Hostname: page-component-669899f699-cf6xr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-04-25T03:44:58.790Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Local Communities and Protected Areas: Attitudes of Rural Residents Towards Conservation and Machalilla National Park, Ecuador

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 August 2009

Elba A. Fiallo  and
Susan K. Jacobson
Elba A. Fiallo
Affiliation:
Coordinator, Department of Biodiversity & Protected Areas, Fundación Natura, PO Box 17-01-253, Quito, Ecuador
Susan K. Jacobson
Affiliation:
Director, Program for Studies in Tropical Conservation, Associate Professor, Department of Wildlife and Range Sciences, 118 Newins-Ziegler Hall, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611, USA.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Economic and social problems facing many developing countries jeopardize the effectiveness and very existence of their national parks and protected areas. Rural poverty exacerbates the need for access to natural resources in protected areas and increases public conflict with protected-area management. A prerequisite for the long-term sustainability of parks and protected areas is public involvement and support for the conservation of natural resources.

Towards the above ends, the present study analyses local residents' attitudes, knowledge, and concept of values concerning conservation and the management of natural resources in Machalilla National Park, Ecuador. A survey was administered of 90 households in three villages located within the Park boundaries and two villages adjacent to the Park. Survey results indicated that local residents living either within or adjacent to Machalilla National Park hold a variety of negative attitudes towards the Park. Positive attitudes tended to increase with respondents' level of education (X2 = 19.001, df = 2, p < 0.0001) and knowledge about conservation issues (X2 = 26.616, df = 1, p < 0.0001). Younger residents (X2 = 12.960, df = 2, p = 0.002), respondents perceiving benefits from the Park (X2 = 14.292, df = 2, p = 0.001), and respondents reporting good relations with the Park staff (X2 = 5.514, df = 1, p = 0.019), were more positive towards the Park. Factors influencing public attitudes are compared with study results in other countries.

Type
Main Papers
Information
Environmental Conservation , Volume 22 , Issue 3 , Autumn 1995 , pp. 241 - 249
Copyright
Copyright © Foundation for Environmental Conservation 1995

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Amend, T. & Amend, S. (1993). Parques nacionales y poblaciones locales en América del Sur. IVth World Congress on National Parks and Protected Areas, Caracas, Venezuela. Cited in Barzetti, V. (1993), q.v.Google Scholar
Barzetti, V. (Ed.) (1993). Parks and Progress. IUCN — The World Conservation Union, Washington, DC, USA: xiii + 240 pp., illustr.Google Scholar
Brown, J. (1991). Building Community Support for Protected Areas: The Case of Tortuguero National Park, Costa Rica. Master's thesis, Clark University, Massachusetts, USA: vii + 184 pp.Google Scholar
Cifuentes, M., Ponce, A., Alban, F., Mena, P., Mosquera, G., Rodriguez, J., Silva, D., Suarez, L., Tobar, A. & Torres, J. (1989). Estrategia para el Sistema Nacional de Areas Protegidas del Ecuador, II Fase. Fundación Natura, Quito, Ecuador: [not available for checking].Google Scholar
Clay, J.W. (1985). Parks and people. Cultural Survival, 9(1), pp. 2–5.Google Scholar
Cuéllar, J.C., Melo, M., Reyes, J.C., Landazuri, C., Yépez, O. & Moreno, J. (1992). Estudio de las Poblaciones del Area Interna y de la Zona de lnfluencia del Parque Nacional Machalilla. Fundación Natura, Quito, Ecuador: [not available for checking].Google Scholar
Fundación Natura (1991). Acciones de Desarrollo en Zonas de lnfluencia de Areas Protegidas. Fundación Natura, Quito, Ecuador: [not available for checking].Google Scholar
Geisler, C. (1993). Rethinking SIA: why ex ante research isn't enough. Society and Natural Resources, 6, pp. 327–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heinen, J.T. (1993). Park-people relations in Kosi Tappu Wildlife Reserve, Nepal: a socio-economic analysis. Environmental Conservation, 20(1), pp. 25–34, 2 figs and 6 tables.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hough, J.L. (1988). Obstacles to effective management of conflicts between national parks and surrounding human communities in developing countries. Environmental Conservation, 15(2), pp. 129–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Infield, M. (1988). Attitudes of a rural community towards-conservation and a local conservation area in Natal, South Africa. Biological Conservation, 45, pp. 21–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jacobson, S.K. (1987). Conservation education programs: evaluate and improve them. Environmental Conservation, 14(3), pp. 201–6, 8 figs.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jacobson, S.K. & Robles, R. (1992). Ecotourism, sustainable development, and conservation education: development of a tour guide training program in Tortuguero, Costa Rica. Environmental Management, 16(6), pp. 701–13.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kutay, K. (1991). Cahuita National Park, Costa Rica: a case study in living cultures and national park management. Pp. 114–29 in Resident Peoples and National Parks: Social Dilemmas and Strategies in International Conservation (Eds West, P.C. & Brechin, S.R.). The University of Arizona Press. Tucson, Arizona, USA: [not available for checking].Google Scholar
Landázuri, H. (1985). Isla de la Plata — Intento de Explotacion Económica. Technical Report to Fundacion Natura. Quito, Ecuador: [not available for checking].Google Scholar
McEwan, C. & Silva, M.I. (1990). Archaeology and Community: A Village Cultural Center and Museum in Agua Blanca, Ecuador. Report to Banco Central del Ecuador, Quito, Ecuador: [not available for checking].Google Scholar
Mishra, H.R. (1984). A delicate balance: tigers, rhinoceros, tourists, and park management is the needs of the local people in Chitwan National Park, Nepal. Pp. 197–203 in National Parks, Conservation and Development: The Role of Protected Areas in Sustaining Society (Eds McNeely, J.A. & Miller, K.R.). Smithsonian Press, Washington, DC, USA: [not available for checking].Google Scholar
Newmark, W.D., Leonard, N.L., Sariko, H.I. & Gamassa, D.M. (1993). Conservation altitudes of local people living adjacent to five protected areas in Tanzania. Biological Conservation, 63, pp. 177–83.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ortiz, J., Parra, D., Cardenas, J. & Cepada, F. (1994). Plan de Manejo Turistico del Parque Nacional Machalilla de la Republica del Ecuador. Inefan-Fundación Natura, Quito, Ecuador: [not available for checking].Google Scholar
Parry, D. & Campbell, B. (1992). Attitudes of rural communities to animal wildlife and its utilization in Chobe Enclave and Mababe Depression, Botswana. Environmental Conservation, 19(3), pp. 245–52, 7 figs and table.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Paucar, A.M. (1987). Plan Fundamental de Manejo del Parque Nacional Machalilla de la Republica del Ecuador. Direccion Nacional Forestal, Quito, Ecuador: [not available for checking].Google Scholar
Paucar, A.M., Andrade, R., Silva, M.I., McEwan, C. & Zambrano, C. (1986). Diagnóstico del Parque Nacional Machalilla de la República del Ecuador. Dirección Nacional Forestal, Quito, Ecuador: [not available lor checking].Google Scholar
Putney, A.D., Villa, J. & Departamento de Parques Nacionales Y Vida Silvestre, Ecuador (1976). Estudio de Alternativas de Manejo: Area Circundante a Puerto López y Machalilla. FAO, Quito, Ecuador: [not available for checking].Google Scholar
Putz, F. (1988). Blueprint lor saving the tropical forest. Garden, 12(2), p. 5.Google Scholar
Renard, Y. & Hudson, L. (1993). Community-based management of protected areas. IVth World Congress on National Parks and Protected Areas, Caracas, Venezuela. Cited in Barzetti, V. (1993), q.v.Google Scholar
Shrigley, R.L. & Trueblood, C.R. (1979). Designing a Likert-type scale to assess attitude toward metrication. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 16(1), pp. 73–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
West, P.C. & Brechin, S.R. (1991). National parks, protected areas, and resident peoples: a comparative assessment and integration. Pp. 363–400 in Resident Peoples and National Parks: Social Dilemmas and Strategies in International Conservation (Eds West, P.C. & Brkchin, S.R.). The University of Arizona Press, Tucson, Arizona, USA: [not available for checking].Google Scholar