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Ten years of adaptive community-governed conservation: evaluating biodiversity protection and poverty alleviation in a West African hippopotamus reserve

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 July 2010

DONNA J. SHEPPARD ,
AXEL MOEHRENSCHLAGER ,
JANA M. MCPHERSON  and
JOHN J. MASON
DONNA J. SHEPPARD
Affiliation:
Conservation Outreach Department, Calgary Zoological Society, 1300 Zoo Road NE, Calgary, Alberta T2E 7V6, Canada Nature Conservation Research Centre, PO Box KN925, Accra, Ghana Wechiau Community Hippo Sanctuary, PO Box 569, Wa, Upper West Region, Ghana
AXEL MOEHRENSCHLAGER*
Affiliation:
Centre for Conservation Research, Calgary Zoological Society, 1300 Zoo Road NE, Calgary, Alberta T2E 7V6, Canada
JANA M. MCPHERSON
Affiliation:
Centre for Conservation Research, Calgary Zoological Society, 1300 Zoo Road NE, Calgary, Alberta T2E 7V6, Canada Department of Biology, Dalhousie University, 1355 Oxford Street, Halifax, Nova Scotia B3H 4J1Canada
JOHN J. MASON
Affiliation:
Nature Conservation Research Centre, PO Box KN925, Accra, Ghana
*
*Correspondence: Dr Axel Moehrenschlager e-mail: axelm@calgaryzoo.ab.ca
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Summary

Community-based natural resource management has been accused of failing on social, economic or ecological grounds. Balanced assessments are rare, however, particularly in West Africa. This paper examines the first 10 years of Ghana's Wechiau Community Hippo Sanctuary using an evaluation framework that considers socioeconomic and ecological outcomes, as well as resilience mechanisms. Building upon traditional taboos against the killing of hippopotami, this initiative has attempted to conserve an imperilled large mammal, protect biodiversity and alleviate abject poverty amidst a bush meat crisis and complex ethnic diversity. Findings show that the Sanctuary has improved local livelihoods by spurring economic diversification and infrastructure development rates 2–8 times higher than in surrounding communities. Simultaneously, threats to biodiversity have subsided, hippopotamus numbers have remained stable and the Sanctuary's riparian habitats now harbour more bird species than comparable areas nearby. Improved social capital, true empowerment, an equitable distribution of benefits, ecological awareness among children and support for the Sanctuary, even amongst community members who were disadvantaged by its creation, speak to good long-term prospects. Risks remain, some of which are beyond the community's control, but evidence of socioecological resilience suggests that capacity exists to buffer risks and foster sustainability. Lessons learnt at Wechiau translate into recommendations for the planning, implementation and evaluation of future community-based conservation initiatives, including greater interdisciplinary integration and the use of adaptive co-management approaches.

Keywords

community-based natural resource managementdisplacementecosystem servicesecotourismGhanaHippopotamus amphibiuslocal empowermentsocioecological resiliencesocioeconomic outcomessustainability
Type
THEMATIC SECTION: Community-based natural resource management (CBNRM): designing the next generation (Part 2)
Information
Environmental Conservation , Volume 37 , Issue 3: Thematic section. Community-based natural resource management (CBNRM): Designing the next generation (Part 2) , September 2010 , pp. 270 - 282
Copyright
Copyright © Foundation for Environmental Conservation 2010

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