Can Habitat Protection Lead to Improvements in Human Well-Being? Evidence from Marine Protected Areas in the Philippines

The hypothesis that sustainable resource management and biodiversity conservation can result in material benefits to participating communities has existed under different guises in the concepts of sustainable development, integrated conservation and development projects, sustainable use, and community-based resource management. What these approaches have in common is the belief that win-win situations between the environment and human development are possible under particular institutional arrangements. Disentangling the factors that contribute to effective conservation and improved human welfare is difficult, but necessary for understanding when these win-win scenarios are likely to emerge. This paper analyzes data on 40 community-based marine protected areas in the Philippines, to determine the correlates of win-win versus lose-lose or tradeoff outcomes, measured in terms of children's nutritional status and coral reef health.