Community-Based Conservation

Community-based conservation is one term of many describing the direct involvement of local people and organizations in decisions and activities associated with locally based environmental management. Its introduction marks a shift that includes humans in ecosystems and a shift from management by experts toward management that includes local perspectives and interests. Other related concepts include comanagement, ecosystem management, civic science, grassroots environmental management, and public ecology. Its rationale is rooted in the subsidiary principle that decisions should be taken at the level closest to where effects are most likely to be felt. This implies that the people most affected should have a direct influence on the decisions that are taken. Proponents of community-based conservation typically also promote ecosystem management, a management approach that attempts to consider the environment holistically and explicitly works to restore and sustain healthy ecosystems, including their multiple functions and values.

Many benefits have been attributed to community-based conservation. Governments and private proponents may find that they can be more efficient in the long term if their plans are locally discussed prior to implementation and they involve local people directly in management efforts. Others have suggested that community-based conservation may also democratize scientific knowledge by linking experts and stakeholders in planning social, economic, and environmental improvements.

Furthermore, it has been suggested that by working together, people can accomplish more than as individuals or as organizations working in isolation. Additionally, involving those affected will provide for a broader range of values and inputs into the decision-making process. Local people may have specific knowledge about their local environment that can help tailor conservation to local conditions. Involving local people may increase the likelihood that decisions and practices are accepted locally, while encouraging compliance through peer pressure and by setting good examples locally. Involvement of local people in community-based conservation activities may also help build and enhance local skills, interests, and capacities that will continue to serve these communities in other areas. Finally, community-based organizations may be more nimble than larger institutions and so may be able to harness opportunities within smaller areas efficiently and effectively.

Activities associated with community-based conservation are wide-ranging. They may include undertaking environmental cleanups, bird counts, or habitat restorations that may or may not involve ongoing commitments. They may involve activities that supplement government functions related to environmental conservation, including public education, monitoring, and construction of facilities. They may model environmentally friendly behaviors such as conducting creative experiments or establishing land protection programs. Increasingly, the term also refers to activities that involve partnerships among government, private sector, and citizen organizations where [Page 546]groups share information, labor, money, and even decision-making authority, including advisory or comanagement committees.

Cheryl Whalen, Natural Resources Conservation Service, discusses the landscaping plan for a community garden in the Echo Park area of Los Angeles, California.

Source: Bob Nichols, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service.

Evaluating the success of community-based conservation is challenging. Many assessors focus on procedures whereby criteria such as holding a broadly shared vision or establishing an open, accessible, and transparent decision-making process are important. Others suggest that both socioeconomic and procedural outcomes must be addressed. Criteria focused on outcomes might assess changes in employment, reductions in expenditures, or improvements in habitat conditions or water quality. The challenge, however, lies not only in determining appropriate criteria and acquiring supporting data but also in being able to attribute ecological or social changes to specific conservation activities.

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