The Costs of Exclusion: Recognizing a Role for Local Communities in Biodiversity Conservation

T here is little debate that unchecked human population growth and the development of " modern " societies are responsible for the current biodiversity crisis. To stop the growing loss of biodiversity, global conservation efforts have mostly focused on creating protected areas free of human influence [1]. But many of these protected areas are also in crisis. In most cases, their long-term viability depends on the integrity of complex ecological processes that stretch well beyond their geographical boundaries. Efficient conservation initiatives need to be undertaken at the landscape level, incorporating multiple-use habitats where people and wildlife cohabit [2]. Since most traditional conservation efforts were typically designed to exclude human residents, they have often failed to actively involve groups of people living within or near protected areas. This failure to consider the interests of local communities has resulted in a general lack of support for conservation and subsequent degradation of protected areas [3]. Theories, rationales, and underlying principles about ways to integrate conservation and development are fueling passionate debate at many levels, but convincing documentation of successful implementation is still scarce [3–5]. Since substantial biodiversity is still occurring outside of protected areas, we believe that poverty eradication and biodiversity conservation are intimately interconnected. Addressing these two challenges simultaneously remains one of our best hopes for achieving tangible and durable results [6]. Here we describe two cross-cultural and inclusive community-based conservation programs in Borneo and Papua New Guinea (PNG) that were designed with these factors in mind. The two extant orang-utan species, Pongo pygmaeus in Borneo (Figure 1) and Pongo abelii in Sumatra, are facing extinction due to the loss of the ecological integrity of the islands' lowland ecosystems [7]. The Malaysian state of Sabah (north Borneo), which is one of the species' major strongholds, harbors 11,000 orang-utans [8], about one-fifth of the Bornean population. About 60% of the animals are surviving outside of protected areas, in secondary forests that are exploited by indigenous communities and local industries, resulting in a direct conflict of interest between the needs for preserving this iconic species and the needs for human development. In the Kinabatangan floodplain (east Sabah), past and recent exploitation of the natural resources (timber extraction, conversion to agriculture, etc.) have destroyed more than 80% of the original forest cover, degraded and fragmented natural ecosystems, caused environmental problems such as river pollution, depleted timber and wildlife resources, increased human-wildlife conflicts, and reduced the …