Integrating protected area management with local needs and aspirations

Conservationists recognize that many protected areas have limited future prospects without the cooperation and support of local people, especially in developing countries. Since the 1980s Integrated Conservation and Development Projects (ICDPs) have attempted to reconcile park management with local needs and aspirations, usually with disappointing results. Achieving local cooperation and support without jeopardizing conservation goals remains a top priority for parks, however. Fortunately, the lessons from the ICDP experience provide an important opportunity to inform the next generation of biodiversity conservation programs, including those concerned with poverty alleviation as well as those working at ecosystem and landscape scales. More recent and more promising approaches have started to incorporate elements of adaptive management, new partnership models with stakeholders and the vertical integration of site-level work with policy initiatives and institutional development.