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Nepal has established an extensive network of protected areas to conserve biodiversity. Several problems relating to management of these protected areas have emerged, such as wildlife poaching and park-people conflicts. To address these problems, local communities have been given more responsibilities in protected area management by creating new categories of protected areas. This research investigates the success of such an approach from the perspectives both of biodiversity conservation and the livelihoods of local communities. The perceived success of a community-based protected area management was examined in the Annapurna region, Nepal. An integrated biophysical and social survey was designed and carried out for a stratified sample village communities. A field site sampling strategy was designed to examine the effect of two factors: conservation legislation, referring explicitly to establishment of the protected area, and tourism. To evaluate the impact of legislation, areas both inside and outside the protected area were compared. In addition, areas with and without tourism within the protected area were analysed. A biophysical survey was conducted to assess the present status of wildlife and forest resources, and current pressures on forest resources. This was achieved by assessing the intensity of anthropogenic disturbance in forest stands. A complementary social survey using various tools such as PRA, structured interviews, semi-structured interviews and questionnaire surveys was conducted in 14 village settlements. The social survey measured the economic losses due to crop damage and livestock depredation by wildlife, and gathered information on conservation awareness, local attitudes toward conservation, resource use patterns, effectiveness of the conservation area regulation, relationships between people and the protected area. |
