Community-based conservation is a

conservation movement The conservation movement, also known as nature conservation, is a political, environmental, and social movement that seeks to manage and protect natural resources, including animal, fungus, and plant species as well as their habitat for the ...

that emerged in the 1980s, in response to escalating protests and subsequent dialogue with local communities affected by international attempts to protect the

biodiversity Biodiversity or biological diversity is the variety and variability of life on Earth. Biodiversity is a measure of variation at the genetic (''genetic variability''), species (''species diversity''), and ecosystem (''ecosystem diversity'') l ...

of the earth. These contentions were a reaction against traditional 'top down' conservation practices, whereby governments or large organisations exert control at a local level, which were perceived as disregarding the interests of local inhabitants. This stems from the

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

idea on which the conservation movement was founded, of

nature Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. Although humans are ...

being separate from

culture Culture () is an umbrella term which encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, customs, capabilities, and habits of the individuals in these groups ...

. The objective of community-based conservation is to actively involve and give some control to members of local communities in conservation efforts which may affect them, and incorporate improvement to the lives of local people while conserving areas through the creation of national parks or wildlife refuges.

History

The conflicts which led to the growth of community-based conservation are indicative of the historical connection between European colonialism and 'classical' conservation. The classical 'national park' model of conservation, first established through the creation of Yellowstone National Park in 1872 and Yosemite National Park in 1890, aimed to preserve what European settlers perceived as 'pristine natural wilderness'. However, this perception largely ignored the widespread anthropogenic changes to these landscapes generated by indigenous land management, and also justified the expulsion of those indigenous peoples. Thus, classical conservation created protected areas based on a highly exclusionary model of protectionism, with an estimated 20 million people displaced from their land. This conservation strategy was used widely until the 1970s when indigenous people started to fight for their rights and land. In 1975 the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the World Parks Congress recognized the rights of indigenous people and to recognize their rights of the protected areas. More policy changes came about that increased the rights of indigenous people. Community-based conservation came into action from these changes.

Strategies

One strategy of community-based conservation is co-management or joint management of a protected area. Co-management combines local peoples’

traditional knowledge Traditional knowledge (TK), indigenous knowledge (IK) and local knowledge generally refer to knowledge systems embedded in the cultural traditions of regional, indigenous, or local communities. According to the World Intellectual Property Organ ...

of the environment with modern scientific knowledge of scientists.Child, B.;Jones, B. (2006), Practical tools for community conservation in southern Africa, Participatory Learning and Action 55 (ISSN 1357-938X) This combination of knowledge can lead to increased biodiversity and better management of the protected area.

References

{{Reflist Environmental conservation Community

History

Strategies

See also

References