Community Attitudes and Behaviour Towards Conservation: An Assessment of a Community Conservation Programme Around Lake Mburo National Park, Uganda
Bibliography B0479
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| Author(s) | Infield, M. Namara, A. |
| Date | January 2001 |
| Reference type | Journal Article |
| Source name | Oryx |
| Journal | Vol 35 No 1 |
| Pages | pp. 48-60 |
| Publisher | Blackwell Publishing |
Summary
This paper analyses the impact of a community conservation programme (CCP) implemented over a 7-year period around a national park in Uganda. Programme activities included dialogue, conflict reduction, education, community resource access and support for community development. Surveys of attitudes show that communities benefited from the programme were significantly more positive towards the park and wildlife than communities that did not. The community conservation programme built an understanding of conservation objectives amongst communities whose members were more likely to recognize positive aspects of the park and less likely to demand that it be degazetted. Comparison over the 7-year duration of the programme, however, did not show that communities were generally more positive towards conservation. They were more critical of management and demanded more support and resources than they had received. Their behaviour was not greatly changed, and high levels of poaching and illegal grazing continued. Attitudes were influenced by communities receiving development assistance, but improvements were fragile, vulnerable to poor behaviour of park staff and law-enforcement activities. Both were seen as contradicting community approaches. Attitudes were also influenced by land ownership and economic occupation. The CCP was not a panacea for the problems of the park and did not resolve fundamental conflicts of interest between communities and park management. However, it did change the way the protagonists perceive and interact with each other
Themes
Community Conservation
Geographic coverage
Uganda
Available from
http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/abs/10.1046/j.1365-3008.2001.00151.x
Related records above this one:
- University of East Anglia, UK (Organisation O0265)
- Institute of Social Research, Uganda (Organisation O0045)