Explore how local communities are creating and protecting conserved areas
See the wide-ranging discussion of the theme within a full-length film and book, and within many community stories, videos, webinars, presentations and publications…
Severe land degradation and environmental disasters can act as triggers to new community conservation and development initiatives and as stimulus to existing ones. ...
Sasi laut is a local knowledge and culture-based practice of coastal resource conservation. Through cooperation of multiple stakeholders, the sasi laut system has strengthened, helping locals to consider global issues related to conservation practices....
The Coquimbo Region's climate is semi-arid with scarce rainfall. The increasing water scarcity is particularly challenging for the Coquimbo Region’s communities as many make their livelihoods from agriculture and goat farming....
The Maya people engage in conservation activities that help to maintain the services that the local environment provides....
The people of Qeshm Island have a strong connection to the land and sea. This connection, and sense of environmental belonging have encouraged them to actively participate in community conservation. ...
The Kesho Trust has a long term commitment to the Saadani area and is involved in a variety of initiatives, including a project called Promoting Environmental Conservation and Cooperation...
In an attempt to protect local forest reserves, community members in Tujereng, The Gambia, have pursued the government’s Community Forestry Programme (CFP), seeking new ways to sustain and expand local conservation efforts....
The Punta Allen community is estimated to be less than 1 metre above sea level, with a population of around 600 persons. Their co-management approach has helped the fishery to develop in a sustainable manner....
KEY MESSAGES People who practice traditional ceremonies of evocation of ancestral spirits inhabit rural communities in the Limpopo district in Mozambique Places where the residences of the founders of the communities were once located, currently host traditional ceremonies – i.e., these are sacred natural sites......
** NEW ** In 1994, in an effort to resolve an escalating environmental campaign known as the ‘War in the Woods’, the British Columbia provincial government announced the creation of the Scientific Panel for Sustainable Forest Practices....
The coastal ecosystem conservation activities conducted by the local communities have been studied as part of a comparative analysis of the social and ecological conditions that each community experiences, and their influence on the nature of community conservation....
Bridging organizations can contribute to a more balanced conservation effort through collaboration, communication and resource sharing – all of which include and resonate with local communities....
In Paraty, the Caiçara communities include Tarituba, Praia do Sono, and Trindade, each of these communities face different challenges and are working towards different solutions. ...
The Kesho Trust has a long term commitment to the Saadani area and is involved in a variety of initiatives, including a project called Promoting Environmental Conservation and Cooperation...
The Ysyk-Köl Biosphere Reserve (YKBR), the largest protected area in Kyrgyzstan, gained international UNESCO designation in 2001. Lake Ysyk-Köl, which is considered as a sacred lake by local people, is a keystone element within the YKBR....
Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) are increasingly recognised across the world as an important strategy for protecting marine resources, conserving biodiversity, rebuilding threatened fish stocks and restoring degraded habitats. The value of MPAs has been discussed at various global gatherings such as the World Summit on......
Nature conservation and protected areas have had a complex history with violence, conflict and peace. The advent of fortress model conservation created a legacy of disenfranchisement, coercion and human rights abuses, while wildlife wars are creating a new trend towards armament in the call to......
Bavinck, M., F. Berkes, A. Charles, A. C. Esteves Dias, N. Doubleday, P. Nayak and M. Sowman. 2017. The impact of coastal grabbing on community conservation – a global reconnaissance. Maritime Studies 16:8. doi.org/10.1186/s40152-017-0062-8
Lancaster, D., Volpe J.P., Haggarty D., Dearden P., and Ban, N.C. 2017. Effectiveness of shore-based remote camera monitoring for quantifying recreational fisher compliance in marine conservation areas. Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems.
Samakov, A. and Berkes, F. 2017. Spiritual commons: sacred sites as core of community-conserved areas in Kyrgyzstan. International Journal of the Commons. 11(1). DOI: http://doi.org/10.18352/ijc.713
Westlund, L., A. Charles, S. Garcia, and J. Sanders (eds). 2017. Marine protected areas: Interactions with fishery livelihoods and food security. FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Technical Paper No.603. Rome, Italy. FAO. 158p
Berdej, S., and Armitage, D. 2016. Bridging for better conservation fit in Indonesia’s coastal-marine systems. Frontiers in Marine Science, 3:101
Berdej, S., D. Armitage & A. Charles, with contributions from F. Berkes, C. Conrad, M. Makino, P. Nayak, S. Salas, A. Samakov, C. Seixas and Uu-a-thluk, Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council. 2016. Governance and Community Conservation. Community Conservation Research Network. Saint Mary’s University. Halifax, Canada. Available on-line at: https://www.communityconservation.net/resources/governance-guidebook/
Charles, A., L. Westlund, D.M. Bartley, W.J. Fletcher, S. Garcia, H. Govan, and J. Sanders. Fishing livelihoods as key to marine protected areas: insights from the World Parks Congress. Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems 26:165–184. (2016)
Downie, B.K. 2016. Towards the resolution of a conservation and community conflict: A Tanzania case study. Policy Matters, 20, 6680.
Spalding, M., Meliane, I., Bennett, N., Dearden, P., Patil P., and Brumbaugh R. 2016. Building towards the marine conservation end-game: consolidating the role of MPAs in a future ocean. Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems, 26: 185-199.
Berdej S., Andrachuk, M., and Armitage, D. 2015. Conservation narratives and their implications in the Coral Triangle Initiative. Conservation and Society, 13(2): 212-220
Infante-Ramirez, K.D., and Arce-Ibarra, A.M. 2015. Local perception of the ecological services and well-being of the Maya Zone´s rainforest from Quintana Roo, Mexico. Investigaciones Geográficas, Boletín del Instituto de Geografía, UNAM ISSN 0188-4611, núm. 86, pp. 67-81
Lancaster, D., Dearden P., and Ban, N. 2015. Drivers of recreational fisher compliance in temperate marine conservation areas: A study of Rockfish Conservation Areas in British Columbia, Canada. Global Ecology and Conservation, 4:645-657