Parks and Poverty

On 13 July 2006, the Africa Biodiversity Collaborative Group (ABCG) held a meeting in Washington, DC on "Parks and Poverty: Costs and Benefits to Local Communities". 

• discuss the linkages between protected areas and poverty.
• identify the direct social, cultural and economic consequences to local communities caused by the establishment, expansion, or upgrading of protected areas [considering major impoverishment risks such as impacts to: 1) land (assets and access); 2) jobs (or loss of income sources or means of livelihoods); 3) homelessness (relocation or loss of shelter); 4) marginalization; 5) food insecurity and health; 6) increased morbidity and mortality; 7) loss of access to common property; and 8) social disarticulation (security, vulnerability, empowerment, governance, and disruption of social institutions)].
• hear case studies about the distribution of costs and benefits of protected areas to local communities and households (with respect to direct financial benefits, equity, enabling policies, governance, institutional and socio-economic environment, and financing).
• consider strategies to improve the role of protected areas in poverty reduction such as building assets in terms of opportunities for growth, empowerment, and increasing security.

• Parks and Poverty by Michael Cernea, Global Environmental Facility and George Washington University 
• Costs and Benefits of Protected Areas: Findings from the Field by Kai Schmidt-Soltau, Consultant                               
• Community Based Natural Resource Management in Mozambique: Quirimbas National Parks by Philipp Goeltenboth, World Wildlife Fund
• Saadani National Park in Tanzania and Its Impacts on Surrounding Communities by Melissa Thaxton, Population Reference Bureau
• Solving the Mystery of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) Performance: linking governance, biodiversity conservation, & poverty by Michael Mascia, World Wildlife Fund and Society for Conservation Biology- Social Science Working Group