Abstract
Particularly in poor tropical countries, in areas where people exist through subsistence lifestyles, the hunting of wildlife serves as a major source protein (Redford, 1993). In some areas, overhunting is considered to be one of the most serious threats facing wildlife (Robinson & Redford 1991; Redford 1992). Globally, protected areas form the backbone of biodiversity conservation, however, criticisms of traditionally modeled protected areas have been waged on multiple fronts and have resulted in the development conservation projects that recognize that social and ecological systems are inextricably linked. Integrated conservation and development programs (ICDP) couple biodiversity conservation with socioeconomic development aimed at inclusive and surrounding communities (IUCN / UNEP / WWF 1991). Due to limited conservation funding, the inability to illustrate project effectiveness, lack of substantiated foundation on which to base decision-making and continued biodiversity loss, ICDPs and similarly focused programs are hotly contested. This study evaluates the success of an ICDP located in Guyana by assessing local resident’s attitudes towards conservation, wildlife populations, and the relationship between attitudes and wildlife. Direct analysis of wildlife populations offered little evidence in support of biological conservation success. However, this result does not lead to the conclusion that relationships between conservation, the environment, human welfare and culture do not exist or are in someway unimportant to conservation objectives. Many alternative explanations and confounding factors potentially useful in explaining the observed patterns include: methodological limitations, including small sample size and differences in habitat type, time lag between establishment of the ICDP and detectible differences in wildlife populations, and source-sink dynamics operating within the greater study area. Results of attitude surveys illustrated that those in contact with the conservation organization are generally supportive of the organization itself and conservation goals but also emphasize a general lack of understanding of the linkage between the ICDP’s development initiatives, benefits received and conservation goals. Furthermore, hunting rights, with their connection to self-determination, land rights and community sovereignty, was highlighted as an important issue. Although I found little variation in species diversity across villages, this index was not correlated with positive conservation attitudes at the village level. The results of this study do not support the method of assessing broad ICDP success by solely evaluating individual’s attitudes. This case study emphasizes the importance of empirical approaches to both conservation and development goals, useful in informing the development of successful approaches to biodiversity conservation.