Support for Ostrom Design Principles for conservation interventions of Mauritia flexuosa, a non-timber forest product in the Peruvian Amazon

M. flexuosa is a long-lived dioecious palm that grows to 30m in height and forms expansive palm swamps covering up to 10% of the Peruvian Amazon. This palm provides critical habitat and food for many wildlife species. The... [ view full abstract ]

M. flexuosa is a long-lived dioecious palm that grows to 30m in height and forms expansive palm swamps covering up to 10% of the Peruvian Amazon. This palm provides critical habitat and food for many wildlife species. The fruit harvest has widespread ecological concerns as the most common method is to cut down female trees, which has resulted in many male dominated stands. Rural communities throughout the Peruvian Amazon harvest M. flexuosa fruit to be sold in the largest city in the region, Iquitos. This species is the target of several conservation and management initiatives and understanding the complex interactions of the socio-ecological system are important for designing effective management strategies. The design principles of common pool resources (CPR) and the concept of enabling conditions provide a framework to answer our two main research questions: (1) why individuals participate in collective governance of natural resources, and (2) what conditions are associated with successful collective management of natural resources. We apply these design principles to compare intervention design and outcomes from community-based conservation interventions conducted in the Peruvian Amazon aimed at training local communities to climb Mauritia flexuosa palm trees instead of cutting, which is the traditional harvest method. Of the 24 communities visited, 10 have participated in climbing workshops, but only two currently harvest by climbing. We estimate that over 90% of the fruit sold in Iquitos is harvested by cutting instead of climbing. Harvest of non-timber forest products (NTFPs) such as M. fleuxosa fruit are often promoted as a means of sustainably providing income to rural families in developing nations yet our findings question this assertion. We evaluated management strategies and outcomes using the CPR design principles to explain the variation of outcomes from similar projects. These findings help fill the gap in knowledge about why conservation actions may or may not be meeting intended goals, and what factors may be necessary to achieve conservation goals.