DEVELOPING CONSERVATION GOVERNANCE STRATEGIES: HOLISTIC MANAGEMENT OF PROTECTED AREAS IN NEPAL PRABHU BUDHATHOKI A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the University of Greenwich for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. April 2012 DECLARATION I certify that this work has not been accepted in substance for any degree, and is not concurrently being submitted for any degree other than that of Doctor of Philosophy being studied at the University of Greenwich. I also declare that this work is the result of my own investigations except where otherwise identified by references and that I have not plagiarized the work of others. Candidate: Prabhu Budhathoki …………………………………… Supervisor: Dr. S. Russell ……………………………………. Supervisor: Dr. M. J. McGibbon …………………………………… ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This study could not have been completed without the support and encouragement from numerous individuals and institutions. I would like to take this opportunity to express my sincere gratitude to those who have contributed directly and indirectly to the accomplishment of this study. Firstly, I am deeply indebted to Dr. Bill Jordan, former President of the Care for the Wild and founder President of the Bill Jordon Wildlife Defence Fund, UK, for providing me the necessary financial support to carry out this study. Similarly, I am grateful to my principal supervisor Dr. Shaun Russell, Director, Wales Environment Research Hub, Bangor University, for arranging the fund for my study and travels. He also deserves my special gratitude for his excellent guidance and scholarly support in organising and improving the document. My special appreciation also goes to Dr. Elizabeth Hughes, late Executive Director, International Centre for Protected Landscape (ICPL), for her support, encouragement and intellectual inputs throughout my study. Besides, Dr. Hughes and her partner Richard Evans (Dic) were always thoughtful to my well-being during my stay in Aberystwyth and I owe them very much for their kindness. I am also grateful to Dr. Mike McGibbon, University of Greenwich for his advice and support. I am also indebted to Mr. Charlie Falzon, an associate of the ICPL for his sharp and timely comments which were tremendously helpful for the improvement and finalisation the thesis works. Dr. Paul Rodgers, one of my good friends who encouraged me to pursue this study also deserves my special appreciation. I am also very grateful to external and internal examiners for their critical comments. Similarly, I owe a gratitude to more than 600 inhabitants of the Buffer Zone area who actively took part in the questionnaire survey and a series of focus group discussions and shared their insights on park and buffer zone management issues. Their positive attitude towards the park and willingness to collaborate in conservation will always keep me inspired to work more in this field. I hope this research in a small way will contribute to improve the situation for park-people co-existence in Chitwan. The people who agreed to participate in the key informant survey also deserve my special appreciation. The wealth of information and wisdom provided by Mr. Narayan Dhakal, Mr. iii Mallu Mahato, Mr. Megh Nath Kafle, Mr. Giridhari Chaudhari, Mr. Bed Prasad Dhakal, Mr. Puspa Raj Subedi, Mr. Bhishnu Ghimire, and others specially helped enhance my understanding of the myriad of protected area management and governance issues. I would also like to acknowledge the help rendered to me by my research assistant Mr. Devi Parsad Adhikari during the three months long field survey. Other field surveyors, namely, Mr. Basanta Devkota, Mr. Ishwar Joshi, Mr. Rim Bahadur Ale, Mr. Shiva Adhikari, Mr. Bala Ram Ghimire, Ms. Hema Bhusal, Mr. Ganesh Acharya, Ms. Rajena Dhakal Achraya, Mr. Binodh Mahato, Mr. Shyam Pandey, Mr. Balmiki Pahari, Mr. Rishi Dhakal, Ms. Shova Sadaula, Mr. Bodhraj Adhikari, Ms. Nirmaya Mahato, Mr. Bharat Paudel, Mr. Bharat Dahal and Mr. Ram Krishna Kafle also deserve my sincere appreciation for their hard work. Many individuals in Chitwan were very cooperative and helpful during the different phases of my study. I would specially like to acknowledge the support of Mr. Basu Dhungana, Mr. Sankar Sainju, Mr. Ram Kumar Aryal, Dr. Bishnu Prasad Ghimire, Mr. Prakash Paudel and Dr. Narendra Man Babu Pradhan. I am also grateful to the Park and BZ Support Unit (BSU) staff of the Chitwan National Park for their friendly and selfless support during my whole study period. I am equally grateful to my good friends Dr. J. P Sah of the Florida International University and Dr. Madhav Pandey of the Texas Tech University who provided me many peer reviewed articles published in the various international journals. My thanks also go to Mr. Sanjaya Rijal for his good coaching on SPSS. I am equally grateful to Mr. Deependra Joshi for his support on reviewing the document and Mr. Naresh Subba (Limbu) for his support for graphic and layout design. I am also thankful to Mr. Mike Beresford and his wife Jenny for their regular homely hospitality without which hostel life of an adult student like me in Aberystwyth could be quite hard. I should also appreciate Dr. Giri Kattel who was then studying for a PhD in University College London (UCL) and his wife Rosani for hosting and helping me in London on various occasions. Last but not the least, my wife Poonam deserves special acknowledgement from the bottom of my heart for constantly encouraging me to pursue this study, taking care of our two iv children–Pranit and Prawar and all other family responsibilities during my absence. Poonam, I have more feelings than words to appreciate your sacrifice and dedication. Again, I would also like to thank Pranit and Prawar for their patience and cooperation. I want to dedicate this thesis to my beloved and courageous mother Ms. Megha Kumari Budhathoki who shouldered all troubles to raise me and other four siblings after the tragic death of our father when I was just 12 years old. Although illiterate, she made every effort to educate us and always prayed to the god for our progress and well-being. Mom, you are great!! v ABSTRACT The Buffer Zone (BZ) concept has been introduced in Nepal as a key component of the national biodiversity conservation strategy to mitigate the impacts of protected areas on local communities, and thereby reduce adverse impacts of local people on protected areas. Unlike traditional Buffer Zone programmes which are mostly limited to creating a protective layer and/or distributing economic benefits to local people, the Buffer Zone management approach in Nepal integrates livelihoods and conservation issues and their linkages in a more holistic and balanced manner. The programme has been successful in establishing a network of community institutions and in mobilising large numbers of local communities in conservation and community development. The research findings clearly indicate that the current Buffer Zone management approach based on park revenue sharing for community development has been successful in developing positive attitudes among local people towards protected areas. There is also evidence of improvement in the condition of forests and biodiversity in the Buffer Zone and a decrease in pressure inside the protected areas for basic forestry resources. The BZ communities also feel empowered by the Buffer Zone management programme. These outputs suggest that if properly designed, the Buffer Zone management programme can achieve both conservation and development objectives ensuring the long-term integrity of the protected areas. At the same time, however, the research has also revealed that the existing incentives and institutional arrangements adopted in the Buffer Zone management programme were necessary but not sufficient to address present and potential challenges in Chitwan National Park. There is a need to use additional instruments to demonstrate Buffer Zone management as a viable conservation governance strategy to expand conservation into the areas beyond park boundaries ensuring greater stability of the Park. Any park management strategy seeking to make tangible impacts on conservation, livelihood and governance should have five elements, namely; incentive, empowerment, education, enforcement and integration (IEEEI); and appropriate policy and institutional frameworks to implement them in an integrated way. If issues such as inclusion, equity, empowerment and integration are properly incorporated into the policies and programmes of the Buffer Zone management, the Buffer Zone management strategy adopted in Chitwan could be promoted as a viable model for the sustainable management of protected areas situated in a human dominated landscape. vi ABBREVIATIONS ACA Annapurna Conservation Area ACAP Annapurna Conservation Area Project ADMADE Administrative Management Design for Game Management Areas ANOVA Analysis of Variance BCC Biodiversity Conservation Centre BCF Biodiversity Conservation Fund BNP Bardia National Park BZ Buffer Zone BZCF Buffer Zone Community Forests BZDC Buffer Zone Development Committee CAMPFIRE Communal Areas Management Programme for Indigenous Resources CAS Constitutional Assembly Secretariat CBC Community Based Conservation CBD Convention on Biological Diversity CBD/COP Convention on Biological Diversity/Conference of Parties CBNRM Community Based Natural Resource Management CBO Community Based Organisation CBS Central Bureau of Statistics CECI Centre for International Studies and Cooperation CITES Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species