Issues arising from Conservation Policy and the Commons

Abstract

"Moira's commentary on conservation policy and the commons provides important insights. The key issue raised is the lack of community participation in the initiation, development and implementation of protected areas. Judging from the trends over the past two decades, it can be argued that such protected areas are going to be there for many years. A number of factors are identified as having contributed to this lack of community participation in conservation. Among them is the reality gap between policy makers, those implementing the policy and those affected by the policy. Apart from conservation policies, conservation laws also contribute to this reality gap. Therefore we need to reflect carefully on the future of protected area management with regard to community participation. In particular, what kind of conservation laws and policies do we want to see in respect of community participation? Rather than the disempowering and disenfranchising laws and policies of the past, we need those that do the opposite: empowering and enabling stakeholders (including communities) to play significant roles in protected area management and ensuring that they are beneficiaries in the real sense."