Participatory Approaches to Conservation
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In the lush floodplains of Diawling National Park along the Senegal River, a group gathers for another demonstration by local women on how to gather the perennial grass Sporobolus robustus. This grass is used to make traditional fishing equipment and mats, but just 10 years ago the grass was very difficult to find. As a result of a restoration project and the establishment of the national park, the grass is beginning to recover.
Why has the restoration process been successful? Park managers sought out the local community knowledge of the former ecosystem and incorporated this into the management plan. To their great satisfaction, they found that women who had participated throughout the restoration process and in developing the park management plan felt that they had a stake in what happened to the ecosystem. The women's knowledge had been valued and included, and they did not want to see their hard work destroyed. That is why these women were worried when outsiders from over 50 km away started coming to the area to collect Sporobolus robustus grass. They were especially concerned about the techniques incoming gatherers were using. Because of their past work with the park managers, they felt confident to approach the managers with their concerns. Now the women and the park managers are collaborating to teach the outsiders proper gathering techniques, and the conflict has been resolved. If the park managers had chosen to ignore the local community's input, they would have alienated themselves and their efforts from the people whose daily activities have direct impacts on Sporobolus robustus. They also would have found their efforts squelched by the unsustainable practices of outsiders.
Adapted from: Hamerlynck, Olivier. nd. The Diawling National Park: Joint Management for the Rehabilitation of a Degraded Coastal Wetland. http://ramsar.org/
What is participation?
The term "participation" is used in a wide variety of ways. If it is used carelessly, it may mean simply informing community leaders what a conservation project intends to do or conducting focus groups to gather information. We argue that this is not true participation. True participation, whether at the community level or at higher scales of activity, means identifying key stakeholder groups and inviting their collaboration throughout the project cycle. Stakeholders are the people and organizations who may affect or be affected by a conservation activity or program. In a broad sense, we are all stakeholders in global conservation. But the important stakeholder groups in a well-defined conservation activity can usually be identified by their occupation, gender, socioeconomic status, official position, ethnicity, or other category.
Because different stakeholder groups hold different points of view and different degrees of social, economic, or political power in a community or society, conflicts between them can sometimes erupt. When this happens, resolving conflict is essential to keeping your project moving forward. This, too, is a part of "participation."
Since involving people takes so much time, is it really worth it?
If you have not used participatory methods for developing a project before, the tools we present here may seem to require too much time to be worthwhile. In fact, most failed conservation projects can trace their problems directly to the failure to consult with and involve the right people. This does not mean you have to collaborate with everyone-if your conservation goals are clear, you will be able to identify those groups whose participation is essential to conservation success.
In return, you will likely: - Gain greater buy-in for your work from a diverse range of individuals, organizations and communities;
- Prevent overwhelming conflicts from undoing your efforts;
- Avoid misunderstandings between individuals, organizations, and communities;
- Form strategic alliances that outlive your current plan;
- Ensure the timing of your project is optimal;
- Anticipate future conflicts or complications and revise your strategy accordingly;
- Understand the feasibility of planned activities; and
- Record more comprehensive monitoring data.
In Stories at the Forest Edge, one conservation practitioner in Indonesia could truly see the results of participation: "From our experience, when people are actively involved in managing the forest, natural resources can thrive. In places where the people participate, the forests are greener than the degraded areas in the forest where no community people are involved."
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©2003 Community Conservation Coalition
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