The orang-utan Pongo spp. is protected by national and international legislation, yet populations continue to decline. Many reports implicate local people in the poaching and illegal trade in orang-utans, yet community participation has been promoted as an alternative conservation strategy. To explore how community-based orang-utan conservation could be developed, we conducted a study to understand informal institutions, particularly local people's perceptions, traditional beliefs, taboos, norms and knowledge, related to orang-utan conservation within and around the wetlands of Danau Sentarum. The majority of Dayak communities interviewed practised traditional taboos, which supported the protection of orang-utans and their habitat. Statistical analysis using generalized linear modelling indicated that more orang-utan nests were found in areas with both good habitat condition and strong informal institutions. Despite applying traditional systems that are similar to conservation, local people have negative perceptions about the term ‘conservation’. We describe the underlying causes of these negative perceptions and highlight their implications for conservation programmes and policies. We conclude that conservation of orang-utans and other species should not focus on single species but on maintaining social and natural capital, cultural diversity and ecological functions at various institutional levels and across geographical scales.

The effectiveness of protected areas (PAs) has often been measured by comparing deforestation or land cover loss before and after PA establishment or within and outside the PA. Such evaluations ignore forest degradation or the decline in quality of the ecological values of the forest. Landsat image processing and geographical information systems were used to study forest cover changes in and around Popa Mountain Park (central Myanmar). Deforestation inside the Park was lower than outside the Park, but forest degradation, namely the net area that changed from dense forest to open forest, within the Park had grown at rates exceeding those outside the Park. The effectiveness of the PA was overestimated by adopting deforestation as the only indicator of conservation effectiveness. Forest degradation studies can be used to evaluate the effectiveness of PAs.

National Parks have become the most widely-used category of protected areas in developing countries, including sub-Saharan Africa. Several studies have shown that local-community support for National Parks is based mainly on perceptions of benefits and costs against the background of social, cultural, political and economic considerations. This paper examines the experience in the Cross River National Park (CRNP) in southeast Nigeria using data collected through rapid rural appraisal techniques, household questionnaire surveys, focus group discussions and guided interviews. The results show that in spite of a high level of community awareness of the need to conserve the forests of the study area, there is a low level of local support for the CRNP forest conservation initiative. Four main factors are identified as the main influences on the support extended to the project, namely: reality and expectations of socio-economic development, the pace of project implementation, the relationship between park staff and communities, and the historical rights of local people to the forest of the study area. The implications of the findings relate to the long-term sustainability of the CRNP as a protected forest area.

The ecosystem services provided by mangroves are often ignored in the ongoing process of mangrove conversion. Services provided by the Bhitarkanika mangrove ecosystem in India and estimated cyclone damage avoided in three selected villages, taking the cyclone of 1999 as a reference point, were valued by assessing the socio-economic status of the villages, the cyclone damage to houses, livestock, fisheries, trees and other assets owned by the people, and the level and duration of flooding. Eleven variables were used to compare damage in the villages, one protected by mangroves, one unprotected by mangroves, and the third possessing an embankment on its seaward side. Attitude surveys were carried out in 10% of the households in 35 villages located in the Bhitarkanika Conservation Area to assess local people's perceptions regarding the storm protection function of mangroves and their attitude towards mangrove forests generally. In the mangrove-protected village, variables had either the lowest values for adverse factors (such as damage to houses), or the highest values for positive factors (such as crop yield). The loss incurred per household was greatest (US$ 153.74) in the village that was not sheltered by mangroves but had an embankment, followed by the village that was neither in the shadow of mangroves or the embankment (US$ 44.02) and the village that was protected by mangrove forests (US$ 33.31). The local people were aware of and appreciated the functions performed by the mangrove forests in protecting their lives and property from cyclones, and were willing to cooperate with the forest department in mangrove restoration.

Wild animals often destroy standing crops and prey on livestock, causing economic losses to farmers. Crop and wildlife damage are becoming serious for many Indian protected areas, and this study aimed to characterize the problem in villages in and around the Sariska Tiger Reserve (STR), Rajasthan, India. Data were collected using a semi-structured questionnaire in 37 villages followed by a semi-structured questionnaire administered to 180 households, quadrat sampling and focus group discussions. Crop and livestock depredation evidently affected nearly half of the households in villages adjacent to the STR, but damage varied considerably amongst villages and with distance from the Reserve border. Wild animal distribution and protection measures which people adopted also influenced the damage. Nilgai (Boselaphus tragocamelus() and wild boar ((Sus scrofa() were reported to be responsible for at least half of the total damage to the major crops caused by wild animals. Tigers and leopards were the main livestock predators; the former preyed mostly on larger livestock and the latter on smaller animals such as goats and sheep. More than two-thirds of the villagers spent considerable time and money guarding crops and protecting livestock. Guarding was the most popular means followed by physical fences around fields. In spite of damage to crops and livestock, the local people still had a positive attitude towards the STR, because of tangible benefits derived from the Reserve in terms of fodder and fuelwood, and cultural/religious attitudes towards wild animals. Settlement of rights to collect fuelwood and fodder within the Reserve appears to be one acceptable measure to compensate for losses besides an immediate review of hunting policy. Suggestions given by local people to minimize losses have implications for the long term sustainability of the STR as a protected area.