People and Parks Project

Do National Parks create benefits or disadvantages for local people? On the one hand, parks can enhance life in remote areas, by providing jobs or tourist revenues. On the other hand, by restricting access to natural resources, parks may have adverse impacts on the welfare of local people.

During the World Parks Congress in Durban in 2002, a crescendo of voices espoused the belief that national parks were bad for local people. However, demonstrating that protected areas create a drag on local economies is difficult. First, we have never had the opportunity to assess household welfare both before and after the establishment of parks and reserves. Second, longitudinal studies that track changes in human welfare indicators over time within households adjacent to a protected area have not been completed. And third, results of such economic impact have not been compared to data gathered contemporaneously on a control group of households located outside the sphere of influence of the park or reserve.
Having established 13 new national parks, covering over 10% of the nation's terrestrial landscape, President Omar Bongo of Gabon has provided the conservation community, conservation philanthropies, and governments a unique opportunity to formally assess the impact that protected areas have on the welfare of households that fall within their sphere of influence.

To that effect we will be conducting a classic and scientifically robust, pre-test/post-test analysis with controls to assess these impacts.  This study will compare the welfare of households influenced by Gabon’s parks with households untouched by the new protected areas, thus helping ensure that changes in welfare are not attributed to the Parks when they are, in fact, the result of external factors.

WCS Activities
To measure the impact of parks on local communities, we will conduct baseline human welfare assessments of households around 4 parks in Gabon (~2,000 households in total).  Surveys will be repeated 12 months and 60 months later to appraise the immediate and longer term impacts that newly established protected areas have had on household welfare.  Half the households selected for the study will have traditionally supported themselves with natural resources within the park.  The other 50% of households will live outside of the sphere of influence of the park and will serve as controls.

Within 12 months the project will have assessed enough empirical data to make assessments. By the end of the study this project will be able to characterize the immediate and longer term effects on household welfare brought on big changes in resource access and the creation of income generating opportunities associated with the establishment of parks.

This study will be the first to provide scientifically defensible and unbiased data to assess the impact of protected areas on household welfare.  Understanding these impacts is a critical first step in developing and implementing policies to address any adverse effects of parks on people, or identifying policy options that increase local benefits associated with Parks.

Important Next Steps

• Four teams of Gabonese social scientists have been recruited and trained in household survey methods
• Following pilot data collection and revision of methods, a baseline dataset will be gathered and analyzed
• Follow-up surveys will be completed 12 and 60 months later