First paragraph: Until the 1980s, biodiversity conservation in the tropics focused on the &ldquo;fines and fences&rdquo; approach: creating protected areas from which local people were forcibly excluded. More recently, conservationists have embraced the notion of &ldquo;win-win&rdquo;: a dream world where people and nature thrive side by side

Hockley, Neal

Rakotonarivo, O. Sarobidy

English

Stirling Online Research Repository

8/9/2017 Forest conservation approaches must recognise the rights of local peoplehttps://theconversation.com/forest-conservation-approaches-must-recognise-the-rights-of-local-people-81848 1/5AuthorsSarobidy RakotonarivoPostdoctoral Research Fellow, University ofStirlingNeal HockleyResearch Lecturer in Economics & Policy,Bangor UniversityAcademic rigour, journalistic flairForest conservation approaches must recognise the rights oflocal peopleAugust 8, 2017 8.43pm BSTUntil the 1980s, biodiversity conservation in the tropics focused on the “fines and fences” approach:creating protected areas from which local people were forcibly excluded. More recently,conservationists have embraced the notion of “win-win”: a dream world where people and naturethrive side by side.But over and over, we have seen these illusions shattered and the need to navigate complicated trade-offs appears unavoidable.To this day, protected areas are being established coercively. They exclude local communities withoutacknowledging their customary rights. Sadly, most conservation approaches are characterised by amodel of “let’s conserve first, and then compensate later if we can find the funding”.A new conservation model, Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD+)is an example of this. Finalised at the Paris climate conference in 2015, it seemed to offer somethingfor everyone: supplying global ecosystem services – such as capturing and storing carbon dioxide andbiodiversity conservation – while improving the lives of local communities.Protected areas are being established without acknowledging the customary rights of localcommunities. Sarobidy Rakotonarivo8/9/2017 Forest conservation approaches must recognise the rights of local peoplehttps://theconversation.com/forest-conservation-approaches-must-recognise-the-rights-of-local-people-81848 2/5Unfortunately, REDD+ is often built on protected area regimes that exclude local people. For examplein Kenya, REDD+ led to the forceful eviction of forest dependent people and exacerbated inequality inaccess to land. The approach is underpinned by laws (often a legacy of the colonial era) that fail torecognise local people’s traditional claims to the forest. In doing so, REDD+ fails to providecompensation to the people it most affects and risks perpetuating the illusion of win-win solutions inconservation.REDD+ is just one way in which forest conservation can disadvantage local people. In our research weset out to estimate the costs that local people will incur as a result of a REDD+ pilot project in EasternMadagascar: the Corridor Ankeniheny-Zahamena.Our aim was to see whether we could robustly estimate these costs in advance, so that adequatecompensation could be provided using the funds generated by REDD+. Our research found that costswere very significant, but also hard to estimate in advance. Instead, we suggest that a moreappropriate approach might be to recognise local people’s customary tenure.Social costs of protected areasMadagascar, considered one of the top global biodiversity hotspots, recently tripled the island’sprotected area network from 1.7 million hectares to 6 million hectares. This covers 10% of thecountry’s total land area.Although the state has claimed ownership of these lands since colonial times, they are often thecustomary lands of local communities whose livelihoods are deeply entwined with forest use. Theclearance of forests for cultivation has traditionally provided access to fertile soils for millions of smallfarmers in the tropics. Conservation restrictions obviously affect them negatively.8/9/2017 Forest conservation approaches must recognise the rights of local peoplehttps://theconversation.com/forest-conservation-approaches-must-recognise-the-rights-of-local-people-81848 3/5Conservationists need to assess the costs of conservation before they start. This could help to designadequate compensation schemes and alternative policy options.We set out to estimate the local welfare costs of conservation in the eastern rainforests of Madagascarusing innovative multi-disciplinary methods which included qualitative as well as quantitative data.We asked local people to trade off access to forests for swidden agriculture (land cleared forcultivation by slashing and burning vegetation) with compensation schemes such as cash payments orsupport for improved rice farming.Swidden agriculture in the eastern rainforests of Madagascar. Sarobidy Rakotonarivo8/9/2017 Forest conservation approaches must recognise the rights of local peoplehttps://theconversation.com/forest-conservation-approaches-must-recognise-the-rights-of-local-people-81848 4/5We selected households that differed in their past experience of forest protection from two sites in theeastern rainforests of Madagascar.The findingsWe found that households have different views about the social costs of conservation.When households had more experience of conservation restrictions, neither large cash payments norsupport for improved rice farming were seen as enough compensation.Less experienced households, on the other hand, had strong aspirations to secure forest tenure.Competition for new forest lands is becoming increasingly fierce and government protection, despiteundermining traditional tenure systems, is weakly enforced. They therefore believed that legal foresttenure is better since it would enable them to establish claims over forest lands.Unfortunately, knowing what would constitute “fair” compensation is extremely complex.Firstly, local people have very different appraisals of the social costs of conservation. That makes itdifficult to estimate accurately the potential negative costs of an intervention.It’s also hard to evaluate how cash or agricultural projects will stimulate development. This makes itchallenging to estimate how much, or what type of compensation should be given.Choice experiment surveys with local households in Madagascar. Sarobidy Rakotonarivo8/9/2017 Forest conservation approaches must recognise the rights of local peoplehttps://theconversation.com/forest-conservation-approaches-must-recognise-the-rights-of-local-people-81848 5/5Conservation Forests Deforestation Compensation MadagascarReducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation Customary law Traditional ownersThese challenges are compounded by the high transaction costs of identifying those eligible as well asthe lack of political power of communities to demand compensations.The solutionConservation approaches, particularly fair compensation for restrictions that are imposed coercively,need a major rethink.One solution could be to formally recognise local people’s claims to the forest and then negotiaterenewable conservation agreements with them. This is an approach already used successfully in manyWestern countries. In the US for example, conservation organisations negotiate “easements” withlandowners, to protect wildlife. Agreements like this ensure that local people’s participation isgenuinely voluntary and that compensation payments are sufficient.Our research shows that there’s a strong demand from local people for securing local forest tenure.There’s also evidence that doing so may better protect forest resources because without customarytenure local people are more likely to clear forests faster than they would do if they were given securerights.We therefore argue that securing local tenure may be an essential part of social safeguards forconservation models like REDD+. It could also have the added benefit of helping to reduce poverty.The social costs of forest conservation have been generally under-appreciated and advocacy for natureconservation reveals a lack of awareness of the high price that local people have to pay. As local forestdwellers have the greatest impact on resources and also the most to lose from non-sustainable uses ofthese resources, a radical change in current practices is needed.Help combat alt-facts and fake news and donate to independent journalism. Tax deductible.Make a donation 

Forest conservation approaches must recognise the rights of local people

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Forest conservation approaches must recognise the rights of local people

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