Effect of Local Cultural Context on the Success of Community-Based Conservation Interventions

Conservation interventions require evaluation to understand what factors predict success or failure. To date, there has been little systematic investigation of the effect of social and cultural context on conservation success, although a large body of literature argues it is important. We investigat...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Conservation biology 2010-08, Vol.24 (4), p.1119-1129
Main Authors:	WAYLEN, KERRY A, FISCHER, ANKE, MCGOWAN, PHILIP J.K, THIRGOOD, SIMON J, MILNER-GULLAND, E.J
Format:	Article
Language:	eng
Subjects:	Animal, plant and microbial ecology Applied ecology Biodiversity conservation Biological and medical sciences Communities community conservation Community organizations Community Participation - methods Community-Institutional Relations conservación comunitaria conservación y desarrollo conservation and development Conservation biology Conservation education Conservation movement Conservation of Natural Resources - methods Conservation of Natural Resources - statistics & numerical data Conservation, protection and management of environment and wildlife Culture Ecology Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology General aspects Habitat conservation ICDP instituciones institutions Interventive conservation Natural resources conservation Parks, reserves, wildlife conservation. Endangered species: population survey and restocking participación participation PICD Protected areas Socioeconomic factors Success factors Wildlife conservation
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Summary:	Conservation interventions require evaluation to understand what factors predict success or failure. To date, there has been little systematic investigation of the effect of social and cultural context on conservation success, although a large body of literature argues it is important. We investigated whether local cultural context, particularly local institutions and the efforts of interventions to engage with this culture significantly influence conservation outcomes. We also tested the effects of community participation, conservation education, benefit provision, and market integration. We systematically reviewed the literature on community-based conservation and identified 68 interventions suitable for inclusion. We used a protocol to extract and code information and evaluated a range of measures of outcome success (attitudinal, behavioral, ecological, and economic). We also examined the association of each predictor with each outcome measure and the structure of predictor covariance. Local institutional context influenced intervention outcomes, and interventions that engaged with local institutions were more likely to succeed. Nevertheless, there was limited support for the role of community participation, conservation education, benefit provision, and market integration on intervention success. We recommend that conservation interventions seek to understand the societies they work with and tailor their activities accordingly. Systematic reviews are a valuable approach for assessing conservation evidence, although sensitive to the continuing lack of high-quality reporting on conservation interventions.
ISSN:	0888-8892 1523-1739