the occurrence of wildlife damage on villages crops and livestock, and most notably the villages themself. The paper argues that there is a lack of recognition of the local communities from external stakeholders, hence affecting their capability to participate in decision-making. The development of the local communities are very much dependent on the interest of investors, and hence the need for government regulations of participatory processes are demonstrated.