Parks and People

When Global Conservation Meets Local Livelihoods : People and Parks in Centralamerica

National park and related forest conservation efforts tend to emanate from core areas of the world and are often imposed on rurai people living on forest fringes in the least developed regions of lesser developed countries. We address the social and cuitural processes that ensue when center-originating conservation meets local people with their resource-dependent livelihoods, and how these vary...

Parks, People, and Forest Protection: An Institutional Assessment of the Effectiveness of Protected Areas

— Are parks effective in forest conservation? This study examines data from 163 forests in 13 countries to determine the necessity of legally established protected areas for forest conservation and alternative conditions and institutions that may conserve forests. The results show no statistically significant differences in forest conditions between legally protected forests and forests governe...

Parks and Tourism

Why should it matter how many people visit national parks? In a word: politics. Protected areas are not only physical places, reservoirs of biodiversity, and sources of ecosystem services, such as breathable air and drinkable water. They are also human political constructs, and they are under ever-increasing pressures from growing human populations and resource demands. Visitors may bring them ...

Healthy forest parks make healthy people: Forest environments enhance human immune function

Conservation outside of parks: attitudes of local people in Laikipia, Kenya

Conflict between wildlife and people can erode local support for conservation. Wildlife-based benefits are intended to offset costs and encourage tolerance or stewardship, but where the linkage between benefits and wildlife is not understood, benefits may be ineffective at bolstering conservation. In Laikipia, Kenya, wildlife and areas devoted to wildlife are on the increase, but most residents...