Community Page The Costs of Exclusion: Recognizing a Role for Local Communities in Biodiversity Conservation Marc Ancrenaz*, Lisa Dabek, Susan O’Neil

and underlying principles about wildlife conflicts, and reduced the ways to integrate conservation and area available for the development development are fueling passionate of new economic activities. Yet the debate at many levels, but convincing remaining forests still support a documentation of successful remarkably high abundance and implementation is still scarce [3–5]. diversity of wildlife, including ten Since substantial biodiversity is still primate species (including 1,100 occurring outside of protected areas, orang-utans [9]), Bornean elephants, we believe that poverty eradication estuarine crocodiles, and more than and biodiversity conservation are 300 bird species. These species live in a intimately interconnected. Addressing mosaic of agriculture (mostly palm oil these two challenges simultaneously plantations), human-made habitat, and remains one of our best hopes for natural forests under different levels of achieving tangible and durable results degradation. [6]. Here we describe two cross- Until recently, the absence of in- cultural and inclusive community-based depth field studies on the relationships here is little debate that conservation programs in Borneo and between orang-utans and disturbed unchecked human population Papua New Guinea (PNG) that were habitats impaired efforts to design Tgrowth and the development designed with these factors in mind. and implement sound conservation of “modern” societies are responsible strategies for this species in non- for the current biodiversity crisis. To The Kinabatangan Orang-utan primary forests. In 1998, Hutan stop the growing loss of biodiversity, Conservation Project (a French nongovernmental global conservation efforts have mostly The two extant orang-utan species, organization [NGO]) and the Sabah focused on creating protected areas Pongo pygmaeus in Borneo (Figure Wildlife Department (SWD) initiated free of human influence [1]. But many 1) and Pongo abelii in Sumatra, are the Kinabatangan Orang-utan of these protected areas are also in facing extinction due to the loss of Conservation Project (KOCP) to rectify crisis. In most cases, their long-term the ecological integrity of the islands’ this situation. A small research center viability depends on the integrity of lowland ecosystems [7]. The Malaysian was established in the village of Sukau, complex ecological processes that state of Sabah (north Borneo), which is stretch well beyond their geographical one of the species’ major strongholds, Citation: Ancrenaz M, Dabek L, O’Neil S (2007) boundaries. Efficient conservation harbors 11,000 orang-utans [8], about The costs of exclusion: Recognizing a role for local initiatives need to be undertaken at one-fifth of the Bornean population. communities in biodiversity conservation. PLoS Biol 5(11): e289. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.0050289 the landscape level, incorporating About 60% of the animals are surviving multiple-use habitats where people outside of protected areas, in secondary Copyright: © 2007 Ancrenaz et al. This is an and wildlife co-habit [2]. Since most forests that are exploited by indigenous open-access article distributed under the terms traditional conservation efforts were of the Creative Commons Attribution License, communities and local industries, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, typically designed to exclude human resulting in a direct conflict of interest and reproduction in any medium, provided the residents, they have often failed to between the needs for preserving this original author and source are credited. actively involve groups of people living iconic species and the needs for human Abbreviations: KOCP, Kinabatangan Orang-utan within or near protected areas. This development. Conservation Project; NGO, nongovernmental failure to consider the interests of local organization; PNG, Papua New Guinea; RAE, Red Ape In the Kinabatangan floodplain (east Encounters; SWD, Sabah Wildlife Department; TKCP, communities has resulted in a general Sabah), past and recent exploitation Tree Kangaroo Conservation Program; YUS, Yupno, lack of support for conservation and of the natural resources (timber Uruwa, and Som local-level government region. subsequent degradation of protected extraction, conversion to agriculture, Marc Ancrenaz is with the Kinabatangan Orang- areas [3]. Theories, rationales, etc.) have destroyed more than 80% utan Conservation Project, Hutan, Sandakan, Sabah, Malaysia. Lisa Dabek and Susan O’Neil are with the of the original forest cover, degraded Tree Kangaroo Conservation Program, Woodland and fragmented natural ecosystems, Park Zoo, Seattle, Washington, United States of The Community Page is a forum for organizations caused environmental problems such America. and societies to highlight their efforts to enhance the dissemination and value of scientific knowledge. as river pollution, depleted timber and * To whom correspondence should be addressed. wildlife resources, increased human- E-mail: [email protected]

PLoS Biology | www.plosbiology.org 2443 November 2007 | Volume 5 | Issue 11 | e289 and a permanent study site was set up in the forest. Today, KOCP employs 40 full-time research assistants, all from the local community. At first, our research activities met resistance from most villagers. With their means of subsistence seriously degraded (by water pollution and the depletion of fisheries resources and forest products), most people viewed the proposed Lower Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary as an attempt to lock up scarce resources that are essential for their own survival. And because crop-raiding elephants and orang- utans upset the frail economy of many households, villagers viewed these species as pests, a sentiment that was further exacerbated when elephants devastated local graveyards by trampling down and pulling out tombs. Many Kinabatangan inhabitants asked, “Why give land to the orang-utans and elephants, and not to people?” Since orang-utans cannot survive outside of natural forest, it became clear that preserving this species in Kinabatangan would require the development of ecosystem management programs that embraced a wider perspective than the species itself and considered the needs and aspirations of the local communities. A prerequisite for local support of wildlife preservation is the recognition of the intrinsic value and uniqueness of species that inhabit the area. To build support for the project, the KOCP local research assistants organized in-depth consultations with community members to identify major challenges as well as the threats posed by local wildlife. With villagers’ input, the KOCP started to implement an integrated and multidisciplinary strategy, combining scientific research, doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.0050289.g001 community engagement, capacity building, education, and policy Figure 1. At eight years old, orang-utans like Etin, who lives in the KOCP intensive study site in the Lower Kinabatangan Sanctuary, start wandering alone in the forest to find a new formulation. This process involves in- territory. depth training sessions in field research (Image: Jamil Sinyor) (Figure 2), community participation techniques, sustainable development, illegal and nonsustainable use of Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary environmental education, computer the remaining natural resources of through local media and other skills, English language skills, and Kinabatangan by indigenous people. means. In 2005, 26,000 ha of forests project management. These efforts Most encroachments today originate were eventually protected and placed have produced an effective network from outside the local communities under the jurisdiction of the SWD. of Sabahan partners in government (private industry and nonresident We attribute this positive change in agencies, NGOs, and research people). More importantly, community attitude to education campaigns raising institutions, as well as involving private members gradually started to realize awareness about the importance and stakeholders. the importance of preserving the last uniqueness of wildlife species found in Since the project started, we forests for their own well-being and the area (orang-utans being the major have witnessed a gradual decline of to support the creation of the Lower icon), and in large part to encouraging

PLoS Biology | www.plosbiology.org 2444 November 2007 | Volume 5 | Issue 11 | e289 local community members’ active participation in conservation efforts and strategy. For example, 20 KOCP research assistants were officially recognized as honorary wildlife wardens to help the SWD enforce the new Sanctuary Management Plan. Wardens patrol the area to control human encroachments within and beyond the sanctuary, monitor wildlife, and mitigate conflicts, and they hold events to raise conservation awareness in schools and the community. This alliance between a state agency and community members lays the foundation for securing the long-term management of the sanctuary. Financial losses resulting from wildlife crop-raiding activities were a major impediment to building local support for wildlife conservation. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.0050289.g002 In 2000, a team of seven KOCP research assistants created the Elephant Figure 2. KOCP conducts orang-utan ecological fieldwork during a joint program with staff from Sabah parks in the Lower Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary. Conservation Unit to alleviate wildlife (Image: Jamil Sinyor) conflicts and to increase tolerance for wildlife-induced damages. This community-based squad implemented awarded the community the exclusive best possible long-term sustainable nonlethal control strategies consisting right to use a part of the sanctuary to model that simultaneously considers of both active and defensive mitigation develop ecotourism activities, and a for- the needs of the communities and measures (see [10]), trained local profit company owned by the people those of wildlife. farmers in mitigation techniques, of Sukau was registered in 2005. A and allocated micro-loans to small- transparent benefit-sharing mechanism The Tree Kangaroo Conservation scale landowners to build fences. The ensures that the revenues generated Program unit also investigates the ultimate by RAE ecotourism activities profit all On the Huon Peninsula of PNG, causes for raiding activities through its members, not just RAE’s personnel. the conservation issues are very scientific studies of elephant ecology— Further integrating the ecotourism different, but the strategy is the including feeding strategies, home project into the local economy, RAE same—community involvement. With range patterns, and identification of contributes 4% of its tourism revenue more intact forest than other tropical bottlenecks—to prevent future raids. to two funds (the Community Tourism countries, PNG is considered by These control activities engendered Development Fund and the Community Conservation International to be one a better acceptance of the animals— Conservation Fund), each managed by of three remaining tropical wilderness leading to a complete halt of elephant a different village committee [12]. areas [13]. The Huon Peninsula is a shooting as a means of crop protection Conservation initiatives in remote and incredibly diverse region and an 80% reduction of economic Kinabatangan currently focus of PNG with a steep elevation gradient losses due to crop-raiding activities in on implementing a general bio- from coral reefs to cloud forests—a the area of Sukau over five years. monitoring program in order to assess rare habitat worldwide with over 60% Nature-based tourism provides the general health of the ecosystem of the total area in Asia Pacific and another opportunity to give the local (forest coverage and regeneration), as a significant portion of that in PNG community a stake in conservation. well as orang-utan and other wildlife [14]. Many forested regions of PNG However, in most cases, “ecotourism” population trends. Our current results have been exploited by outside private ventures are commercially run by show that orang-utans can survive in industries for timber and mining private operators and result in indirect the degraded forests of Kinabatangan, resources. On the Huon Peninsula, and sometimes negligible benefits to that the elephant population has however, the rugged terrain has local communities [11]. In 2001, the almost doubled over a ten-year discouraged road building, and thus SWD, Hutan, and the community of period, and that forest loss due to encroachment by outside industries has Sukau, with the initial funding from human encroachments is decreasing. been minimal, although the potential the Danish Cooperation Agency, Although it is still too early to quantify for commercial extraction activities is launched Red Ape Encounters (RAE), precisely how the ecosystem benefits increasing. Future threats include large- a community-based ecotourism model from all these efforts, the partnerships scale logging and mineral extraction for integrating wildlife preservation developed between village members, as world demand increases and new with local economic development government agencies, and other players areas are targeted [15]. Current threats through orang-utan viewing. The SWD active in Kinabatangan provides the to the Huon Peninsula are more

PLoS Biology | www.plosbiology.org 2445 November 2007 | Volume 5 | Issue 11 | e289 create a locally managed conservation area to prevent habitat destruction and wildlife species decline. The endangered Matschie’s tree kangaroo, which is endemic to the cloud forest on the Huon Peninsula, is the flagship species for this community- based conservation program. Other threatened Huon Peninsula species include the endangered long-beaked echidna (Zaglossus bruijni), the New Guinea harpy eagle (Harpyopsis novaeguineae), the vulturine parrot (Psittrichas fulgidus), and the endemic bird of paradise species Huon astrapia (Astrapia rothschildi) [17]. In 2001 and 2003, biodiversity inventories were conducted at different elevations within the proposed conservation area to provide baseline data for monitoring species presence. Tree kangaroo population densities have been surveyed at three sites using distance sampling techniques. TKCP will also be implementing a series of biodiversity and cultural metrics to monitor success of the conservation area and provide measures to monitor tree kangaroo populations (Figure 3) and to evaluate biodiversity benefits. Surveys of local project assistants completed before and after the biodiversity studies indicated that involvement in these conservation projects changed their perception of the intrinsic value of the habitat and species unique to the area and increased their commitment to conserving the wildlife (unpublished data). With over 95% of the land in PNG owned by the indigenous people [18], conservation programs must win the support and involvement of local people to succeed. Ecotourism is not a viable option in these communities, due to their remoteness and lack of doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.0050289.g003 transportation infrastructure, which also limits access to government Figure 3. Gabriel Porolak of PNG prepares to outfit a tree kangaroo with a radio collar. services. TKCP has worked with the (Image: TKCP) landowners of the YUS (Yupno, Uruwa, and Som rivers) local-level localized, and include increasing village resources, with locally focused government for over ten years, aided populations, subsistence hunting, and solutions. Conservation depended on by staff recruited from local university small-scale subsistence logging and local education and outreach to raise graduates and the YUS community. resource extraction. awareness about the threats to tree Through these alliances, TKCP When the Tree Kangaroo kangaroo survival and to identify ways explored social or human service Conservation Program (TKCP) started the local community could help sustain benefits that would work within the working on the Huon Peninsula in the populations. The indigenous people existing landscape and culture and 1996, we found that although the have a stake in maintaining healthy decided to focus on improving local endemic Matschie’s tree kangaroo tree kangaroo populations, because the education and healthcare. (Dendrolagus matschiei) was endangered animals are part of the local diet and TKCP provides both immediate [16], there was still time to prevent their fur is used for ceremonial dress. resources and long-term investment commercial over-exploitation of TKCP’s priority on the peninsula is to in education within the communities,

PLoS Biology | www.plosbiology.org 2446 November 2007 | Volume 5 | Issue 11 | e289 mostly funded by outside grants m, which are off limits to hunting, the education, healthcare, and to TKCP. The project sponsors resource extraction, and forest conservation projects that are driven by local students at a teacher training conversion of any sort (no large- or local decision making but hampered college with the agreement that small-scale logging). Landowners have by lack of access to government bodies after graduating, they will teach in primarily pledged intact habitat at and urban centers. YUS village schools for at least six higher elevations or greater distances years. Sponsoring local students to from a village, setting aside other Lessons Learned obtain the necessary education to areas of their forest for subsistence KOCP and TKCP have different return to their community not only hunting. Landowners explain that this conservation issues in very different addresses the difficulty of recruiting strategy creates “wildlife banks”—areas landscapes, yet both embrace a similar educated outsiders to this remote safe for wildlife to reproduce—that process and philosophy of involving area, but also builds the educational generate “interest”: offspring dispersing local communities in directing their foundation of the local community. into hunting areas. This strategy is missions. TKCP is working in a With more teachers in the community, consistent with historical local cultural relatively intact area conserving species at least three new schools have been practices of leaving certain forest areas and forests, which would otherwise be able to reopen. Also, the local-level untouched and treated as “taboo”—a affected by gardening and resource use, government and the YUS Education traditional conservation approach while working to avoid future conflicts Committee have agreed to financially that had previously been curtailed by between the communities and outside invest in the program to help even missionaries. Land near the villages pressures. Meanwhile, KOCP is working more students receive training each continues to be used for subsistence in a highly fragmented landscape with year and to alleviate the local teacher farming and resource extraction. As current human-animal conflicts and shortage. a result of these pledged areas, TKCP with intense human pressure placed on These staff members then help staff and YUS landowners have reported the last natural resources of the area. plan and implement an annual an increase in tree kangaroo evidence Meeting human needs and respecting teacher training workshop in (based on sightings, scat, and scratch biodiversity in both areas is the means the villages sponsored by TKCP. marks on trees) and the return of to a conservation end. YUS teachers define the annual wildlife species not seen on their land The Kinabatangan experience themes with TKCP staff and receive for generations (unpublished data). shows that in the absence of hunting training in teaching methodology, The Conservation Areas Act of PNG, (traditionally, local communities do environmental education, and originally passed in 1978, provides not hunt wildlife for pet trade or for conservation curriculum. Similar to the legal foundation for protecting food—except deer), a wide array of KOCP, capacity building and training sensitive species and habitats. Once wildlife (including orang-utans) can are integrated into all TKCP activities landowners pledged their land to survive in relatively small patches of with staff and community members, conservation, TKCP staff began degraded and fragmented multiple- including university programs, training working with the local, district, use forests. Hunting remains the workshops, conferences, and exchange provincial, and national government, major threat to wildlife in tropical visits with other communities and along with other NGOs and the PNG forests worldwide where this activity conservation programs. Department of Environment and goes uncontrolled. Since orang-utans Following the success of the Conservation, to formalize the YUS depend directly on natural forests, education projects, TKCP visited conservation area. Following approval their long-term survival depends on villages and worked with the provincial of the conservation area by the national protecting the various forest remnants healthcare workers in 2005 to identify government, the management plans for from further destruction. Financial outstanding health care needs. Many the conservation area must be finalized. incentives brought by conservation villages have no access to outside To achieve long-term species and and ecotourism activities are important doctors, forcing the community to habitat protection, local landowners factors explaining the increasing deal with most health care issues. have been involved in all aspects of support for orang-utan conservation TKCP is sponsoring workshops with developing the management plans in Sabah. However, making the orang- the Provincial Health Department to including the mapping (geographic utan a symbol of the State’s natural train midwives and community heath information system boundary heritage was even more effective workers through an initiative called mapping and locations of culturally in attracting interest from various “Healthy Village, Healthy Forest,” and naturally significant areas), stakeholders (local communities, which acknowledges that conservation management rules, and fines. To private industries, and land deciders programs must address the health ensure the community can successfully alike) and in raising awareness of the human community so the manage the conservation area over about the species’ fate. Eventually community can address the health of the long term, TKCP is helping building a trustful collaboration with the environment. YUS establish a community-based government agencies and empowering In exchange for TKCP’s support, organization, which will maintain the selected community members in local land owners have pledged link between conservation, education, the management of their natural portions of intact habitat on their and healthcare services. Acting as the resources appears to be the most land to establish the country’s first liaison between the YUS communities promising approach to securing the conservation area, which now covers and various government agencies, future of Kinabatangan. The on-going over 60,000 ha from sea level to 4000 TKCP has the resources to implement monitoring will provide the necessary

PLoS Biology | www.plosbiology.org 2447 November 2007 | Volume 5 | Issue 11 | e289 data to document the measurable Acknowledgments conservation. World commission in protected areas, Series number 11. Gland (Switzerland): impacts of all these efforts on the KOCP wants to thank the SWD as well IUCN Publications. 113 p. general ecosystems and biodiversity. as the Economic Planning Unit for 4. Child B (2004) Parks in transition. London For the Huon Peninsula, the primary granting research authorization in Sabah. (United Kingdom): Earthscan, IUCN Publication. 267 p. benefit for the local community is This project wouldn’t exist without the 5. Oates JF (1999) Myth and reality in the that TKCP can serve as a link between commitment of all KOCP research assistants rainforest: how conservation strategies are their remote region and the different and the long-term support of our partners: failing in West Africa. Berkeley (California): zoos (Apenheul, Chester, Ouwehand, La University of California Press. 297 p. levels of government in PNG. TKCP 6. Phillips A (2003) Turning ideas on their heads: is helping the YUS community receive Palmyre, Beauval, Columbus, Cleveland, the new paradigm for protected areas. The Pittsburgh, Houston, Philadelphia, Bush desperately needed and deserved George Wright Forum 20 (2). Gardens, Lowry Park, Woodland Park), 7. IUCN (2007) IUCN list of threatened human services in exchange for Foundations (Abraham, World Women species: a global species assessement. Gland managing their forests in a sustainable (Switzerland): IUCN. Work, Shared Earth, Arcus, and LEAP), the 8. Ancrenaz M, Gimenez O, Goossens B, Sawang manner. Because the YUS conservation Australian Orangutan Project, the US Fish A, Lackman-Ancrenaz I (2004) Determination area will be the first of its kind in PNG, and Wildlife Department, the Orangutan of ape distribution and population size with the YUS community is now also seen as Conservancy, BOS-NL, the World Wildlife ground and aerial surveys: a case study with orang-utans in lower Kinabatangan, Sabah, a leader in the country and is receiving Fund, Elephant Family, and all supporters. Malaysia. Animal Conservation 7: 375-385. unprecedented attention nationally TKCP thanks the TKCP staff and community 9. Ancrenaz M, Gimenez O, Ambu L, Ancrenaz K, and internationally. of YUS, all of our partners and funders, in Andau P, et al. (2005) Aerial surveys give new estimates for orang-utans in Sabah, Malaysia. For community-based conservation particular Woodland Park Zoo; Conservation International—Global Conservation Fund; PloS Biol 3(1): e3. doi:10.1371/journal. approaches to succeed, they must pbio.0030003. Conservation International—Melanesia make a long-term commitment, allow 10. Woodroffe R, Thirgood S, Rabinowitz A (2005) Center for Biodiversity Conservation; People and wildlife: conflict or coexistence? for flexibility in responding to new National Geographic Society; the Shared Conservation biology series 9. Cambridge situations and opportunities, and, more Earth Foundation; the International (United Kingdom): Cambridge University importantly, establish a strong physical Press. 497 p. Foundation; Conservation, Food & Health 11. Lascurain HC (1996) Tourism, ecotourism and presence on the ground. Sharing and Foundation; individual donors; and zoos protected areas. Gland (Switzerland): IUCN experiencing the daily conditions of (Calgary, Cleveland, Columbus, Kangaroo Publications. Conservation Center, AZA Marsupial 12. Rajaratnam R, Pang C, Lias S, Lackman- community life, learning the vernacular Ancrenaz I (2007) Ecotourism and indigenous language, respecting the local & Monotreme Taxon Advisory Group, communities: the lower Kinabatangan traditions, understanding current and Milwaukee, New Mexico, Oaklawn Farm, experience. In Connell J, Rugendyke B, Oregon, Pittsburgh, Quebec, Roger Williams editors.Tourism at the grassroots: Villagers historic use of the forests, and—above Park Zoo, Saint Louis, Santa Fe Community and visitors in the Asia Pacific. Abingdon (Australia): Routledge. In press. all—valuing the dignity, knowledge, College Teaching Zoo, Sedgwick, and and connection of the people to their 13. Mittermeier RA, Mittermeier CG, Gil PR, Pilgrim Toronto). We also thank the Papua New J (2003) Wilderness: Earth’s last wild places. land and their survival are essential Guinea Department of Environment and Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 576 p. tools to forge alliances and develop Conservation, University of Papua New 14. Bubb P, May I, Miles L, Sayer J (2004) Cloud trust with local people and, more Guinea, and University of Technology. For forest agenda. Cambridge (United Kingdom): United Nations Environment Programme- generally, to eventually demonstrate helpful comments and suggestions, we thank World Conservation Monitoring Centre. the value of conserving wildlife and Benoit Goossens and anonymous referees. 15. Betz W (2001) Matschie’s tree kangaroo its habitat. Last but not least, we need (Marsupialia: Macropodidae, Dendrolagus References matscheie) in Papua New Guinea: estimates of to recognize that a strategy that is 1. Hogkins M, Stolton S, Leverington F, Dudley population density and landowner accounts successful in a given scenario at a given N, Courrau J (2006) Evaluating effectiveness: of food plants and natural history. MS Thesis; time is not necessarily replicable to a framework for assessing management University of Southampton. effectiveness of protected areas, 2nd ed. Gland 16. Flannery T (1995) Mammals of New Guinea. other situations. Although it is crucial (Switzerland): IUCN Publications. 121 p. Ithaca (New York): Cornell University Press. to draw conclusions from the different 2. Mace GM, Balmford A, Ginsberg JR 568 p. grassroots conservation initiatives (1998) Conservation in a changing world. 17. Dabek L, O’Neil S, Ross T, Eds. (2007) Conservation biology series 1. Cambridge Biodiversity of the YUS Conservation Area existing today, it is unlikely that a (United Kingdom): Cambridge University – survey report. In preparation. simple and unique path exists for Press, 308 p. 18. Lea D (2004) Customary land tenure in Papua 3. Borrini-Feyerabend G, Kothari A, Oviedo G New Guinea: What does it really mean? Boroko reconciling human development and (2004) Indigenous and local communities and (Papua New Guinea): National Research biodiversity conservation. protected areas towards equity and enhanced Institute Printery. 88p.

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