The strategic pillars of communal natural resource management: benefit, empowerment and conservation

Abstract

Originally prepared as a keynote address for the 2008 La Tapoa Workshop on Natural Resource Management (NRM) and Community Based Natural Resource Management (CBNRM), this paper examines the Southern African experience in CBNRM over the past 20 years. From this experience the paper draws lessons on when and where CBNRM is appropriate, what can make it work, and what can make it work better. These lessons are discussed under the three categories of benefit, conservation and empowerment. Benefit is usually conceptualized in terms of financial revenue, and using a Zimbabwean case study the paper shows how in unusual circumstances this can be substantial. Normally, however, natural resource production can only supplement inputs from agriculture and other modes of production, and the paper warns against regarding CBNRM as a panacea for rural poverty. Benefit should also be understood in non-pecuniary terms, and when economic benefit is linked with authority and responsibility large increments in social capital can result. The conservation interests of donors are often perceived as being at odds with local perspectives, a perception which fails to take into consideration meansend-sequencing. A socially constructed stalemate often occurs when external agencies impose their agendas upon local populations, a stalemate which can be broken when communities are given the authority and responsibility necessary to create internally legitimate regimes. A new science which combines professional and civil inputs is required to achieve CBNRM's goal-empowered and dynamic local regimes integrated into larger scale systems of conservation and development.

Towards informed and multi-faceted wildlife trade interventions

“…For instance, community-based approaches have demonstrated the potential to deliver positive outcomes for species conservation and local, economic development (Murphree, 2009;Velásquez Gomar and Stringer, 2011). Examples include community management of the vicuña (Vicugña vicugña) and ranching of the Broad-snouted cayman (Caiman latirostris) in South America, projects such as CAMPFIRE (Community Areas Management Programme for Indigenous Resources) in Southern Africa, and community-based trophy hunting of the Suleiman markhor in Pakistan McAllister et al, 2009;Wheeler and Domingo, 1997;Taylor, 2009).…”

“…Examples include community management of the vicuña (Vicugña vicugña) and ranching of the Broad-snouted cayman (Caiman latirostris) in South America, projects such as CAMPFIRE (Community Areas Management Programme for Indigenous Resources) in Southern Africa, and community-based trophy hunting of the Suleiman markhor in Pakistan McAllister et al, 2009;Wheeler and Domingo, 1997;Taylor, 2009). Important opportunities therefore exist by engaging local communities in implementing CITES though further research and evaluation are necessary to understand the approaches that have and have not been effective, where, and the reasons why (Roe et al, 2009;Murphree, 2009;Abensperg-Traun et al, 2011).…”

“…For example, greater disposable income, empowerment, land or resource tenure, a start-up enterprise, permission to sustainably harvest listed species, or access to schools and health services Challender and MacMillan, 2014;MacMillan and Nguyen, 2014;Wheeler and Domingo, 1997). This represents a more holistic CBNRM approach but despite success to date, it requires further research in order to optimise existing models to understand what has and has not worked, where, and the reasons why (Murphree, 2009;Roe et al, 2009). Furthermore, while sub-Saharan Africa, South America and South Asia boast good examples of CBNRM projects, Southeast Asia does not, yet its position as an illegal trade hotspot suggests it should be a research priority (Duckworth et al, 2012;Nijman, 2010).…”

CAMPFIRE and Human-Wildlife Conflicts in Local Communities Bordering Northern Gonarezhou National Park, Zimbabwe

“…The Communal Areas Management Programme for Indigenous Resources (CAMPFIRE) launched in Zimbabwe, on communal areas adjacent to national parks, was considered to be one of the key initiatives adopted to ensure that there was no conflict between the economic survival of agricultural communities and the foraging needs of wildlife (Wolmer et al 2004) while generating benefits, promoting conservation, and empowering local communities (Child 2000, Murphree 2009). The CAMPFIRE concept was instrumental in instilling pride and conservation on communally owned lands in Zimbabwe (Heitkönig and Prins 2009) while at the same time creating opportunities for employment and infrastructural development (Mutandwa and Gadzirayi 2007).…”

Molecular markers for promoting agro-biodiversity conservation: a case study from Italy. How cowpea landraces were saved from extinction

“…How to maintain alive other LRs (e.g., those that are maintained in a single home garden, that belong to species for which it is difficult to develop a market or that are grown in less rich countries) it is a problem that remains unsolved. However, Murphree (2009) noted that a Community Based Natural Resource Management, such as that described here, remains the only viable option for an effective conservation of biological resources also for a continent like Africa where rural poverty is widespread. It was noted somewhere else (Brush 2000;Negri 2005) that to finally recognize the important role that agriculture plays in ecological sustainability and to reinforce the links between rural communities, their biological and cultural environment and plant genetic resources, in other words to reinforce the sense of ownership and stewardship that farmers have towards their environment, will help in maintaining agro-biodiversity in the field.…”