Evaluating the Household Level Outcomes of Community Based Natural Resource Management: the Tchuma Tchato Project and Kwandu Conservancy

Abstract

ABSTRACT. Community based natural resource management (CBNRM) programs aim to link the achievement of conservation objectives with those of rural development and poverty alleviation. However, after more than a decade of implementation in southern Africa, there is remarkably little rigorous analysis of their achievements with respect to these goals. An evaluation of two CBNRM interventions, the Tchuma Tchato Project in Mozambique and the Kwandu Conservancy in Namibia, measured the impacts at the household level using multidimensional poverty indices. The analysis found no positive impacts on the multiple dimensions of poverty arising from the Tchuma Tchato initiative in Mozambique. In Kwandu Conservancy in Namibia, positive impacts were felt only on household financial capital on a disappointingly narrow scale. These results have important implications for policy makers and program designers and demonstrate the necessity of developing targeted strategies if poverty alleviation outcomes are to be achieved. Further, if the assumption that the provision of incentives is key to encouraging and maintaining participation in CBNRM is correct, the delivery of appropriate benefits that have a sufficient impact at the household level will be crucial for the long run sustainability of these initiatives.

African community-based conservation: a systematic review of social and ecological outcomes

“…6). In some cases, the unequal distribution of benefits was due in part to the relatively scarce benefits available to members, such that only a small percentage of CBC members (e.g., those directly employed at the CBC) actually received any https://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol23/iss3/art39/ benefits (e.g., Wainwright and Wehrmeyer 1998, Suich 2013, Silva and Mosimane 2014). Yet, elite capture, where local and extralocal elites received a disproportionate percentage of benefits and engaged in exclusionary membership practices, was a major factor in the unequal distribution of benefits within CBCs (e.g., Wainwright and Wehrmeyer 1998, Songorwa 1999, Collomb et al 2010, Hoole 2010, Kamoto et al 2013, Silva and Mosimane 2014, Silva and Motzer 2015.…”

“…Most cases that reported negative social outcomes also reported reductions in social capital. This occurred in the context of eroding community trust, changes to and reduction of traditional rules of use, and breakdowns in traditional networks and institutions (e.g., Songorwa 1999, Balint and Mashinya 2006, Jayne et al 2009, Kamoto et al 2013, Suich 2013, Dyer et al 2014, Silva and Motzer 2015. For instance, in Malawi, Forestry Assistants were hired by the Forestry Department to enforce the 1996 Forest Policy in local Village Forest Areas.…”

Assessing natural resource management through integrated environmental and social-economic accounting

“…The impact of CBNRM on income has been statistically insignificant for the average household (Pailler, Naidoo, Burgess, Freeman, & Fisher, 2015;Riehl, 2014;Suich, 2013), whereas improvements in health (Naidoo & Johnson, 2013;Riehl, 2014) and food security (Pailler et al, 2015) have been identified. The question therefore remains: Why are the impacts of CBNRM inconsistent?…”

“…One possible reason is that particular livelihoods benefit more than others from CBNRM (Collomb et al, 2008;Scanlon & Kull, 2009;Suich, 2013). Looking primarily at the direct income and financial aspects while neglecting the indirect benefits from conservation may present another reason why impacts of NRM are conflicting (TEEB, 2012;WAVES, 2016).…”

The Utilization of Water Points by Wildlife Species in Nyae Nyae Conservancy, Namibia

“…Namibia introduced the concept of Community Based Natural Resource Management (CBNRM) over the past decade to allow the involvement of local farmers in the management of natural resources including wildlife (Fabricius & Koch, 2004). The main emphasis of CBNRM is to ultimately give local people rights to management wildlife resources within their areas generating benefits for their livelihoods while at the same time ensuring continued survival of these resources CBNRM is founded on 4 pillars, namely sustainable conservation, economic development, devolution of rights and collective proprietorship (Suich, 2013). The success of the implementation of the CBNRM approach in Namibia has contributed to the increasing community led conservation areas which are currently serving as important corridors between different protected areas for wildlife.…”