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The Conservation of Biodiversity Inside and Outside Protected Areas

Oldekop, Johan

[Thesis]. Manchester, UK: The University of Manchester; 2011.

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Abstract

In recent decades there has been a push to try and include communities in natural resource conservation initiatives. This thesis uses a multidisciplinary approach and a series of case studies in the Ecuadorian Amazon to look at the role that common property regimes can have in conservation initiatives. Results show that community managed forests can have positive conservation outcomes. Local communities, however, will often integrate into local market economies creating significant tradeoffs between livelihoods, local management decisions and natural resource conservation. Nonetheless, resource scarcity can drive the evolution of local resource management institutions and communities have the potential to accurately monitor changes in natural resources. These results suggest that local communities have the potential to play an important role in conservation practices but that local economic incentives can affect the way in which communities manage their resources.

Layman's Abstract

This PhD is a collection of studies that study the role of indigenous communities in biodiversity conservation. The first study uses the data in the current scientific literature to look community conservation. The second and third studies use a series use original data gathered in indigenous Kichwa communities the Ecuadorian Amazon to look at the relationship between self designed rules, agriculture and biodiversity. The fourth study focuses asks if frogs, ferns and beetles can tell us anything about the state and health of forests. In the fifth study we ask if local communities themselves can monitor changes in their forests. The sixth study is an opinion piece about the union of academic disciplines including the lessons learnt and the challenges ahead.