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Thesis (Ph. D.)--Victoria University (Melbourne, Vic.), 2008. / Includes bibliographical references.

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This dissertation explores the complex structures and diverse experiences of globalization through the specific analytical lens of community-based natural resource management (CBNRM). CBNRM is an undertaking which is fundamentally local but also integrally connected to transnational conservation ideology and national structures of authority. While recent critiques of community-based conservation projects have challenged the universal efficacy of the approach, CBNRM continues to be a ubiquitous conservation paradigm and to provide lingering hope for local empowerment through resource management. Focusing on two community-based conservation groups formed in Tanzania and Zanzibar, this dissertation looks at the experience of local groups attempting to engage with broader national or international conservation networks by focusing on three tropes of globalization theory: intersections between traditional ecological knowledge and western science, the relationship between civil society and the state, and the specific mechanisms for local engagement with national and global entities. The community groups in this study use dynamic and adaptive strategies to channel resources into their communities. However, they also face significant structural constraints, many of which reveal the neocolonial effects of transnational conservation ideology. This work explores both the factors limiting or manipulating local participation in resource management and the strategies used by these two community-based conservation groups to ensure their participation in spite of those limitations.

<p>Tanzania has exceptional wildlife, environment and natural resources. The traditional way of conserving nature and wildlife has been through parks and reserves. In the 1980’s community based conservation emerged as a resource management paradigm. Its premise was that giving local people a stake in wildlife would increase their incentive to conserve it. This would make wildlife an important engine of local economic development. The core elements in community based conservation projects concern development, conservation and sustainable land use. Its ambition both to improve conditions for the local communities and conserve wildlife seems like a win-win situation, but has this really been working that well when applied in the field? This study aims to review the Community Based Wildlife Management in Tanzania, exemplified by a case study in the Wildlife Management Area in Burunge, located in a migration corridor between two national parks. There has been much controversy surrounding community-based management projects. While gains for the local communities have not always been clear, gains for wildlife seem more evident. Both species numbers and individuals have increased, but at the same time there has also been increasing conflicts between locals and wildlife. This is a sign that the WMAs are only halfway to towards reaching their goal of improving conditions for both communities and wildlife. CBC stills seems like the way forwards, maybe in a modified form which allows more government control, but where local people’s rights are still respected.</p>

Tanzania has exceptional wildlife, environment and natural resources. The traditional way of conserving nature and wildlife has been through parks and reserves. In the 1980’s community based conservation emerged as a resource management paradigm. Its premise was that giving local people a stake in wildlife would increase their incentive to conserve it. This would make wildlife an important engine of local economic development. The core elements in community based conservation projects concern development, conservation and sustainable land use. Its ambition both to improve conditions for the local communities and conserve wildlife seems like a win-win situation, but has this really been working that well when applied in the field? This study aims to review the Community Based Wildlife Management in Tanzania, exemplified by a case study in the Wildlife Management Area in Burunge, located in a migration corridor between two national parks. There has been much controversy surrounding community-based management projects. While gains for the local communities have not always been clear, gains for wildlife seem more evident. Both species numbers and individuals have increased, but at the same time there has also been increasing conflicts between locals and wildlife. This is a sign that the WMAs are only halfway to towards reaching their goal of improving conditions for both communities and wildlife. CBC stills seems like the way forwards, maybe in a modified form which allows more government control, but where local people’s rights are still respected.

This study evaluated how three conservation approaches implemented by the Brazilian Sea Turtle Conservation Program (the TAMAR Project) are related to local support for sea turtle conservation in Praia do Forte, Brazil. Four species of sea turtles nest in Praia do Forte. In Praia do Forte, locals harvested sea turtles for their meat and eggs on a regular basis to support subsistence needs. The three conservation strategies analyzed are employment opportunities and alternative sources of income from sea turtle ecotourism; enforcement of federal sea turtle protection laws; and implementation of environmental education programs via sea turtle ecotourism. These conservation strategies, which are implemented since 1982, represent both top-down and bottom-up conservation paradigms. Qualitative and quantitative data were gathered through nine months of fieldbased research (between May 2006 and September 2008), using tools of participant observation, semi-structured interviews, and key informant interviews. Results indicate that conservation strategies implemented by TAMAR seem to influence local support for sea turtle conservation. Income and environmental education programs to the local children are cited as the main benefits sea turtle conservation brings to the community. Enforcement caused resentment when first implemented, but is now perceived as a necessary strategy to protect sea turtles. The relative lack of community participation in sea turtle conservation seems not to have hampered local support for sea turtle conservation. In fact, the majority of respondents perceive TAMAR as the most appropriate entity to manage sea turtles, and only a minority believes the community should co-manage sea turtle conservation with TAMAR. Though these three conservation strategies seem to help maintain traditional ecological knowledge, the future of this knowledge across generations is uncertain. Though community-based sea turtle conservation is working at the community scale, external factors associated with tourism development at the larger scale seem to influence both livelihoods and sea turtle survival. On a negative side, larger scale tourism development is associated with an increase in the cost of living, the introduction of drugs, violence and greater sense of insecurity, changes in the local fishing culture, and with ongoing threats to sea turtle survival. Tourism development is associated with benefits as well, including improvements in the local infrastructure, employment opportunities, and alternative sources of income. Since tourism development, at both local and regional scales, is unlikely to decrease any time soon, sea turtle survival no longer solely depends in getting local support for sea turtle conservation, but also in addressing the external factors that drive conservation and consumption of sea turtles. Overall, sea turtle ecotourism is one part of a larger strategy for meeting local socioeconomic needs while also protecting sea turtles in Praia do Forte.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Delaware, 2009. / Principal faculty advisor: John Byrne, School of Urban Affairs & Public Policy. Includes bibliographical references.

Global, national and local institutions are adopting coastal management strategies that attempt to facilitate conservation without undermining socioeconomic development. Recently, two global conservation trends have developed that attempt to address prevailing issues of poverty and environmental degradation – community-based conservation and conservation networks. Using a political ecology lens, I examine the intersection of these trends in the local context of Pemba Island. Through fieldwork, textual analysis and literature reviews, I investigate how a community-based conservation association has been impacted by the establishment of a marine conservation network. In theory, community-based conservation and marine conservation networks offer solutions to the failures of fortress conservation and sectoral management. In practice, this case study demonstrates that these lofty objectives are difficult to achieve. These findings contribute to emerging research into the social dynamics of scaling up marine conservation areas and suggest that the success of marine conservation networks hinges on meaningful community participation.

Community-based conservation includes natural resource or biodiversity protection by, for and with the local community. However, surprisingly little is known about what enables community-based conservation. The aim of this research was to explore and identify potential motivations of a community-based organization in choosing, in this case, conservation of endangered olive ridley sea turtles (Lepidochelys olivacea) as their flagship project. Samudram Women’s Federation, a State-level organization working with small-scale fishing communities in Odisha, India, was used as a case to explore questions around collective action for communitybased conservation. Using qualitative methodologies, the study analyzed how the interactions and interests of multiple actors shaped the goals and activities for the conservation initiative. Government prohibition of killing turtles, or any other single factor, could not explain conservation behavior. Rather, many complementary factors (economic, political, environmental, social cultural and spiritual) enabled and/or motivated community conservation and environment / February 2016