Can Forest Dwellers Conserve Wildlife in the

Absence of de facto State Governance?

Attributes of users

1. Autonomy

2. Common understanding

3. Salience

4. Distribution of interests

5. Discount rate

6. Trust

7. Organizational experience

Ostrom 1999

A framework 1980’s

Commons management

Community-based management – a solution?

GAP between conservation practice and commons theory

Trust?

Salience?

Distribution of interests ?

3

2

Wildlife

Discount rates?

4

Other natural resources

5

External

Stakeholders

Pygmies

Bantu

1 Knowledge

Common understanding?

Prior oranizational experience?

Common Understanding?

Hunters and farmer women have a shared understanding of the current conditions of wildlife

Hunters are more competent than women

Agreement on current species’ abundances amongst “experts” √

Hunters do not agree on population trends

90.4 % (N = 66) of the hunters indicated excessive hunting as the reason for observed declines

Users are aware of the impact of their actions (hunting) √, but do not agree on trends X

48.7 % of hunters could not imagine that certain wildlife species can go extinct

Bantu hunters and residents from villages with more market exposure where mean species abundance was lower, were more likely to imagine that certain species can go extinct

Traditional conceptions X and personal experience √ influence whether hunters can imagine extinction

Salience? 2

Value orientations:

Anthropocentric (materialist) value orientation: average agreement 82 % attitudes approving the killing of animals

Biocentric (non-materialist) value orientation: average agreement 56.2 % attitudes favoring the protection of wild animals

Salience? 2

Wildlife highly valued as a source of food and cash income √

Wildlife has a stronger salient

livelihood importance for Pygmies √ X

Salience ? 2

Wildlife is salient for the poor √ X

Distribution of interest ?

3 Bantu are wealthier than Pygmies: Mann-Whitney U-test p < 0.0005

Wildlife is less salient in the

livelihoods of the Bantu who have more means (financial, political power) than the Pygmies X

4

Characterization Group Discount rate

Bantu (%)

Central African forest dwellers

“Diversified livelihoods”

0.21 56

"Farmers" 0.14 100

"Fishers" 0.17 79

Citizens of CT Heroin

addicts 0.045

Control

group 0.013

Bolivia Indian

Horticulturalists

Women 0.1

Men 0.083

High discount rates

constrain livelihood strategies available to local people as alternatives to hunting (Schooling seems a mediator variable (discount rats ↔ schooling ↔ fishing/hunting))

Discount rates ?

5

Trust?

Question Mean score*

Std. deviation

1 Do you trust people in this village? 3.23 1.31

2 Will people from this village help you if you are in need?

2.29 0.96

3 Will people in this village lend you money if you are in need?

1.85 0.79

4 Do you think that people in this village will betray you if it is to their personal advantage? (reverse coded for analysis)

3.35 1.04

5 Do people in this village like to work collectively? 3.77 0.77

6 Do people in this village help one another if they need to solve a common problem?

3.25 0.97

Trust and social cohesion 2.96 0.97

Respondents trust less than half of the community members X

* Response scale 1 to 6

5

Prior organizational experience

Pygmies Bantus

women men women men Total

16 29 35 54 134

Respondents currently active in a community organization

6 5 8 21 40

Percentage of all respondents (%) 29.9

Respondents who participate(d) in micro-project groups (prior and/or current)

7 9 10 26 52

Percentage of all respondents (%) 38.8

Respondents who participate(d) in a community organization (prior and/or current)

7 9 14 29 59

Percentage of all respondents (%) 44

Percentage thereof that participats/ed in micro-project groups

88.1

Successful prior organizational experience is weak X

Conclusions

In the absence of accompanying measures communities in Northern Congo are unlikely to successfully manage wildlife resources in a sustainable manner, if given the responsibility and decision-making power.

For a CBNRM initiative to succeed, governmental authorities and/or non-governmental organizations have a crucial role to play.

The central question of agency remains:

Who would be the organizations or authorities to bear the costs and address all these issues?

?

Attributes of users Conducive?

1. Autonomy X

2. Common understanding √ X

3. Salience Pygmies √ Bantu X

4. Distribution of interests X

5. Discount rate XX

6. Trust X

7. Organizational experience XX

Ostrom 1999

Many Thanks to

Janggen-Pöhn Stiftung

Industrial logging, wildlife and

poverty: What can a benefit-sharing

agreement between industry and communities contribute?

5