22
Social values and conservation biogeography
maintaining natural resources and key species at
healthy levels.
This processes of devolving authority over wildlife
and tourism to local communities seems to be working
well, at least in Namibia. Populations of cheetah,
leopard, wild dog, springbok and zebra have been
increasing on private land since the 1960s (Barnes &
de Jager, 1996 ), and the communal conservancy
model has created hundreds of jobs as fi eld offi cers,
community game guards, community resource monitors and as offi ce staff. In 2006 it was estimated that
approximately US$2.4 million ‘ new money ’ had fl owed
into conservancy areas in Namibia since their creation
(Jones & Barnes, 2006 ).
2.3 RESERVE DESIGNATIONS FROM
INTERNATIONAL CONVENTIONS
Perhaps the main driver of the global increase in protected area numbers (and the associated proliferation
of terminology) has been the creation of legal frameworks for conservation at the level of individual states
or through supra - national bodies such as the United
Nations or the European Commission. A good example
of the former is the National Parks and Access to the
Countryside Act passed by the UK government in
1949, which resulted in the creation of a protected
area category known as Sites of Special Scientifi c
Interest (SSSIs) and the formation of a government
agency (The Nature Conservancy Council) responsible
for their designation. Land could be designated as an
SSSI irrespective of whether it was in an existing protected area or not, thereby creating a legislative building block for a more extensive and ‘ joined - up ’ site - based
conservation strategy. N.B.: The SSSI designation is not
solely concerned with ‘ biodiversity ’ attributes and, for
example, also covers sites of importance for geological
features of interest.
National legislation has been vitally important in
the creation of new protected areas, but in the last
three decades has often been created in response to
countries and multinational bodies (e.g. The European
Commission) signing up to big global agreements and
conservation conventions. It is these international
agreements that have done the most to promote
the recent growth of protected areas (Figure 2.1 )
and to provide a framework for their designation.
Perhaps the most important such agreement to date
has been the Convention on Biological Diversity,
2.2.8 Community c onservation a reas
It is now widely recognized that many animal - and
plant - rich landscapes are the result of traditional
human interactions with their environments. Often,
however, traditional practices and forms of landscape
management have been eroded either by authoritarian
states, markets, environmental degradation or a combination of all three.
Since the late 1980s, there has been a concerted
effort from the international community towards the
rebuilding or reinvigorating of community - level institutions with the authority and capacity to manage
their natural resources in a sustainable manner, under
the name of Community - Based Natural Resource
Management (CBNRM). Tsing et al . (1999) identify
three premises of CBNRM programs: fi rst, that local
populations have a greater interest in the sustainable
use of resources than the state or other potentially
interested parties; second, that local communities are
more knowledgeable about local ecological processes
and practices than are other interest groups; and
fi nally, that such communities are better placed to
effectively manage their own resources.
One consequence of CBNRM and similar initiatives
has been the creation of Community Conserved Areas
(CCAs) where local people ‘ own ’ and manage wildlife
rich sites and landscapes. One of the best examples of
this is the ‘ Communal Conservancy ’ model developed
in Namibia and now being adopted in other African
countries. CCAs are founded on the belief that if communities have exclusive use rights of wildlife resources
they will manage the ‘ resource ’ sustainably.
In 1996, Namibia introduced the Nature
Conservation Amendment Act (GRN, 1996 ), giving
conditional use rights over wildlife to communities in
communal areas. Under the terms of the Act, communities are required to form a local management
institution (the conservancy) comprising a committee
drawn from the community, draw up a constitution
and management goals, develop approaches and
monitoring protocols and create a local mandate for
conservancy management staff to operate (Massyn,
2007 ). To help in the process, external conservation
groups such as the World Wildlife Fund (WWF)
and the independent policy research Institute (IIED)
provide technical input, training and general support.
The revenue in these areas is almost exclusively
generated through safari - tourism and trophy hunting,
so the community has a strong vested interest in
Social values and conservation biogeography
maintaining natural resources and key species at
healthy levels.
This processes of devolving authority over wildlife
and tourism to local communities seems to be working
well, at least in Namibia. Populations of cheetah,
leopard, wild dog, springbok and zebra have been
increasing on private land since the 1960s (Barnes &
de Jager, 1996 ), and the communal conservancy
model has created hundreds of jobs as fi eld offi cers,
community game guards, community resource monitors and as offi ce staff. In 2006 it was estimated that
approximately US$2.4 million ‘ new money ’ had fl owed
into conservancy areas in Namibia since their creation
(Jones & Barnes, 2006 ).
2.3 RESERVE DESIGNATIONS FROM
INTERNATIONAL CONVENTIONS
Perhaps the main driver of the global increase in protected area numbers (and the associated proliferation
of terminology) has been the creation of legal frameworks for conservation at the level of individual states
or through supra - national bodies such as the United
Nations or the European Commission. A good example
of the former is the National Parks and Access to the
Countryside Act passed by the UK government in
1949, which resulted in the creation of a protected
area category known as Sites of Special Scientifi c
Interest (SSSIs) and the formation of a government
agency (The Nature Conservancy Council) responsible
for their designation. Land could be designated as an
SSSI irrespective of whether it was in an existing protected area or not, thereby creating a legislative building block for a more extensive and ‘ joined - up ’ site - based
conservation strategy. N.B.: The SSSI designation is not
solely concerned with ‘ biodiversity ’ attributes and, for
example, also covers sites of importance for geological
features of interest.
National legislation has been vitally important in
the creation of new protected areas, but in the last
three decades has often been created in response to
countries and multinational bodies (e.g. The European
Commission) signing up to big global agreements and
conservation conventions. It is these international
agreements that have done the most to promote
the recent growth of protected areas (Figure 2.1 )
and to provide a framework for their designation.
Perhaps the most important such agreement to date
has been the Convention on Biological Diversity,
2.2.8 Community c onservation a reas
It is now widely recognized that many animal - and
plant - rich landscapes are the result of traditional
human interactions with their environments. Often,
however, traditional practices and forms of landscape
management have been eroded either by authoritarian
states, markets, environmental degradation or a combination of all three.
Since the late 1980s, there has been a concerted
effort from the international community towards the
rebuilding or reinvigorating of community - level institutions with the authority and capacity to manage
their natural resources in a sustainable manner, under
the name of Community - Based Natural Resource
Management (CBNRM). Tsing et al . (1999) identify
three premises of CBNRM programs: fi rst, that local
populations have a greater interest in the sustainable
use of resources than the state or other potentially
interested parties; second, that local communities are
more knowledgeable about local ecological processes
and practices than are other interest groups; and
fi nally, that such communities are better placed to
effectively manage their own resources.
One consequence of CBNRM and similar initiatives
has been the creation of Community Conserved Areas
(CCAs) where local people ‘ own ’ and manage wildlife
rich sites and landscapes. One of the best examples of
this is the ‘ Communal Conservancy ’ model developed
in Namibia and now being adopted in other African
countries. CCAs are founded on the belief that if communities have exclusive use rights of wildlife resources
they will manage the ‘ resource ’ sustainably.
In 1996, Namibia introduced the Nature
Conservation Amendment Act (GRN, 1996 ), giving
conditional use rights over wildlife to communities in
communal areas. Under the terms of the Act, communities are required to form a local management
institution (the conservancy) comprising a committee
drawn from the community, draw up a constitution
and management goals, develop approaches and
monitoring protocols and create a local mandate for
conservancy management staff to operate (Massyn,
2007 ). To help in the process, external conservation
groups such as the World Wildlife Fund (WWF)
and the independent policy research Institute (IIED)
provide technical input, training and general support.
The revenue in these areas is almost exclusively
generated through safari - tourism and trophy hunting,
so the community has a strong vested interest in