Side Event

Understanding the Relationship Between PAs and Poverty: New Evidence on the Impacts of Protected Areas on Local Livelihoods

Organizer
CARE International and The Nature Conservancy

Date and Time
15 February 2008 13:15 - 14:45

Meeting
Second meeting of the Ad Hoc Open-ended Working Group on Protected Areas (WGPA 2)

A number of different agencies are currently involved in assessments of the benefits and costs of Protected Areas to communities living in and around these areas using a range of newly developed methodologies. This effort addresses the concern that evidence of the positive and negative impacts of PAs on local livelihoods is poor and largely anecdotal, often because there is simply no more substantive data, and where there is, because existing methodologies are weak in key respects, e.g. distribution of costs and benefits within communities, (including gender equity), valuation of non-economic benefits and costs. To provide an overview the first presentation will be of a meta-analysis of recent studies on the impact of protected areas on local livelihoods presented by staff of the UNEP-World Conservation Monitoring Centre. This will be followed by presentations of two new multi-country studies which address the contrasting situations of terrestrial and marine protected areas: firstly a CARE/IUCN/AWF-led study on the benefits and costs of 12 terrestrial protected areas in 4 countries in Africa and Asia (Kenya, Uganda, Thailand and the Philippines) ranging from large state-managed areas to small community conserved areas; secondly a TNC-led study on the contribution of marine protected areas to poverty reduction covering 4 marine protected areas in 4 countries of Asia and the Pacific (Fiji, Solomon Islands, Indonesia and the Philippines) ranging from a large co-managed area to a small community conserved area. Lastly the event will provide an opportunity for a representative of indigenous and local communities to present their perspectives on the subject of the event. This side event is jointly organized by UNEP-World Conservation Monitoring Centre, CARE International, The Nature Conservancy and the Protected Areas, Equity and Livelihoods Task Force of WCPA/CEESP/TILCEPA.