Community Conservation

1. Community Conservation Krisi Heller Josh Stecker Zach Martin

2. Protected Areas Outreach:ArabukoSokoke Forest • Largest remaining portion Of East African Dry Coastal Forest • Local people, Giriama, rely on forest for fuel, food, medicine, and income from additional products • Forest resources are being over-exploited due to growing population, ignorance of more sustainable methods, and deteriorating soil fertility

3. Arabuko-Sosoke Forest Conservation Community Project • Supported by institutions such as: Kenya Wildlife Service, Forest Department, Kenya Forest Research Institute, Community Development Trust Fund, IUCN • Aims to “promote expand and diversify” sustainable use of forest resources to benefit the forests and communities ecologically and economically • Aims to increase the value of the forest as an eco-tourism destination to provide further economic development and funds for projects

4. Outcomes • The program has positively changed local attitude towards conservation • Establishment of the idea of sustainability as the path to present and future successful use of resources. • Most importantly: Provincial administration has recognized the shift and has lent support to community conservation initiatives

5. Co-Management:Manas Biosphere Reserve • Located In Assam, India • Major concern has involved the golden langur, an endangered primate species located only in Assam and the Bhutan • A variety of NGO’s such as Aaranyak of Guwahati, Green Forest Conservation of Kachugaon, Green Heart Nature Club of Kokrajhar work to protect the langur in different sectors while working with the villages of those areas

6. Political upheaval between Bodo Tribal Groups & more recent immigrants to the area have led to violence and illegal logging within the reserve • Militant Tribal Groups, seeking autonomy from the Indian Government, have prevented the Assam Forest Department from enforcing logging practices, through kidnappings and murder

7. NGO’s have had to step in to empower the local people and help the local governments to put an end to the economic and political tensions spurred in this area • This has led local villages to replant, protect, and sustain forest adjacent to their communities, keeping woodcutters out, even putting up signs to declare ownership, and contacting the Assam Forest Department when troublemakers are spotted

8. NGO’s have also helped create Self Help Groups to stifle economic dependency, helping to create within the local communities, small enterprises centered around fish, chicken, goats, crops such as bananas, etc. • In turn, this helps local people to take initiative in creating their own fruitful economy, stabilize the government, and work towards more sustainable forestry practices

9. Devolution:Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary • Jaguar preserve in Belize • Concern was first raised in two places: • Ignacio Pop, citrus farmer • Archie Carr III, assistant director of the International Division of the New York Zoological Society

10. Study of the jaguar population was commissioned • Dr. Alan Rabinowitz • 1982-1984 • Found the highest density of jaguars ever recorded

11. Initially the area was declared a forest reserve and a “No Hunting Zone” • On February 26, 1986 part of the area was made into a wildlife sanctuary • Ignacio Pop and his son were the first wardens and still work there today • Became the world’s first jaguar preserve

12. Run by the Belize Audubon Society • Visitors center • Swimming area • over 250,000 acres • Network of trails to observe the natural area • Tours available

13. Works Cited • http://ambergriscaye.com/pages/town/parkcockscomb.html • http://www.belizeaudubon.org/protected_areas/cockscomb-basin-wildlife-sanctuary.html • http://www.communityconservation.org/Assam.htm • http://adventures.worldnomads.com/destination/110/itinerary/279/Kenya/Footsteps-across-the-Landscape.aspx • http://cmsdata.iucn.org/downloads/arabuko_sokoke.pdf