Poverty Risks and National Parks: Policy Issues in Conservation and Resettlement

SummaryIs the conflict between biodiversity conservation and poverty reduction, which frequently arises in park creation programs, insoluble? The authors report empirical evidence from 12 case studies from six countries, which are analyzed through the conceptual lens of the Impoverishment Risks and Reconstruction Model for Involuntary Resettlement. The research concludes conservatively that parks in the Congo basin have already displaced and impoverished about 120–150 000 people and that more will be displaced if this approach continues, despite its deleterious outcomes. The authors argue that the park-establishment strategy predicated upon compulsory population displacement has exhausted its credibility and compromised the cause of biodiversity conservation by inflicting aggravated impoverishment on very large numbers of people. They recommend that the concerned Governments should desist using the eviction approach. The alternative course, proposed by the authors, is to replace forced displacements with a pro-poor strategy that pursues “double sustainability,” to protect both the biodiversity and people’s livelihoods at the same time.