Case study: Zimbabwe’s CAMPFIRE programme

The CAMPFIRE programme was conceived shortly after Zimbabwe attained independence in 1980. Black people had lost land and property rights during the colonial regime. In the post-independence era, land reform emerged as a major political and economic issue. Within this context, the overarching goal of CAMPFIRE was to share the benefits generated by the wildlife economy with local communities, in the process ensuring that wildlife conservation remained a viable income-generating option. It was envisaged that benefit-sharing would be achieved by devolving property rights and management to rural district councils (RDCs) and not the communities themselves. Foreign donor agencies provided start-up capital for basic infrastructure, project development and administration and continued to do so until the country’s economic disintegration in the early 2000s.

RDCs, on behalf of communities on communal land, are granted the authority to market access to wildlife in their district to safari operators. In turn, safari operators sell hunting and photographic safaris to mostly-foreign sport hunters and eco-tourists. The RDCs are required to pay the communities a dividend of no less than 50 percent of the income from these sources.

CAMPFIRE stood out in its time due to a combination of factors:

• It was deliberately conceived of as a model that would benefit both the local population and the local natural resources.
• The area had an abundance of ‘charismatic’ wildlife, including elephants and lions, that would attract paying visitors.
• The programme was supported by the national government.
• The local population had explicit rights to manage and benefit from the natural resources in their area.
• Elected local committees made management and strategic decisions on behalf of the communities.
• Partnerships with trophy hunting and tourism companies brought in cash and bushmeat to be distributed to individual community members.
• To provide services the hunters and tourists, employment opportunities were created.

CAMPFIRE has had successes and challenges. The direct benefits derived from sustainable wildlife use, which includes safari hunting, game cropping, photographic safari drives and other ecotourism ventures. Although communities receive a share of these revenues, they have no equity in wildlife utilization (Murombedzi 1999: 289). International and local tourism companies, hunting operators and ancillary services are the main beneficiaries.

CAMPFIRE generated more than US$20 million in transfers to the participating communities between 1989 and 2001 (Gandiwa, Machena, and Mwakiwa 2017), with revenue from safari hunting and ecotourism being the main income streams. The amount disbursed to communities was 52 percent of the total income earned. Sports hunters and eco-tourists would buy game and trophy hunts; the RDCs, in turn, would then pay out dividends to communities based on an agreed formula. There were, however, underpayments and delays in processing payments (CAMPFIRE n.d.). By 2017 there were 120 Campfire Committees, potentially reaching 200 000 households in 58 districts, working in association with Ward Committees and traditional authorities. Of those 58 districts, 15 are considered to have sufficient wildlife to generate financial benefit to communities.

When the United States banned the importation of elephant and lion trophies in 2014, there was an immediate impact on income generation at CAMPFIRE sites. In 2013, annual revenue was US$2.3 million, and by 2016-17, this had dropped to US$1.7 million (Gandiwa, Machena, and Mwakiwa 2017).

Outside the cash benefits, there were other benefits such as employment opportunities and bushmeat provision, subsidised tillage, and drought relief and some indirect benefits such as infrastructural facilities. Tchakatumba and colleagues note that the percentage of households that never benefited from CAMPFIRE employment opportunities - either on full- or part-time basis - was high, while little had been done for building or maintaining clinics, roads, and boreholes.

Where information is available, the impact on wildlife (primarily measured by reference to elephants, the dominant ‘charismatic’ hunted species across the CAMPFIRE areas) is patchy. Wildlife habitats are well maintained in CAMPFIRE areas and this has created conditions for increased wildlife populations outside protected areas (Gandiwa, Machena, and Mwakiwa 2017). Where resources have been sufficient and focused on collaboration with safari operators, there have been notable gains: in Dande, poaching of elephants declined from 40 in 2010 to 5 in 2017. In the Hwange district, however, uncontrolled migration of elephants through the 18 wards of the communal area had caused serious conflict with humans (CAMPFIRE n.d.).

Case study: Namibian community conservancies

Namibia is known for its community conservancies, which employ, among others, former poachers and community members as wildlife guardians. These community conservancies are self-governing democratic entities, run by local people, with fixed boundaries that are agreed on with adjacent conservancies, communities or landowners (Namibian Association of Community Based Natural Resource Management 2020). The Namibian case provides useful insights as to what works and what does not work in terms of the marketization of conservation. All of the features listed above in relation to the original CAMPFIRE model could be repeated word for word to describe the Namibian Communal Conservancies. Also analogous is their very wide geographic spread across the country and the economic centrality, in both the Zimbabwean and Namibian models, of ‘charismatic’ large African mammals (‘big game’).

In Namibia, all communal land is owned by the state, but the Communal Land Reform Act 5 of 2002 allows for group tenure rights by registration; traditional authorities, where operative, also have a recognized role. Deriving from this legislation, Communal Conservancies and Community Forests are self-governing entities. The Ministry of Environment and Tourism (MET) is responsible for broad oversight and has Standard Operation Procedures on the essentials of governance, with key compliance requirements. With the facilitation and assistance of Namibian Association of CBNRM Support Organisations (NACSO) and regional staff from conservation support organisations, the MET carries out annual audits to assess conservancy governance and financial and natural resource management performance. Funding derives from donations (mostly international), fees from joint venture tourism and ‘conservation hunting’ and payments from ecological services (PES). Of the 87 conservancies, 56 have ‘conservation hunting’ concessions. The aim is for all 87 conservancies to become financially sustainable and effectively self-governing. Nearly half were regarded as financially sustainable before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020-21, but there are others with relatively poor natural resources that will probably need long-term support.

The Community Conservation Trust Fund was established and registered in 2017. It was designed to be an endowment fund, assisting where necessary with operating costs and minimum support packages. The funds in the Trust come from investments and continued donor support based upon conservation performance. As conservancies mature, they are investing more in alternative livelihoods and education.

The impacts on wildlife have been notable. Elephants have increased from roughly 7,500 in 1995 to more than 20,000 individuals by 2016 (Republic of Namibia 2016). Lions have expanded their range from Etosha National Park westwards to the Skeleton Coast and are increasing in the north-eastern regions. Namibia also boasts the largest population of free-ranging black rhino in the world. After an increase in elephant and rhino poaching between 2014 and 2016, rhino poaching decreased from 100 (2015) to 49 in 2019. There have been livestock attacks (mostly by hyena and cheetahs) and crop damage (by elephants) but affected parties have been compensated from a national fund and individual conservancies. More than 212,000 people were living in the 87 conservancies by 2020. They were benefitting from:

• Direct tourism/security/conservation-related employment
• Support to schools
• Bursaries
• Small businesses (bakery, general store)
• Electricity
• Meat from hunts
• Crafts
• Indigenous local products

Total cash and indirect benefits increased from less than NAD 1 million (1998) to NAD 147 million (2018).

Namibia’s conservancy programme is not without its challenges, however. For one, it is alleged that accountability and transparency among some conservancy committees are not always present. A form of elitism is also preventing bottom-up consultations on important decisions in some conservancies, on the basis of who has an influential voice (Beckert 2013: 89-90). In other instances, old elite interests – legitimate or otherwise – that were threatened by the establishment of conservancies and the empowerment of local people, have opposed and derailed efforts (IRNDC 2011). In some instances, input and advice from community elders and traditional leaders have not been taken onboard. There has been a high turnover in conservancy committees, with some members not originating from or living in the conservancies they represent. Allegations of nepotism and corruption have also arisen. Furthermore, some conservancies are on marginal land that has limited or no potential for tourism or other uses, and these offer little prospect for income generation. There have also been reports that benefits from the conservancy programme do not always reach the most needy and marginalized, namely women, youth and the elderly. Overall, taking into account such challenges, the Namibian conservancies appear to be working sustainably in the interests of both wildlife and humans.

Case study: International Gorilla Conservation Programme

Formed in 1991, the International Gorilla Conservation Programme’s aim is to ensure conservation of mountain gorillas and their habitat in Rwanda, Uganda and Democratic Republic of Congo. It has the twin objectives of reducing threats to mountain gorillas and their forest habitat by creating widespread support for conservation among local communities, interest groups and the general public, as well as improving the protection of gorillas and their habitat by encouraging the relevant authorities to adopt a consistent, collaborative approach to conservation policy. By improving livelihoods, encouraging sustainable use of resources and tackling other local issues via a range of community initiatives, the programme aims to influence attitudes to conservation at all levels and reduce the threats facing the parks, forests and wildlife.

Case study based on http://igcp.org/about/

Case study: Maasai Wilderness Trust – The Maasai Kuku Group Ranch

The Maasai Wilderness Trust is a US-based NGO. Kuku Group Ranch is Maasai-owned, one of a number of ‘group ranches’ in the area between Maasai Mara and Amboseli National Parks in Kenya, a major wild-life corridor as well as an area of traditional Maasai cattle-farming. The Ranch is a partnership between professional conservationists and Maasai leaders. In this model, government is supportive but at a distance, apart from the regular provision of schools and clinics. Two forms of local governance – professional/commercial and traditional – exist within the same physical area on the basis of a clear understanding of their respective roles.

It provides some direct formal employment; develops locally based livelihoods, particularly for women; improves local health and education and effectively manages natural resources, including sought-after wildlife. The revenue stream from an eco-lodge partly supports a variety of initiatives. There is a grassland restoration programme and some alternative sources of income: a grass-seed bank, beading, and beekeeping and honey production. There has been a 50 percent decrease in wildlife poaching since 2015 in the Ranch area.

With regards to impacts on people, more than 300 people have found employment; over 9,000 school children are supported; more than 17,000 patients treated; traditional grazing practices and grasslands improved and verified compensation paid for stock losses to predators.

The First Nations Peoples of Canada and natural resources

Once numbering in the millions, barren-ground caribou populations have dropped by over 70 percent since the early 2000s (Parlee, Sandlos, and Natcher 2018). Caribou play an important role in arctic/subarctic ecosystems, and, in northern Canadian Indigenous cultures, also in economies and health. The efforts to stop the barren-ground caribou population decline have mostly focused on supressing subsistence harvesting by Indigenous peoples (Parlee, Sandlos and Netcher 2018). Using 13 years of harvest data and qualitative research on adaptive practices, Parlee, Sandlos and Natcher (2018) show that subsistence harvesting was not a threat to the sustainability of barren-ground caribou. Rather, the data show that Indigenous communities have developed social rules that prevent unsustainable use, such as by reducing the harvest of caribou in favour of other species during a period of caribou decline.

The study by Parlee et al. (2018) also shows that mining activities have a significant impact on caribou numbers and livelihoods of IPLCs. Mining activities create habitat fragmentation affecting migration routes and create stresses of noise, dust and habitat degradation (Parlee, Sandlos and Netcher 2018). Indigenous groups recognised the harmful consequences of mining activities and took legal action against the Yukon (provincial) government when it made a decision to increase mining in the largely undisturbed Porcupine caribou range despite the Peel Watershed Planning Commission’s recommendation to protect 80 percent of the area from development (Hong 2007; Parlee, Sandlos and Netcher 2018). The case made it all the way to the Canadian Supreme Court, where the court ruled that the Yukon government did not have authority to make changes to the recommendation plan of the Commission (Hong 2017).

The Irula tribe: Employing indigenous knowledge systems

The Irulas have been praised as ‘the skilled snake catchers’ of India (Venkatraman 2018). Historically, the Irulas were hunting snakes and rats at farmers’ requests; however, due to modernisation, declining snake populations and a ban on hunting and sale of snake skins by the Government of India in 1970s, the Irulas had to adapt. Some members of the Irula tribe use their expert knowledge and understanding of snakes to, for example, work for the Irula Snake-Catchers Cooperative to capture poisonous snakes to create anti-venom (Venkatraman 2018). Six companies produce around 1.5 million anti-venom vials a year, the majority of which is created from the venom gathered by the Irulas (Sampathkumar 2018). It has been argued that presence of the Cooperative ‘provided legitimacy’ to Indigenous knowledge and skillsets, because as ‘hunter-gatherers’ the Irulas were considered poachers by local government officials’ (Sampathkumar 2018). Two members of the Irula tribe were also invited to help catch pythons in Florida (USA), which are a threat to biodiversity in the Florida Everglades National Park (Biswas 2017). Over the course of two months, they captured 34 pythons (Sampathkumar 2018), emphasizing how their traditional skills can be useful in other settings.

Case study: Vicuña shearing in Peru

The vicuña species were once on the brink of extinction due to overhunting. Nowadays, they are thriving once again in the Andean region (Kasterine and Lichtenstein 2018). The Vicuña Convention of 1969 prohibited vicuña hunting and introduced a CITES trade ban on the export of vicuña pelts (which was lifted in 1994). Despite the ban, the Peruvian government shifted from a prohibition-based system to trade system in 1980. Changes were made to the local vicuña management policy and local communities were given rights to shear the fibre of vicuñas (Kasterine and Lichtenstein 2018). Following strict guidelines, local communities started to capture and shear vicuñas for buyers. Vicuña fibre is a valuable commodity and occupies ‘an exclusive position in the luxury fashion market’ (Kasterine and Lichtenstein 2018: 7). This resulted in ‘a dramatic recovery’ in species numbers due to communities now having ‘an economic stake’ in the vicuñas’ survival (Kasterine and Lichtenstein, 2018: ix). For instance, it was estimated that Peru had 10,000 vicuñas in 1969; in 1981 the numbers had increased to 61,900 and to 208,899 by 2012 (Kasterine and Lichtenstein 2018). Between 2013 and 2017, Peru also reported a 29 percent increase in the collected fibre. Although many challenges still remain, including some poaching, the impact of climate change and the deterioration of grasslands due to overgrazing by domestic animals (Kasterine and Lichtenstein 2018), overall ‘poaching levels dropped dramatically’ due to local management initiatives and trade regulations’ (Lichtenstein 2015: 39).

Case study: Crocodiles

The American crocodile has been the subject of overexploitation for its skin and meat. The effects of overexploitation were felt severely in Colombia. Between 1928 and 1932, an estimated 700,000 to 800,000 crocodiles were slaughtered to meet the demand for skin. Consequently, the most conspicuous species in Colombia’s mangrove ecosystems, the American crocodile was almost eliminated from its natural habitat, which was (and continues to be) degraded and destroyed by coastal development, making natural recovery of the species difficult. Populations became restricted to small, isolated pockets of suitable habitat, such as within the mangrove ecosystems in the upper and middle reaches of the Magdalena River and the Bay of Cispatá, which is a protected area that provides ideal habitat for the American crocodile.

To protect the species, the American crocodile was included in CITES Appendix I and the Colombian government banned hunting. Illegal trade in crocodilian skin and meat continued, however. To address the issue of population decimation, new conservation initiatives and incentives were proposed including the establishment of the ASOCAIMAN cooperative. The cooperative manages the local population of American crocodile in Bay of Cispatá, Colombia via egg harvesting and re-release of juveniles (Roe and Booker 2019). It was hoped that these activities would contribute towards moving the species from CITES Appendix I to Appendix II and potentially resuming trade in crocodile skins (Roe and Booker 2019).

Support for community development and empowerment lies at the heart of the initiative. As part of this initiative, a group of 15 “caimaneros” or former crocodile hunters were trained to become skilled managers of the crocodile and effective conservationists, which has also decreased incidents of poaching. There has been an almost 200 percent increase of the crocodile population in the Bay of Cispatá and 9000 American crocodiles have been released into the wild. Due to the success of the ASOCAIMAN initiative, in 2016 the Cispatá population of American crocodile was moved to CITES Appendix II.

(People not poaching database)

Case study: Legalized caviar production in Europe

Rising demand for luxury wildlife products such as caviar is one of the main drivers of the illegal wildlife trade in pickled sturgeon roe. All 27 species of sturgeon are included in the IUCN Red List (Musing et al. 2018). There have been calls to completely ban the caviar trade to facilitate the recovery of the species; however, the trade is an important income for certain areas, such as the Caspian Sea region, and a complete ban would punish legitimate producers (Duffy 2010). Trade of sturgeons and associated products has been regulated under CITES since 1998 and several countries, such as Romania, have introduced a ban on sturgeon fishing (EUMOFA 2018).

Through several regulatory changes, the caviar industry has changed and moved from wild-caught to captive-bred caviar. Nowadays, it has been estimated that nearly all (EUMOFA 2018) or 95 percent of all legal caviar trade (Musing et al. 2018) comes from farmed sturgeon. This shift to farmed sturgeon and caviar production has been seen as ‘having brought illegal caviar trade under control in the EU’ (Dickson 2020). Nevertheless, the move to captive-bred caviar has created other challenges, such as a caviar grey market in Europe where captive-bred caviar production has been exploited to facilitate illicit caviar trade and has caused a loss of livelihood for sturgeon fishing communities in Europe (Dickinson, 2020).

Case study: Rights-based conservation at Yayasam Planet Indonesia

Operating primarily in Indonesian Borneo (West Kalimantan), Yayasam Planet Indonesia is a village-led conservation project facilitated by a US-based NGO. Started in 2014, the project combines the sustainable management of endangered species (orangutan, a variety of birds, rare woods) with agricultural and fisheries management and carbon sequestration through forest conservation.

Two-thirds of Indonesia’s poor live in or around forest; deforestation and impoverished soil impacts local livelihoods as well as globally important biodiversity. A 2012 Constitutional Court decision, and subsequent ministerial regulations in late 2014, oblige local governments to reallocate 12.7 million hectares of state forest to poor indigenous communities. The programme takes a ‘rights-based approach to conservation’, noting that ‘local problems need the expertise of local people’. The objective of the programme is ‘to manage local biodiversity while improving human well-being:’ this includes developing sustainable agriculture programmes in the buffer zone (organic farming, reforestation, sustainable fisheries management) in order to provide effective alternatives to forest clearing, soil degradation, exhaustion of valuable timber, trade in orangutans and other wildlife. The local governance vehicle for this process is ‘Conservation Cooperatives’, voluntary self-governing structures. These cooperatives are the access point for:

• Agricultural training (courses formally recognised by the state – 600 farmers per year);
• Training in mapping, zoning and wildlife management (using smartphones);
• A village-based savings and loan programme (with a 100 percent repayment rate to date);
• Identifying and supporting new businesses and other sources of income;
• Mentoring and life-skills coaching.

There is also an education programme, including adult literacy and the support of local state schools, and a health programme in cooperation with state-supported clinics. In collaboration with NGOs Oceanwise and Blue Forest, the model has been extended to include a local fishing community and the linked conservation of coastal mangrove swamps.

Case study based on https://www.planetindonesia.org

Example: The Rhino Impact Investment Project

The Rhino Impact Investment (RII) Project is an initiative of United for Wildlife, a partnership between seven of the world’s leading wildlife charities and The Royal Foundation of The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. It is a pay-for-results approach to conservation, as noted above, moving from traditional sources of funding to ‘an outcomes-based financing mechanism’ (Withers et al. 2018). The funds are directed towards selected sites in Kenya and South Africa and a set of key performance indicators, such as net rhino growth rate, are used to assess the conservation outcome (Withers et al. 2018). The USD 50 million Rhino Impact Bond is looking to increase the global black rhino population by ten percent (Srivastava 2019). Based on the conservation outcome, the outcomes-payer will pay the investor the original investment plus or minus a percentage according to conservation outcome (Withers et al. 2018).

Case study: Buffer zones in Nepal

The early history of the management of protected areas in Nepal was based on the principles of fortress conservation, including the forceful eviction of indigenous peoples and protectionist conservation management policies. A 2009 study commissioned by Transparency International Nepal found a legacy of antagonism between people living near parks and the park authorities (Bhuju, Aryal, and Aryal 2009). Against this backdrop of community-conservation tensions and in the aftermath of the civil war, Nepalese conservation authorities reached out to local communities to get them actively involved in wildlife protection.

Community forestry is a participatory forest management system in Nepal that was started in the late 1970s. It provides rural communities with control over management and protection of forest resources. The ‘fences and fines’ approach to conservation management was supplemented with incentive measures, such as legally sanctioned removal of thatching grass, the creation of buffer zones and revenue-sharing schemes (Shova and Hubacek 2011).

Nepal’s Buffer Zone Management Regulation of 1996 granted rights to local communities to manage and use natural resources within those zones. Local people were able to choose which development activities to become involved in through a buffer-zone management committee, which consisted of elected representatives of the community (Bhattarai et al. 2017). Nepal’s policies emphasize the importance of implementing a process that allows communities to choose activities according to their priorities rather than defining outcomes (Allendorf and Gurung 2016). Development activities in buffer zones were mostly focused on infrastructure development such as the construction of buildings, roads, communication (telephone installation), irrigation and water infrastructure and ablution facilities (Allendorf and Gurung 2016). In 2009, an instrument that provided for the payment of compensation to communities for livestock losses was also established. Conservation agencies have worked with local communities on innovative measures to reduce the incidence of human-wildlife conflict, including the construction of trenches, electric fencing and watchtowers, and the supply of torches and binoculars (Aryal et al. 2017). In addition, the park authorities share about a third of the park’s revenue with communities that live adjacent to protected areas.

These various measures for achieving a rapprochement between the local communities and the authorities seem to have achieved some success. A study comparing local residents’ perceptions of benefits and losses associated with protected areas in India and Nepal found they were more favourably inclined to protected areas in Nepal. The researchers attributed the greater enthusiasm to Nepal’s status as a wildlife tourism destination and its track record of successfully involving local communities through benefit sharing (Karanth and Nepal 2012). At the same time, however, Nepal has also adopted tougher penalties for wildlife crimes. Wildlife authorities are afforded special judicial powers, including the right to issue fines and detain those suspected of wildlife crime (Aryal et al. 2017). Other studies have cast doubt as to whether law-enforcement agencies and security personnel have contributed much to lowering poaching levels in Nepal (Dongol and Heinen 2012). Either way, the country’s renewed focus on involving local communities in conservation management, enforcement and revenue sharing is laudable and appears to have made some measurable difference.

While there are certainly global lessons to be learnt from the Nepalese case, it should not be construed as a perfect model for conservation, especially since grand and petty forms of corruption are pervasive and the country’s human rights record is less than desirable. What is remarkable about the Nepalese conservation regime, however, is that the conservation authority is open to learning and incorporating new ideas.

Case study: Alternative development pathways to mitigate deforestation by coca farmers

Almost 50 percent of the world’s cocaine supply derives from coca bushes that grow in protected areas or indigenous territories in Colombia (GPDPD.org), and coca cultivation has been linked to increasing deforestation (Dávalos et al. 2011). Drivers of deforestation in Colombia include armed conflict driving growers away from their existing crops; higher income from coca attracting new growers and encouraging existing growers to expand; eradication and law enforcement force growers to move to other areas; and eradication efforts, which may contribute to deforestation directly (Dávalos et al. 2011). Germany’s Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) together with partner countries such as Thailand, Colombia and Peru, advocates for an alternative pathway to tackle the international drug problem and linked deforestation by advocating for creation of alternative development opportunities (BMZ.de). For many families and communities in Colombia’s coca-growing regions, coca cultivation is the main – and sometimes only - opportunity to generate income. These regions often lack security, infrastructure and healthcare (GPDPD.org).

In alternative development projects, small-scale farmers are trained in the cultivation of sustainable alternatives such as coffee or cocoa that are adapted to local conditions, and farmers are supported in the commercialisation of their products. Legal alternatives also include ecotourism and improving the framework conditions for rural development. This includes lowering the barriers-to-entry and expanding access to markets for legal products, promoting access to land titles and rural infrastructure and improving public services.

In partnership with BMZ and in collaboration with the Colombian Ministry of Environment, UNODC and other partners have implemented alternative development projects in three coca cultivating regions in Colombia (GPDPD.org). Working together to protect designated areas, plant new timber and fruit trees, which will create a source of sustainable income in the future, small-scale farmers are already generating income from the sustainable use of local fruits such as açaí or cocoa (GPDPD.org).

Case study: REDD+ in Nigeria

REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation, plus the sustainable management of forests, and the conservation and enhancement of forest carbon stocks) is an effort to mitigate climate change. More specifically, REDD+ is an initiative seeking to design procedures to ‘compensate developing countries for reducing forest-related carbon emissions’ (Barr and Sayer 2012: 9). There are some features of REDD+ implementation that are problematic, such as property rights and resource control are, and have generated some debate thus far (Asiyanbi 2016: 146). There are many case studies highlighting these issues from multiple countries, including Brazil, Bolivia, Uganda, Nigeria and elsewhere (Lang, n.d.).

For instance, in Nigeria REDD+ is applied as a ‘total forest management strategy’ on a state level (Asiyanbi 2016: 147). In preparation of its implementation, a pilot state, Cross River State, stopped timber-based revenue targets, banned logging and created a militarized anti-deforestation Task Force to enforce this ban (Asiyanbi 2016). This can be seen as part of protectionist approach, called by Leach and Scoones (2015) as ‘fortress carbon.’ Asiyanbi (2016: 147) uses the term carbonised exclusion in his study to describe the implementation of carbon forestry policies in Nigeria that justify a political economy that is constituted around “a militarized protectionism that curtails local access to resources while perpetuating elite capital accumulation and forest decline.” It is also important to note that restrictions do not only apply to timber forest products but also to non-timber forest products. Although REDD+ does not seek to account for carbon in non-timber forest products, the logistics behind a total ban on logging has meant that in Cross River, the anti-deforestation task force has extended the ban to include a range of non-timber products such as rattan, chewing stick and firewood (Asiyanbi 2016). This has a knock-on effect on local communities’ livelihoods and businesses in these products.

Example: Women’s Micro-Enterprise

Acknowledging the challenging financial situations of many women, especially in rural communities such as those in sub-Saharan Africa, Lewa Wildlife Conservancy launched a Women’s Micro-Enterprise (WME) programme in 2001, and the first credits were rolled out in 2003. By using microcredits, women are able to start up their own small businesses in agriculture and other sectors and contribute further to their and their families’ livelihoods. Some 1,800 women have benefited from the micro-enterprise programme; in 2017, 11 million Kenyan Shillings were disbursed to women with a repayment rate of 90 percent being maintained through the programme.

More information on the project can be found here.