The document discusses the role of Integrated Conservation-Development Projects (ICDPs) in sustainable environmental management. It summarizes that past environmental measures failed because they did not link wildlife protection to local welfare. ICDPs aimed to integrate environmental protection and development, but outcomes have been largely ineffective. Case studies from Ghana and China are presented to illustrate weaknesses in the ICDP approach, such as unrealistic goals, lack of local participation and needs assessment, and failure to improve livelihoods or provide compensation for losses. The conclusion is that ICDPs have presented an illusion of "win-win" outcomes by not adequately addressing the critical linkage between conservation and rural development in local contexts.

1. INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM
TOWARDS SUSTAINABLE LIVELIHOODS AND
ECOSYSTEMS IN MOUNTAINOUS REGIONS
7-9 March 2006, Chiang Mai, Thailand
The role of Integrated Conservation-Development Projects (ICDPs)
in sustainable environmental management
Xiangjun Yang
Regional Community Forestry Training Center for Asia and the Pacific (RECOFTC)
3rd Floor, Library Building, Kunming Institute of Botany, Kunming 650204, Yunnan
Tel: +86 (0)871 522 3098 E-mail: yxiangjun@gmail.com
Abstract
It is commonly recognized that past environmental measures were doomed to fail because they
failed to link the welfare of local people with wildlife protection. Recently, emphasis has been
put on the importance of integrating environmental protection with development projects.
However, common experience suggests that political and ecological outcomes of Integrated
Conservation-Development Projects (ICDPs) have been largely ineffective.
The ICDP approach often overlooks the many different factors which prevent these projects from
being locally implemented. It was observed that not only had the rural population’s well-being
not improved, it suffered significant deterioration due to crop damage by wildlife and the
inability to obtain forest products. Yet they are not compensated or provided with alternative
sources of sustenance. Moreover, local communities around nature reserves received very
limited social infrastructures. On the other hand, the goals of projects set out to achieve are
sometimes unrealistic. It was difficult to implement rural development projects due to deficient
local human and social capital at grassroots level.
Additionally, the projects stressed ecosystem maintenance over human needs. Targeted
communities had no voice in expressing their needs and aspirations. Most current conservation
projects seem to be designed to merely reduce the conflict between indigenous residents and the
protection of wildlife, in order to decrease local opposition to reserves rather than to offer
sustainable livelihood alternatives.
China shares many common characteristics with other developing countries; such as extensive
corruption, lack of institutional sympathy for marginalized rural populations, and inefficiency of
national and local government authorities.
It is also crucial to have a better understanding of the divergent interests of the multiple
stakeholders of natural resources. Moreover, the economic interests and capabilities of the
various stakeholders determine the contents of environmental policies.
However, the untested assumptions of ICDP have been confronted by a dilemma in the empirical
world. The framework has presented a `win-win` outcome as more of an illusion than a reality.
1 Introduction
Nature conservation strategies in developing countries, funded by the developed world, have
evolved over the past few decades. The traditional technique was a fence-and-fine approach,
which excluded local communities from resource use (McNeely and Miller 1984). However, it is
now commonly known that the denial of indigenous peoples’ rights to use resources invariably
leads to social conflict (Cumming 1993, Ghimire 1994, McNeely 1989). Consequently, past

2. environmental measures were destined to be defeated because they failed to link the welfare of
local people with wildlife protection (Ghai 1992, Songorwa 1999, Adams and McShane 1992).
Recently, national and international organizations have emphasized the importance of integrating
environmental protection with development projects. However, common experience suggests
that political and ecological outcomes of integrated conservation-development projects (ICDPs)
have been largely ineffective in developing countries despite significant efforts made by
conservationists and researchers (Barrett and Arcese 1995). By examining the political and
ecological outcomes of ICDPs in China, the key objective of this study will be to explore the role
of ICDP approach in the elimination of rural poverty.
2 Methodology
The research findings presented are based on 62 household surveys, as well as formal and
informal interviews, conducted by myself in Ghana between July and September 2002, as part of
a Masters degree I undertook at the University of Lancaster in the United Kingdom. Information
about Gaoligongshan was collected through field work in southwest China from June to
November, 2004.
The sustainable livelihood of eco-tourism in protected areas was modelled and analysed. And a
spatial model of threats to adjacent communities was used for the analysis of the results.
Questionnaire, focus group discussion and semi-structured interview were the chief ways for
primary data collecting. Secondary data were gathered from existing documentaries.
3 Ghana
The ICDP approach often overlooks the many different factors which prevent these projects from
being locally implemented. Furthermore, the goals they set out to achieve are sometimes
unrealistic. I will use the findings of my study in Kakum National Park (KNP) in Ghana (2002)
to address the weaknesses of the ICDP approach. KNP was designed to encourage conservation
by linking rural development with biodiversity protection. In fact, it was observed that not only
had the rural population’s well-being not improved, it suffered significant deterioration due to
crop damages by wildlife and the inability to obtain forest products. Yet they were not
compensated or provided with alternative sources of sustenance. Moreover, the studied
communities around KNP received very limited social infrastructures. On the other hand, it was
difficult to implement rural development projects due to deficient social capital. This point
emphasizes that it is imperative for NGOs to simultaneously increase local human and social
capital.
Additionally, the project stressed ecosystem maintenance over human needs. The KNP project
was unable to implement a prescribed bottom-up approach. Targeted communities had no voice
in expressing their needs and aspirations. Mehta and Heinen (2001) reveal that most current
conservation projects seem to be designed to merely reduce the conflict between indigenous
residents and the protection of wildlife, in order to decrease local opposition to reserves, rather
than to offer sustainable livelihood alternatives. Against the above background, consequently,
the creation of KNP has resulted in widespread indigenous resentment towards wildlife
protection schemes. Therefore, there is little reason to believe that ICDPs will achieve their goals
without local cooperation.
However, there are successful cases of ICDPs, such as the program of Kalahan Reserve in India
(Encarnacion 1999). The project developed income-generating opportunities based on the
exploitation of forest products (e.g. timber) that satisfy the needs of the community and, in turn,
encourage farmers to conserve the biodiversity of the area. The program has also implemented
guidelines to ensure a sustainable use of resources in the reserve, such as a controlled harvesting
2

3. of timber, and the use of fire and shifting farming in the reserve. This demonstrates the
effectiveness of economic instruments in increasing local conservation initiatives (e.g. wildlife-
based tourism) (Pearce 1998).
4 China
China shares many common characteristics with other developing countries; such as extensive
corruption, lack of institutional sympathy for marginalized rural populations, and inefficiency of
national and local government authorities. If conservation NGOs working in China are to
achieve the stated goals, they must learn from the lessons of previous, successful and failed,
conservation programs in other countries. Furthermore, China has unique political and economic
settings. It is thus very likely that the implementation of ICDPs in this context will inevitably
face constraints which have not been experienced elsewhere.
The case of the Gaoligongshan Nature Reserve, located in China’s southwest, provides a prime
example of the hazards associated with the implementation of top-down state conservation-
development programs. The Gaoligongshan is located in one of China’s most remote regions and
is home to a rich source of unique plant and animal species. Traditionally, many of the ethnic
minority people living in and around the Nature Reserve area relied heavily on these plant and
animal species in order to subsist and provide income in times of hardship. However, following
the implementation of the Natural Forest Protection Program (NFPP) in 1998, access to the
Gaoligongshan’s resources has been strictly prohibited. This program has had a dramatic effect
on the traditional practices and culture of local ethnic minority people.
Further, to date, households have received no compensation for the loss of income they have
incurred following the implementation of the NFPP, although some community members are
now employed as Nature Reserve guards. It appears as if there was little if any consultation with
communities prior to the implementation of the NFPP.
A major consequence of this state policy is that local community members no longer feel a
relationship with the Nature Reserve’s resources and have little interest in the ongoing protection
of those resources. Importantly, this scenario may be contributing to the ongoing and
unsustainable exploitation of the Nature Reserve’s resources, particularly by people from outside
of Gongshan.
Moreover, Twyman (2001) and Dixon and Sherman (1990) argue that it is crucial to have a
better understanding of the divergent interests of the multiple stakeholders of natural resources.
Furthermore, the economic interests and capabilities of the various stakeholders determine the
contents of environmental policies. Under specific circumstances, in what ways; have ICDPs
balanced divergent interests, have international NGOs been able to derive enough power from
the state to exercise their functions in reshaping the relationship between natural resources and
rural farmers; what kind of constraints will the ICDP ethos encounter and how to develop these
various barriers to suit conservation strategies are difficult questions which conservationists and
researchers will have to answer.
Indigenous populations have accumulated immense knowledge in dealing with nature (Berkes
1999). The ICDP ethos will thus inevitably face unique challenges in the Chinese context (which
has been an agricultural country for millennia) because farmers have traditionally exploited
natural resources without outside interference, and have always managed the environment in
their own way. On the other hand, it is likely that conservation projects will function successfully
because of a traditional local cultural appreciation of nature in certain areas in the country.
Moreover, the human and social capital is generally higher in China than in Ghana. Thus, ICDPs
will probably be more easily implemented in this context.
3

4. As a conservation strategy however, the untested assumptions of ICDP have been confronted by
a dilemma in the empirical world. Because the critical linkage between wildlife conservation and
rural development is often absent from ICDPs in the local context. The framework has presented
a `win-win` outcome as more of an illusion than a reality.
Reference
Barrett, C.B., Arcese P., 1995. Are integrated conservation-development projects (ICDPs)
sustainable? On the conservation of large mammals in Sub-saharan Africa. World
Development 23 (7), pp. 1073-1084.
Berkes, F., 1999. Sacred ecology: traditional ecological knowledge and resource management.
Taylor and Francis. London.
Brown, D., 1998. Participatory biodiversity conservation: rethinking the strategy in the low
tourist potential areas of tropical Africa. ODI Natural Resource Perspectives, pp. 33.
Cumming, D.H.M., 1993. Conservation issues and problems in Africa. Voice from Africa: local
perspectives on conservation. Dale, L., Carter, N. (ed.), pp. 23-47. Washington, D.C.: World
Wildlife Fund.
Dixon, J.A., Sherman, P.B., 1990. Economics of Protected Areas: a new look at benefits and
costs. Washington, D.C.: Island Press.
France, L. (ed.), 1997. The Earthscan Reader in Sustainable Tourism. Earthscan. London.
Ghai, D., 1992. Conservation, livelihood and democracy: social dynamics of environmental
changes in Africa, Discussion Paper, pp. 33. United National Research Institute for Social
Development.
Ghimire, K.B., 1994. Parks and people: livelihood issues in national parks management in
Thailand and Madagascar. Development and Environment: sustaining people and nature.
Ghai, D. (ed.), pp. 195-229. Blackwell Publishers. Oxford.
McNeely, J.A., 1989. Protected areas and human ecology: how national parks can contribute to
sustaining societies of the twenty-first century. Conservation for the twenty-first century.
David, W. and Pearl, M.C. (ed.), pp. 150-157. New York, Oxford University Press.
McNeely, J.A., Miller, K.R., 1984. National Parks Conservation and Development: the role of
protected areas in sustaining society. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D.C.
Mehta, J.N., Heinen, J.T., 2001. Does community-based conservation shape favourable attitudes
among locals? An empirical study from Nepal, Environmental Management 28 (2), pp. 165-
177.
Pearce, D., 1998. The economics of African wildlife utilisation. Economics and Environment.
Pearce (ed.) Cheltenham, pp. 210-230. Edward Elgar.
Songorwa, A.N., 1999. Community-based wildlife management (CWM) in Tanzania: are the
communities interested? World Development 27 (12).
Twyman, C., 2001. Natural resources use and livelihood in Botswana’s wildlife management
areas, Applied Geography 21, pp. 45-68.
4