Local community’s participation in the conservation of natural resources

The importance of nature-based tourism is not lost on national governments. They are fully aware that it can bring numerous socio-economic benefits to a country or locality, by generating foreign exchange, creating local employment and raising environmental awareness. But a surprising number of countries are neither fully exploiting this potential nor managing current nature-based tourism effectively. This is evident from the low priority generally assigned to tourism planning and coordination. It is also evident from the fact that many protected areas are deteriorating rapidly as a result of over-visitation and insufficient investment in protected area management, (Inskeep, 1991).

A general failure to acknowledge the importance of tourism and environment, and lack of coordination and cooperation between those responsible for these areas, are much to blame. Thus although the tourism industry is often represented at ministerial level, its interests are frequently not fully integrated with those of the various ministries, or are considered much less important. The same applies to the environment. A minister with responsibility for the environment often has to deal with ministers who represent supposedly more important defence or industry interests. In such situations, the environment usually loses out. The environment may not even have a spokesperson of its own.

Across sub-Saharan Africa, natural resources remain central to rural people’s livelihoods. Local norms and customs shape people’s everyday forms of resource use. In contrast, the commercial uses of natural resources often remain highly centralized, conditioned by government policies of the colonial and post-colonial eras.

A pan-African review of the impacts, challenges, and future directions of community-based natural resource management (CBNRM) highlights the diverse range of forms of community involvement in natural resource management that have emerged across the continent during the past twenty years. Community based natural resource management means different things to different actors in different places across sub-Saharan Africa. In much of western and central Africa, community based natural resource management is interpreted by government authorities, donor agencies, and NGOs as benefit-sharing or outreach between national parks and adjacent communities.