Factors influencing communities’ attitudes and participation in protected area conservation: a case study from Northern Myanmar
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Date
2022
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Taylor and Francis
Abstract
Understanding the interest of local communities and ensuring their
support in conservation are pivotal to the sustainability of Protected
Areas (PAs). In this study, we interviewed 230 households surrounding
the Indawgyi Wildlife Sanctuary (IWS) and assessed community
attitudes and conservation involvement against socio-economic
background, benefits and costs from the Protected Area (PA), and
knowledge. Additionally, we tested how communities’ attitudes
toward the PA reflect their actual involvement in PA conservation.
Results showed that majority of respondents have positive attitudes
toward the IWS and good relationship with its staff. Benefits and
costs from the PA were the main influencers of attitudes.
Furthermore, findings indicated that 43.9% of respondents were
engaged in PA conservation programs and their involvement was
mainly determined by benefits gained from the PA. Despite overall
positive attitudes, a low level of participation highlighted that attitudes
were not strong enough to change into conservation-friendly
behaviors. Therefore, a collaborative conservation and sharing more
benefits with local communities are important when developing
future PA management strategies.
Description
Full text article. Also available at https://doi.org/10.1080/08941920.2022.2032515
Keywords
Conservation involvement, Protected areas, Indawgyi Wildlife Sanctuary, IWS, Community conservation involvement, Northern Myanmar, Local community involvement
Citation
Htay, T., Htoo, K, K., Mbise, F. P. & Røskaft, E., (2022). Factors influencing communities’ attitudes and participation in protected area conservation: a case study from Northern Myanmar, society & natural resources, 35(3), 301-319