Independently owned nature reserves are proliferating across the developing world. Nevertheless, the conservation community knows practically nothing about them. This paper examines the economic, ecological, and social impacts of ecotourism, as evidenced at thirty-two of these reserves. Ecotourism is shown to be the primary means through which reserves survive financially. This reliance provide...

a Center for Nature and Society, College of Life Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China b Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-3114, USA c Panthera, New York, NY 10018, USA d Wildlife Conservation Society, New York, NY 10460, USA e Snow Leopard Trust, Seattle, WA 98103, USA f Nature Conservation Foundation, 3076/5, ...

The Maloti Drakenberg Transfrontier Conservation and Development Project between South Africa and Lesotho is a transfrontier conservation initiative that simultaneously aims at conserving biodiversity and fostering the economic development of the local population. This is to be attained via nature-based tourism activities. These, I argue, highlight certain practices, institutions and values of ...