TY - JOUR
T1 - Great expectations, not-so-great performance
T2 - Participant views of community-based natural resource management in Ghana, West Africa
AU - Agyare, Andrew Kyei
AU - Holbech, Lars Haubye
AU - Arcilla, Nico
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2023
PY - 2024/1
Y1 - 2024/1
N2 - Nature conservation and sustainable development goals are challenged by powerful economic incentives to exploit natural resources, particularly in many tropical countries. Community-based natural resource management (CBNRM) projects have been encouraged worldwide for over 40 years to improve the sustainability of nature-based livelihoods and facilitate natural resource governance in accordance with cultural and spiritual traditions. CBNRM has been implemented in Ghana, West Africa, for over 20 years in the form of Community Resource Management Areas (CREMAs), but their success in supporting conservation and sustainable development goals remains the subject of debate. We evaluated participant views of 33 conservation, economic, and sociocultural outcomes through 881 interviews with people from 89 communities associated with eight CREMAs. Participants reported highest expectations and performance for outcomes including conservation awareness, increased food and honey production, and collective community action and unity. However, perceived performance failed to meet participant expectations for all 33 outcomes and particularly for conservation and economic outcomes. Expectation-performance gaps were largest for conservation outcomes such as reduced illegal logging, economic outcomes including increased income, financial assistance, and employment, and sociocultural outcomes such as the constancy of children's school attendance. Successfully addressing these gaps will depend largely on external factors, such as government effectiveness in controlling illegal logging and investments in credit and education. While this and other CBNRM approaches cannot stand alone to achieve conservation goals, with sufficient external support they can provide substantial benefits to participants and play a supporting role in conservation and as buffers to successful protected areas.
AB - Nature conservation and sustainable development goals are challenged by powerful economic incentives to exploit natural resources, particularly in many tropical countries. Community-based natural resource management (CBNRM) projects have been encouraged worldwide for over 40 years to improve the sustainability of nature-based livelihoods and facilitate natural resource governance in accordance with cultural and spiritual traditions. CBNRM has been implemented in Ghana, West Africa, for over 20 years in the form of Community Resource Management Areas (CREMAs), but their success in supporting conservation and sustainable development goals remains the subject of debate. We evaluated participant views of 33 conservation, economic, and sociocultural outcomes through 881 interviews with people from 89 communities associated with eight CREMAs. Participants reported highest expectations and performance for outcomes including conservation awareness, increased food and honey production, and collective community action and unity. However, perceived performance failed to meet participant expectations for all 33 outcomes and particularly for conservation and economic outcomes. Expectation-performance gaps were largest for conservation outcomes such as reduced illegal logging, economic outcomes including increased income, financial assistance, and employment, and sociocultural outcomes such as the constancy of children's school attendance. Successfully addressing these gaps will depend largely on external factors, such as government effectiveness in controlling illegal logging and investments in credit and education. While this and other CBNRM approaches cannot stand alone to achieve conservation goals, with sufficient external support they can provide substantial benefits to participants and play a supporting role in conservation and as buffers to successful protected areas.
KW - Community resource management area
KW - Conservation
KW - Governance effectiveness
KW - Land-use policy
KW - Rural livelihoods
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85190118815&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.crsust.2024.100251
DO - 10.1016/j.crsust.2024.100251
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85190118815
SN - 2666-0490
VL - 7
JO - Current Research in Environmental Sustainability
JF - Current Research in Environmental Sustainability
M1 - 100251
ER -