Compensating Local Communities for Conserving Biodiversity: Shall We Save the Goose that Laid the Golden Eggs so Long?

Abstract

"My contention in this paper is that various schemes for compensation must take into account a variety of ethical positions guiding the motivations of those who conserve biodiversity. Same incentive or recognition or reward will obviously not work for all kinds of motivations. I also submit in this paper that given the past record of most governments having very weak commitments to make the machinery of government accountable to local disadvantaged communities, entrusting the task of routing compensation from national or international funds through the same in different machinery will be counter productive. Whether NGOs will serve the purpose depends to .a great extent on their ethical position and accountability to local communities. This is one area where values of provider, receiver and the intermediaries would inevitably require reconciliation. Here again, the transaction costs of fair agreements may be minimized more through faith and transparency than just through laws. Though legal framework is necessary to enable enforcement of respective rights in any exchange. It cannot be sufficient."