The discourse on the links between the environment and development, between conservation and poverty, has a long history. The so-called people and parks debate on the purpose of conservation emerged as early as the 1950s, centred around the question of whether national parks should be established to protect species or to benefit people. International conservation policy was based on wildlife conservation through the establishment of protected areas that excluded people, or at least severely restricted their access to natural resources.
An increased focus on social justice in conservation emerged in the 1970s and, since the 1980s, attempts to address these issues have been made through community-based natural resource management and integrated conservation and development approaches. Debate on social impacts has largely centred on protected areas but has implications for a wider range of conservation initiatives.
Concern for social impacts has both ethical and strategic dimensions: ethical based on concern for human rights and social justice, and strategic because of links between social and conservation outcomes. For example, positive benefits from natural resources can act as an incentive to sustainable management and negative social impacts can reduce support for conservation at local and international levels.
There is therefore a clear need for, but dearth of, robust empirical evidence on the cultural and socio-economic effects of conservation initiatives. Aggregation and spatial and temporal comparisons are also hampered by the absence of a consistent, objective approach to identify and measure such impacts.
This publication is intended to be a first step in addressing the need for standard methods by reviewing more than 30 tools, methods and methodologies that have been used in a wide range of different contexts. It draws on the expertise of a number of major international conservation organizations and researchers brought together though a series of workshops, meetings and discussions under the Social Assessment of Protected Areas initiative.
The core narrative is readable and concise. Over half the content comprises references and useful appendices, including an overview of the tools and methodologies reviewed, with complete references and web links where available. A basic typology identifies whether the tools were specifically related to protected area systems, were considered to have interesting elements relevant to rapid assessment of protected area impacts, or were deemed less relevant for this use. Succinct summaries of those considered most useful are also included. It thereby serves as a helpful source book for further research into a range of tools and methods.
From this review a framework methodology is presented that outlines key steps in the development of a rapid social impact assessment process. This framework in itself is a useful aid to practitioners and researchers in making decisions on what approaches and methods to use. The intention of the Social Assessment of Protected Areas initiative is that this publication will act as a working document for a future workshop to develop draft guidelines for rapid assessment methodologies. These would then be tested and adapted across a range of different locations.
This on-going initiative must surely be welcomed in the current context for biodiversity conservation in which international protected area policy emphasizes the need to address poverty and governance issues. The increasingly heated debate over the potential implications of avoided deforestation schemes on indigenous and local community rights makes it even more timely. While this review of methodologies is a useful first step, I await the output of the next stage of the initiative with bated breath.
