WC Archive

"For example, subsidizing agriculture around the parks generates income, but it also attracts more people, exacerbating the problems in the park," said Struhsaker. "The cost of such subsidy always goes up, because it's in the interest of those living near the park to bid up the price of their support, thereby threatening the integrity of the park." Nor is ecotourism the answer for park preservation, said Struhsaker, since unregulated ecotourism can stress park ecology as much as can economic development.

"Rather than throwing money into development, our data indicate that greater park success arises from treating local people as good neighbors and partners in park conservation and making it clear that it's the park managers' job to protect the park," he said.

While a little discouraging -- it would have been terrific to find that investment in sustainable development also had the effect of reducing harm to rain forests -- such findings are not terribly surprising. Appealing to the economic interest of citizens in order to promote environmental good is notoriously tricky, and can result in fragile, temporary successes. We see this in the developed world, too. Arguments that buying a hybrid car will help in times of high gas prices, for example, fall flat when gas prices fall (or are perceived to no longer be an issue). Telling people to do something because it's in their best interest runs a risk of people choosing to do something different when their best interests change. Decisions based on cultural values (from ethics to style) are not as easily dropped, once embraced.

One caveat to the study is that, for cost reasons, the researchers relied on park managers for information about how well the parks were doing rather than going in and taking a detailed look for themselves. Surprisingly, that sort of cross-park study of success of conservation efforts has not yet been done. A new set of standardized measures (PDF) has been proposed, however, and the group Conservation Measures Partnership has in the meantime developed a 'Rosetta Stone' to compare evaluation factors across various conservation groups.