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Looking back and looking ahead: local empowerment and governance in the Annapurna Conservation Area, Nepal

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 December 2009

NABIN BARAL  and
MARC J. STERN
NABIN BARAL*
Affiliation:
Department of Forest Resources and Environmental Conservation, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA
MARC J. STERN
Affiliation:
Department of Forest Resources and Environmental Conservation, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA
*
*Correspondence: Nabin Baral Tel: +1 540 231 3596 Fax: +1 540 231 3698 e-mail: nbaral@gmail.com
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Summary

Diversifying governance models for protected areas serves as one strategy to address some of the challenges they are facing. This paper explores the potential of local communities to be the primary actor in the governance of the Annapurna Conservation Area (ACA) following its planned handover to them in 2012. In doing so, the paper serves as an important baseline from which to monitor a new experiment in protected area governance. During the summer of 2007, the executive members and implementing staff of the Conservation Area Management Committees (CAMCs) were interviewed and local villagers surveyed. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected to assess the CAMCs’ capacities to manage ACA without outside support. All CAMCs had more than a decade of managerial experience and considerable local support. Villagers largely considered the CAMCs as legitimate institutions, and their executive members as trustworthy. CAMC members were confident about assuming management responsibility of the area. The devolution of power to an overarching local council to govern ACA will present some challenges, especially with regard to lower-performing CAMCs. However, key factors identified in the literature as critical to good governance portend positive prospects for the transition.

Keywords

Annapurnabiodiversity conservationcommunity-based conservationgovernanceNepalpark governanceprotected areas management
Type
THEMATIC SECTION: Community-based natural resource management (CBNRM): designing the next generation (Part 1)
Information
Environmental Conservation , Volume 37 , Issue 1: Thematic section. Community-based natural resource management (CBNRM): designing the next generation (Part 1) , March 2010 , pp. 54 - 63
Copyright
Copyright © Foundation for Environmental Conservation 2009

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