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Evaluating the legacy of an integrated conservation and development project around a tiger reserve in India

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 January 2009

SANJAY GUBBI ,
MATTHEW LINKIE  and
NIGEL LEADER-WILLIAMS
SANJAY GUBBI*
Affiliation:
Wildlife Conservation Society-India Program, Centre for Wildlife Studies, 1669, 16th Main, 31st Cross, Banashankari 2nd Stage, Bengalooru 560 070, India Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology, University of Kent, Canterbury, Kent CT2 7NR, UK
MATTHEW LINKIE
Affiliation:
Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology, University of Kent, Canterbury, Kent CT2 7NR, UK
NIGEL LEADER-WILLIAMS
Affiliation:
Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology, University of Kent, Canterbury, Kent CT2 7NR, UK
*
*Correspondence: Sanjay Gubbi Tel: +91 80 26715364 Fax: +91 80 26715255 e-mail: gubbi@wcsindia.org
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Summary

Independent evaluations of the impact and legacy of large donor-funded integrated conservation and development projects (ICDPs) are critically important but rarely undertaken. The India Eco-Development Project around Periyar Tiger Reserve (PTR-IEDP) in southern India received US$ 6.0 million, of which 43.2% was spent on community-based conservation activities. The PTR-IEDP was internally evaluated as ‘successful’. Questionnaire surveys and on-site visits were used to independently evaluate its development impact and legacy, two years after the IEDP ended. Questionnaire surveys were administered to a random sample of 90 respondents from a treatment group who participated in and benefited from IEDP, and to 90 respondents from a control group who did not participate in IEDP. Among the treatment group, 71.1% of respondents were aware of IEDP's objectives, but receipt of community benefits did not influence their attitudes to conservation. Instead, their attitudes were best explained by previous experience of human-wildlife conflict, their age and their participation in an ecotourism-based profession. Furthermore, only 36.4% of the 55 community benefits sampled were still being used or maintained. Future investments in ICDPs, or any similar conservation and developmental projects need to carefully justify any of the developments they implement, and to use appropriate indicators and study design to measure project legacy.

Keywords

community benefitsdirect incentivesIndiaintegrated conservation and development projectslivelihoodslocal attitudesprotected areasustainabilitywildlife conservation
Type
Papers
Information
Environmental Conservation , Volume 35 , Issue 4 , December 2008 , pp. 331 - 339
Copyright
Copyright © Foundation for Environmental Conservation 2009

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