ABSTRACT
Globally, conservation organizations are under pressure to fulfil multiple objectives to achieve biodiversity conservation. Influencing the choice of implementation strategy is the continuing debate between strict conservation approaches and integrated conservation and development (ICD) approaches, with ICD including poverty alleviation as a primary goal (Wilshusen et al., 2002; McShane and Wells, 2004; Roe, 2008; Sunderland et al., 2008). Strict protection is often criticized for its failure to achieve conservation (Barrett and Arcese, 1995) and its negative social impact on livelihoods and development (West and Brockington, 2006; Buscher and Whande, 2007) whereas integrated approaches are often regarded as falling short in achieving long-term integrated conservation and development (Hughes and Flintan, 2001; McShane and Wells, 2004; West and Brockington, 2006; Buscher and Whande, 2007; Hill, 2007). The current discussion related to trade-offs between conservation and development suggest an alternative, where interventions address issues at the landscape scale and negotiate with the multiple interest groups for desired outcomes (Fisher et al., 2005; McShane and O’Connor, 2007; Haller and Galvin, 2008; Sunderland et al., 2008). There remains much uncertainty about what strategies are most effective to conserve biodiversity in forest conservation areas, which has led to calls for systematic comparisons of conservation interventions (Robinson and Redford, 2004; Agrawal and Redford, 2006; Ferraro and Pattanayak, 2006; Sunderland et al., 2008). Systematic comparisons around the world might reveal best practices in promoting conservation and development objectives; however, the context of each intervention site might be so different as to make a universalized approach next to impossible. This chapter explores what strategies are employed by a diverse set of interventions to achieve both forest conservation and local livelihood improvement in conservation areas of the Lower Mekong, and how their strategies, including their activities, development of partnerships and site-level negotiations, affect their performance.
