Governance, Land and Distribution: A Discussion on the Political Economy of Community-Based Conservation

Enrique Calfucura

Ecological Economics, 2018, vol. 145, issue C, 18-26

Abstract: The effectiveness of Community-Based Conservation (CBC) has been under discussion. Through the review of CBC initiatives in developing countries, we contribute to the debate by analysing how players influence different factors that determine the outcomes of CBC. We highlight several points. First, the promise of benefits has been overshadowed by constraints on the extraction of natural resources, along with the use of governmental schemes to extract partially the rents from CBC, which has left little to share inside the communities. Second, CBC design and implementation has often overlooked the asymmetries of power within the community and at the individual level, which has produced unequal access to the design, decision-making and outcomes of this activity. Third, while the elites have had a determinant role in shaping the governance of CBC, external agents' promotion of CBC has tended to reproduce the existent negotiating power at the community, local and national levels. Fourth, land contestation plays a key role in the dynamics of relationship and conflict between the governments, corporate interests and the communities. Finally, CBC adaptation to new scenarios depends critically on the process of community empowerment and the building of networks with external agents.

Keywords: Community-Based Conservation; Governance; Equity; Land contestation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (10)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921800916309399
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:145:y:2018:i:c:p:18-26

DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2017.05.012

Access Statistics for this article

Ecological Economics is currently edited by C. J. Cleveland

More articles in Ecological Economics from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().