Insight series compendium

Managing Access Restrictions in Nature Conservation Projects (EN)

Nature conservation projects have the potential to severely restrict access to resources by local communities, chiefly due to the need to protect or restore expansive land, marine, and inland water areas.This Compendium consolidates a two-part Insight Series developed by SRA on Managing Access Restrictions in Nature Conservation Projects. The goal of this Insight Series is to help conservation projects (a) identify common social impacts related to access restrictions and (b) ensure these are adequately addressed throughout assessment, planning and implementation.

SRA has worked at the forefront of conservation initiatives and the management of related access restrictions in recent years, particularly in collaboration with KfW, a leading development finance institution in the sector. This collaboration culminated in the production of detailed management guidance for KfW’s use internally, which has been drawn on herein.

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Overview

Although conservation projects are generally developed with the intention of promoting the long-term health and sustainability of natural resources, their design and implementation can nevertheless result in a range of adverse social impacts. Foremost amongst these are impacts on community well-being and livelihoods that can stem from project-related access restrictions. Where not fully mitigated, these impacts – whether on nearby communities, indigenous populations, and/or resource users – can be significant, resulting in impoverishment and leading to the creation of passive or active opposition to a given project.

Conversely, conservation projects that fully mitigate their access-related impacts often generate broad support among nearby communities, regulators and civil society. That said, the most successful projects, both in terms of social and conservation outcomes, are often those that go beyond the minimum requirements of mitigation to create added value for stakeholders. In other words, these projects make local stakeholders better off in material ways. In fact, it is only by ensuring positive social outcomes that the success and longterm sustainability of conservation projects can truly be assured.

The conservation community as a whole recognizes this reality. As a result, Integrated Conservation and Development Projects (ICDPs) are now common, which rely on co-design with local stakeholders to inform project assessment, planning and implementation from the outset. In short, ICDPs aim to improve achievement of certain conservation objectives but also to manage social impacts effectively and to promote socioeconomic development for nearby communities. This allows for achievement of important win-wins, namely the protection of conservation values and habitats along with the attainment of more sustainable community livelihoods and development.

This Insight Series Compendium presents an overview of impacts related to access restrictions in conservation projects and identifies a useful management tool for the effective mitigation of impacts on community wellbeing and livelihoods.