Contribution of co-management in mitigating protected area conflicts

Protected Areas (PAs) have increasingly become a strategy for biodiversity conservation. However, inadequate engagement with stakeholders, clashes between livelihood and conservation goals and human-wildlife conflicts have... [ view full abstract ]

Protected Areas (PAs) have increasingly become a strategy for biodiversity conservation. However, inadequate engagement with stakeholders, clashes between livelihood and conservation goals and human-wildlife conflicts have threatened to militate against conservation. While scholars contend that co-management between local people, the state and other stakeholders offer substantial promise for conflict management, the extent to which they contribute to conflict prevention or mitigation and at what stage of the conflicts such collaborative efforts are possible still remain a field under-researched.

Focusing on the Mole National Park (MNP) Ghana’s pioneer and largest national park which embarked on a Collaborative Community-Based Wildlife Management programme in 2000 after witnessing varying degrees of conflicts particularly relating to human-wildlife conflicts, we analysed the contribution of co-management at mitigating and preventing PA conflicts from escalating. Using a qualitative case study approach, we conducted 22 interviews with local traditional leaders, park officials, local government officials and 26 Focus Group Discussions with farmers, hunters, women and representatives of co-management boards selected from 10 out of the 33 communities surrounding the park. The 10 communities were selected based on their proximity or remoteness from the park, their ethnicity and the availability or non-availability of co-management boards in the communities. The purpose was to provide a diverse range of cases relevant to the phenomenon understudy.

Results from our study indicate that, co-management in the MNP helped to mitigate or prevent conflicts from escalating in the first stage of conflict through provision of economic incentives facilitated by Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and park officials. Negotiation between conflicting parties as well as mediation facilitated by third parties such as NGOs also helped to mitigate conflicts at the second and third stages respectively. Beyond the third stage however, conflicts were unable to be resolved through co-management and thus were resolved through adjudication and coercive actions sometimes involving the use of police and armed patrol teams resulting in further escalating the conflicts.

To enhance conflict management through co-management, local knowledge, skills and practices of local communities need to be incorporated into formal conflict management while ensuring that co-management boards are representative of all stakeholders involved.