People's participation in environmental projects in developing countries: Fid-Bau Portal

People's participation in environmental projects in developing countries

Drijver, C.A.

AbstractThis paper presents a number of lessons learnt about people's participation in environmental projects. As analytical tools five dimensions of participation are distinguished. These dimensions are: social reach, functional reach, decision power, direction of participation and motivation of participants. On the basis of a case study in Cameroon, it is shown how the long-term success of a centralistic conservation project is threatened by a situation of conflict between people and nature, resulting from the same project. Two cases of participatory approaches of conservation and development in Kenya and India are described and 12 lessons are presented. Nature conservation can be successfully combined with the provision of benefits for local communities, however, only if certain conditions are met. Agreements between government and local communities should be jointly designed with the participation of direct users of resources (social reach) and providing them with sufficient decision power and responsibilities to manage their resources sustainably (functional reach). This often requires a decentralization of present management responsibilities. Social control mechanisms may encourage local people to respect resource use restrictions. In the case study in India this is referred to as “social fencing”. The motivation of participants is a crucial factor for the success of social fencing. It appeared to work in India on the condition that local people had been able to participate from the start in the design of agreements and on the condition that a more equal reallocation of exploitation rights had been established.