COMMUNITY IN CONSERVATION
AFRICA
GENERAL
Alpert, P (1996). “Integrated conservation and development projects: examples from Africa.” BioScience 46(11): 845-855.
Amanor, K (1994). “Ecological knowledge and the regional economy: environmental management in the Asesewa district of Ghana.” Development and Change 25(1): 41-68.
This study examines perceptions of the environment in farming communities in the forest ecotone of Ghana. It places local knowledge within a socio-economic and historical context and argues that knowledge is continually evolving, attempting to solve existing problems and discovering new ones. It maintains that favourable conditions exist in farming communities for environmental actions and development approaches based on sustainable development, since these areas have suffered from the negative effects of degradation. However, major constraints exist within the wider political economy and policy framework, which is still locked into environmentally-hostile export-oriented production, and political models which marginalize rural people. (Journal)
Anderson, D and R. Grove, Eds. (1987). Conservation in Africa: People, Policies and Practice. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
Andriamampianina, J (1985). Traditional land-use and nature conservation in Madagascar. in Culture and Conservation: The Human Dimension in Environmental Planning. JA McNeely and D Pitt, Ed. Kent, IUCN: 81-89.
Associates in Rural Development (1992). Case study annotations and USAID project descriptions. in Decentralization and Local Autonomy: Conditions for Achieving Sustainable Natural Resource Management, Vol. II, Appendix B. AiR Development, Ed. Burlington, Vermont, Associates in Rural Development, Inc.
Associates in Rural Development (1992). Decentralization and Local Autonomy: Conditions for Achieving Sustainable Natural Resource Management. Burlington, Vermont, Associates in Rural Development and USAID.
Barbier, EB (1990). The economics of controlling degradation: rehabilitating gum arabic systems in Sudan. Paper 90-03, London Environmental Economics Centre, London.
Barbier, EB (1992). Community-based development in Africa. in Economics for the Wilds: Wildlife, Wildlands, Diversity and Development. TM Swanson and EB Barbier, Ed. London, Earthscan: 103-135.
Barkan, JD and F Holmquist (1989). “Peasant-state relations and the social base of self-help in Kenya.” World Politics 41(3): 359-380.
Beinart, W and C Bundy (1987). Hidden Struggles in Rural South Africa: Politics and Popular Movements in the Transkei and Eastern Cape,1890-1930. Berkeley, University of California.
Benjaminsen, TA (1997). “Natural resource management, paradigm shifts, and the decentralization reform in Mali.” Human Ecology 25(1): 121-143.
The mainstream view in natural resource management in African drylands has been that local people are responsible for natural resource degradation. Today, alternative views or new paradigms are emerging in several fields. These new paradigms, which support decentralization of
natural resource management, are discussed in relation to the ongoing decentralization process in Mall. During the colonial period, heavily centralized governments were installed in all the French colonies. This structure was maintained by Malian governments after independence. However following the recent transition to democracy, a decentralizing reform is being implemented It is presently not clear whether these reforms will lead to mere deconcentration, involving the redistribution of administrative responsibilities within the central government, or whether Mall is heading reward real decentralization, devolving decision making powers to local communities. The gestion de terroir approach, which may be a useful tool in achieving decentralization in farming communities, would, in pastoral areas, cause more damage than benefit. (Journal)
Bergdall, TD (1993). Methods for Active Participation: Experiences in Rural Development from East and Central Africa. Nairobi ; New York, Oxford University Press.
Berry, S (1989). “Social institutions and access to resources.” Africa 59(1): 41-55.
Biesele, M, D. Green, et al. (1992). Decentralization and natural resources management: Namibia field report. in Decentralization and Local Autonomy: Conditions for Achieving Sustainable Natural Resource Management, Vol. II. AiR Development, Ed. Burlington, Vermont, Associates in Rural Development, Inc.
Blackwell, J, R Goodwillie, et al. (1991). Environment and Development in Africa: Selected Case Studies. Washington, D.C., World Bank.
Analyzes the environmental orientation and impact of bilateral and multilateral aid projects, as well as government initiated agricultural projects in Sudan, Tanzania, and Zambia. Provides an overview of the issues linking development and the environment. Analyzes agricultural production policies and their environmental impact in the case of Zambia. Discusses the issues of sustainable development, appropriate technology, community involvement, and monitoring for the cases of Sudan and Tanzania. Summarizes the issues and assesses successes and failures. Blackwell, Goodwillie, and Webb are Senior Research Officers in the planning division of the National Institute for Physical Planning and Construction Research, Dublin. (OVID)
Blaikie, P (1989). “Environment and access to resources in Africa.” Africa 59(1): 18-40.
Bratton, M (1989). “The politics of government-NGO relations in Africa.” World Development 17(4): 569-587.
Brokensha, DW and C Erasmus (1969). African peasants and community development. in Society for Applied Anthropology. Monograph no.10Ed, Ithaca, 1969: 85-100.
Chitere, OP, Ed. (1994). Community Development: Its Conceptions and Practice with Emphasis on Africa. Nairobi, Gideon S. Were Press.
Cooke, HJ (1981). “On the conservation of natural resources, with special reference to the Kalahari in Botswana.” Botswana Notes and Records 13: 141-143.
Crehen, K (1997). The Fractured Community: Landscapes of Power and Gender in Rural Zambia. Berkeley, University of Berkeley.
Cunningham, AB and SJ Milton (1987). “ Effects of the basket-weaving industry on Mokala palm and dye plants in northwestern Botswana.” Economic Botany 41(3): 386-402.
Dejene, A (1997). Land degradation in Tanzania: Perception from the village. Technical Paper, no. 370. Washington, D.C., World Bank.
Explores the most significant issues affecting levels of productivity and land quality at the community and village level, focusing on the case of Kondoa District, Tanzania. Examines farmers' perceptions, particularly their understanding and interpretation of factors and indicators that they link to soil erosion and fertility decline, the level of degradation of crop and pastureland, and the institutional capacity to implement social conservation and fertility measures--with particular regard to land tenure policies, local organizations, and extension service. Identifies the technologies, best practices, and indigenous knowledge used by households to control erosion, enhance soil fertility, and increase crop and livestock productivity among smallholders. Investigates the reasons for farmers adopting or not adopting recommended technologies. Summarizes major findings and presents policy implications. Coauthors are Elieho K. Shishira, Pius Z. Yanda, and Fred H. Johnsen. Dejene is a consultant and the coordinator of the Soil Fertility Initiative in the World Bank's Africa Region. (OVID)
Dennison, S and J Thomson (1992). Decentralization and natural resources management: Mali Field Report. in Decentralization and Local Autonomy: Conditions for Achieving Sustainable Natural Resource Management Vol II. AiR Development, Ed. Burlington, Vermont, Associates in Rural Development, Inc.
Derman, B (1995). “Environmental NGOs, dispossession, and the state: the ideology and praxis of African nature and development.” Human Ecology 23( 2): 199-215.
Zimbabwe provides a significant context to examine the interplay of the new development rhetoric, the actions of powerful conservation organizations, donor policies, a relatively strong & stable government, & the empowerment of local communities. This interplay exists in diverse rural areas where the Communal Areas Management Program for Indigenous Resources (CAMPFIRE) is in various stages of experimentation & implementation. CAMPFIRE has been described as a philosophy of sustainable rural development that enables rural communities to manage & benefit directly from indigenous wildlife. It is the best known of African efforts to permit communities to reassert their management of selected natural resources. The program has the official support of the Zimbabwean government. Nonetheless, there are many potential areas of serious conflict. Three case studies are utilized to explore the challenges of repossession of critical environmental resources by marginalized communities in the changing context of state & NGO (nongovernmental organization) relationships where international tourism is a revenue generator for both the private sector & government. (Copyright 1996, Sociological Abstracts, Inc., all rights reserved.)
Djibo, H, C Coulibaly, et al. (1991). Decentralization, governance, and management of renewable natural resources: Local options in the Republic of Mali. in Final Report for Studies on Decentralization in the Sahel, Volume III. AiR Development, Ed. Burlington, Vermont, Associates in Rural Development.
Dunn, JE (1997). “Responding to pressure on local natural resources: the story of three villages in south eastern Nigeria.” Journal of Environmental Management 51: 361-371.
Employing a model that predicts community response to pressure on local natural resources and drawing on data gathered between 1991 and 1993 in three villages in the tropical high forest zone of southeastern Nigeria, the writer tries to record the manner in which people respond and adapt to changing environmental conditions. He argues that with enough time, communities will usually develop new resource management and agricultural systems. However, he points out that where change is taking place swiftly, a facilitator is needed to promote and speed up local innovation in order that farming and natural resource management systems can be appropriately adjusted before acute environmental degradation occurs. (Econlit)
Elbow, KM (1994). Popular participation in the management of natural resources: lessons from Baban Rafi Niger. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation.
Falloux, F and LM Talbot (1993). Crisis and Opportunity: Environment and Development in Africa. London, Earthscan Publications.
Fisher, B (1993). “Creating space: Development agencies and local institutions in natural resource management.” Forests, Trees and People Newsletter 22: 4-11.
Garcia-Zamor, J-C (1985). Public participation in development planning and management: cases from Africa and Asia. Boulder, Westview Press.
Gezon, L (1997). “Political ecology and conflict in Ankarana, Madagascar.” Ethnology 36: 85-100.
The writer employs the example of northern Madagascar to address textured analyses of multilevel political interactions and processes and to demonstrate their relationship to the regulation of control and use of the biophysical environment. Conflict concerning the question of land use in northern Madagascar demonstrates that political control is situational and that rights to resources are ambiguous. In two instances, local farmers, the regional royal indigenous leader, and international conservationists fought to obtain and preserve the ability to use and control the forested land to the west of the Ankarana massif. The complicated political discussions that are a vital aspect of all ecological interactions can be examined using political ecology as a theoretical framework. In acknowledging the complexity of such interactions, applied efforts to consider issues of environmental degradation and disenfranchisement may also become more potent. (Anthrolit)
Ghai, D (1993). “Conservation, livelihood and democracy: social dynamics of environmental change in Africa.” Osterreichische Zeitschrift fur Soziologie 18( 2): 56-75.
A social context for Africa's severe environmental degradation (soil erosion, pollution, desertification, etc) is described. Causes of the crisis include expropriation of resources, the influence of colonization on traditional land use, commercialization of agriculture, population growth, inappropriate patterns of settlement & infrastructure, & drought. Human consequences are the loss of livelihoods, particularly of peasants & herders, & the undermining of women's positions in food production & family upkeep. The solution is the integration of resource conservation & livelihood improvement, which will require the progressive transfer of responsibility to the local level, property reform, & the development of organizations of rural producers. International & national support is essential, but assistance should reinforce local efforts & respect community priorities. 67 References. Adapted from the source document. (Copyright 1994, Sociological Abstracts, Inc., all rights reserved.)
Guyer, J and P Richards (1996). “The invention of biodiversity: social perspectives on the management of biological variety in Africa.” Africa 66(1): 1-13.
Hackel, J (1990). “Conservation attitudes in Southern Africa : a comparison between Kwazulu and Swaziland.” Human Ecology 18(2): 203-209.
The opinions of rural people living near conservation areas have largely been ignored by conservationists. Several studies, however, have attempted to rectify this oversight, including two from southern Africa, whose findings can be compared. This paper examines the attitudes to nature conservation of people living near the Umfolozi-Hluhluwe Corridor Complex Game Reserve in southeastern South Africa with those of people living near the northeastern game reserve complex in Swaziland. Although the former study used a questionnaire survey and the latter semi-structured interviews, comparisons are possible because of common objectives. This paper concludes: (1) general support for nature conservation exists in both areas, (2) there is, however, little support for local conservation areas, (3) there appears to be little active hostility toward the conservation authorities managing protected lands, and (4) rural people's attempts to reconcile conservation and economic development are largely unsatisfactory. (Journal)
Hackel, J (1993). “Rural change and nature conservation in Africa: a case study from Swaziland.” Human Ecology 21(3): 295-312.
High population growth and deteriorating economic conditions imperil Africa's natural environment. Conservationists are trying to cope with the threat by working in rural communities. Yet it is unclear whether they can be effective when social and economic change in rural areas is so rapid. Northeast Swaziland provides a case study. The landscape has been transformed since the 1950s, and conservationists are the only people now giving nature conservation a high priority. Land uses incompatible with local nature reserves are supported because they provide jobs. Thus, conservationists find themselves facing a world where wildlife is increasingly devalued as the forces of change accelerate. This paper concludes: (1) conservationists must expand their influence into rural communities, (2) an integrated development and conservation plan is required for northeastern Swaziland, and (3) only the alleviation of poverty will secure the future of nature conservation in Swaziland as well as the rest of Africa (Journal)
Heermans, JG (1988). The Guesselbodi experiment: bushland management in Niger. in The Greening of Aid: Sustainable Livelihoods in Practice. C Conroy and M Litvinoff, Ed. London, Earthscan: 84-87.
Hitchcock, R (1993). “Africa and discovery: human rights, environment, and development.” American Indian Culture and Research Journal 17(1): 129-152.
Hoben, A (1995). “Paradigms and politics: The cultural construction of environmental policy in Ethiopia.” World Development 23(6): 1007-1021.
Hobgood, H (1992). Facilitating transitions from centralized to decentralized politics. Sahel Decentralization Policy Report, Volume II. Washington, USAID.
Hough, JL (1984). “An approach to an integrated land use system on Michiru Mountain, Malawi.” Parks 9(3/4): 1-3.
Kandeh, HBS and P Richards (1996). “Rural people as conservationists: querying neo-Malthusian assumptions about biodiversity in Sierra Leone.” Africa 66(1): 90-103.
Knowles, J and D Collett (1989). “Nature as myth, symbol and action: notes towards a historical understanding of development and conservation in Kenyan Maasailand.” Africa 59: 433.
Kull, C (1996). “The evolution of conservation efforts in Madagascar.” International Environmental Affairs 8(1): 50-86.
The Indian Ocean nation of Madagascar is home to world-renowned levels of biological diversity, destructive trends of environmental degradation, and extreme poverty. International conversation action on
the island has accelerated at a dramatic rate since the 1980s, including the implementation of a national environmental action plan, several debt-for-nature swaps, and more than a dozen integrated conversation and development projects. This article reviews the evolution of international involvement in Madagascar and develops a conceptual model to explain this recent explosion in activity. The model suggests that the environmental context of megadiversity and severe degradation, the growing global environmental movement, and the political-economic situation of Madagascar are the ultimate factors behind international conservation action. The particular timing of the conservation boom can be explained by the proximate factors of environmental research, 1980s environmentalism, and 1980s politics, facilitated by awareness, individual actors, group co-operation, and economic incentives. The results of the boom are tangible, with new protected areas, improved reserve management, and soil conservation programs. Yet criticism abound regarding impacts on local residents and wasted money. Many would agree it is too early to judge the success of the conservation boom. (Author)
Lewis, DM and N Carter, Eds. (1993). Voices from Africa: Local Perspectives on Conservation. Washington, WWF.
Little, PD and DW Brokensha (1987). Local institutions, tenure and resource management in east Africa. in Conservation in Africa: People, Policies and Practice. D Anderson and R Grove, Ed. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
Maddox, G, J Giblin, et al., Eds. ( 1996). Custodians of the Land: Ecology and Culture in the History of Tanzania. London, Currey.
Nine papers trace the ecological history of Tanzania, exploring the relationship between environment and rural culture, and politics and economy. Juhani Koponen examines population trends in mainland Tanzania in the late precolonial and colonial periods. Gregory Maddox discusses environment and population growth in Ugogo. Isaria N. Kimambo focuses on environmental control and hunger in northeastern Tanzania. Christopher Conte presents an ecological history of the plateau forests of the West Usambara mountains. James L. Giblin addresses the precolonial politics of disease control. Pamela A. Maack considers protest and identity under the Uluguru Land Usage Scheme initiated in 1947. Michele Wagner evaluates environment, community, and history in nineteenth and early twentieth century Buha. Jamie Monson assesses canoe-building and colonial forestry policies, 1920-40. Thomas Spear explores the political and moral economies of land on Mount Meru. Maddox is at Texas Southern University. Giblin is at the University of Iowa. Kimambo is at the University of Dar es Salaam. (SSCI)
Manor, J (1995). “Democratic decentalization in Asia and Africa.” IDS Bulletin-Institute of Development Studies 26(2): 81-88.
This article summarizes recent research on one of the developmental fashions of our time - democratic decentralization. After discussing various definitions of 'decentralization', it surveys the benefits that can follow when democratic decentralization works well. Among these are greater responsiveness, increased participation and two-way information flow between state and society, and reductions in absenteeism by local-level government employees and in corruption. It reviews decentralization's limitations - notably its incapacity to facilitate poverty alleviation. It then examines problems which can prevent decentralization from working well. It helps enormously if a country attempting it has had a sustained experience of democracy, but that is not true in most of Africa and Asia. Finally, the article suggests approaches that can assist decentralization to work well - most crucially the provision of adequate powers and resources from above, and measures to ensure that bureaucrats will be accountable to elected representatives, and that representatives will be accountable to citizens. (SSCI)