ORGANIZATIONAL FORM AND EXPECTED BENEFITS FROM PROTECTED AREAS IN CENTRAL AMERICA

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ORGANIZATIONAL FORM AND EXPECTED BENEFITS FROM
PROTECTED AREAS IN CENTRAL AMERICA

• Max J. Pfeffer, Catherine Meola and John
  Schelhas
• Development Sociology Department
• Cornell University
• U.S. Forest Service

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The Relationship Between Expected Benefits and
Social Distance
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Conceptual Foundations

• Trade-offs between natural resource conservation
  and satisfaction of human needs
• Expectations of benefits from parks
• Incentives for local cooperation and support in
  the stewardship of resources in and near parks

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Conventional Park

• Centralized authority
• Exclusion of human habitation
• Prohibition of natural resource extraction
• Strict enforcement of regulations

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Zoned Park

• Local participation in management and stewardship
• Human habitation within an actively managed park
  buffer zone
• Limited natural resource extraction permitted

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Questions and Hypotheses

• How is social distance related to expected
  benefits from the park?
• Hypothesis 1 Individuals will expect to benefit
  least themselves compared with more socially
  distant social groups.
• Hypothesis 2 Individuals living in the buffer of
  a zoned park will have higher expectations of
  benefits from the park than those living near the
  perimeter of a conventional park.

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Study Sites

• La Amistad, CR
• Established 1982
• 207,298 hectares
• Elevation 2,000 meters
• No settlements
• No inhabitants

• Cerro Azul Meambar, HN
• Established 1987
• 32,000 hectares
• Elevation 1,800 meters
• 42 settlements
• 19,600 inhabitants

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Data

• La Amistad, CR
• 67 semi-structured interviews
• 5 villages
• 523 structured interviews
• 8 villages

• Cerro Azul Meambar, HN
• 54 semi-structured interviews
• 5 villages
• 601 structured interviews
• 8 villages

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Who do you expect to benefit from the park?

• Yourself
• Your community
• Other communities
• The nation

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Selected Characteristics of Respondents, Costa
Rica and Honduras
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Predicted Probabilities of Expected Park
Benefits, Costa Rica and Honduras
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Reduced Individual Benefits in CR

• The national park often did not pay what farms
  were worth when people were forced to leave the
  park, or the park guards follow me and take my
  rifle and my dogs and throw me in jail. Now I
  cannot be a hunter like I was before. Others
  because they only have a hectare here say they
  are going hungry. They say if they had a farm up
  there in the park, they would even have cattle

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Reduced Individual Benefits in Honduras

• A park guard came and told us that burning our
  fields was prohibited. He said he had orders
  from three superiors. I told him, that is fine,
  but just one more thing. Bring a cord to tie our
  mouths shut because we are not going to have
  anything to eat.

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Land Use in Cerro Azul National Park Based On
Landsat Thematic Mapper Satellite Images
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Proportion of Respondents Expecting Individual
Benefits from Park by Mean Village Income,
Honduras
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Proportion of Respondents Expecting Their Own
Community to Benefit by Mean Village
Environmental Score, Honduras
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Linked Preservation and Economic Interests

• The truth is that we are very, very interested
  in conserving the park. We have always thought
  that Aldea Global should treat us in another
  manner. They should at least give us what we
  deserve because we want to care for what we have.

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Conclusions

• Individual expectations of benefits from parks
  increase with social distance from the individual
• Individuals residing in the zoned Honduran park
  were more likely to expect benefits than
  residents near the conventional Costa Rican Park

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Conclusions

• Location is a significant factor in individual
  expectations of local benefits
• Those with greatest market access and income
  generating opportunities may be most supportive
  stewardship of park resources