The conservation of shrinking natural habitats and biodiversity, through the establishment and protection of National Parks is the backbone of today’s nature conservation. However, due to a competition for land and natural resources, conflicts with local people can occur. This is the case especially in areas where people have a long tradition in using natural resources from their surrounding environment, and alternatives to this utilization are rare.
Such a situation is found in the Suklaphanta National Park, in the lowlands of Nepal. The intensive collection of fire wood and the overgrazing by free ranging cattle, inside the National Park is causing massive threats to the forest and grassland ecosystems. To decrease the anthropogenic pressure on the National Park, and at the same time create viable alternatives for community members being strongly dependent on these natural resources, a community-based conservation approach was established by a collaboration of international and national conservation organizations in 2010. Besides contributing to local livelihood development and providing conservation education, one aim of this project was to decrease the extraction of fire wood from the National Park. Therefore, improved, energy efficient cooking stoves, as well as small biogas plants were installed in selected target groups.
To provide evidence for the success of the project, socio-economic surveys were executed on a household and User Group level. To analyse the achievement of this attempt, target and control groups were interviewed in 2010, before interventions were started, and again in 2016, after five years of project activities. The findings of the User Group surveys identified a decrease in the fire wood consumption by 27.9%. The collection of fire wood from the National Park declined by 48.95%, which can additionally be verified by the outcome of the household levelled surveys (p < 2.2e^-16). An increase of improved cooking stove installations, implicated by the execution of the project, could be the reason for these declines. Yet, the evaluated growth in liquid petroleum gas (LPG) use and fire wood rates, supplied by private lands and markets, are also potential causes. Surprisingly, the use of biogas by the target groups decreased, which again could be linked to an increased use in LPG. In control groups the identified trends were mostly similar as in target groups, yet less distinctive.
As an overall conclusion it can be stated, that the project was effective in reducing the use of fire wood and increasing the use of more sustainable cooking devices. However, in socio-economic systems multiple factors influence the choice of people, and results cannot be attributed to the project activities, only. Furthermore, the influence of the project may not only be limited to the selected target groups, as knowledge is being passed on independently. Further evaluation of project outcomes and behavioral changes may shade a light on such side effects.
Topics: Natural Resource and Conservation Stakeholders: Managing Expectations and Engageme
