Abstract
Community-based natural resources management which integrates wildlife conservation and rural development objectives in a single program package has been adopted as a win-win approach to wildlife management in several wildlife rich African countries. This study assesses the level of stakeholders’ engagement in management of natural resources in Kainji Lake national park using different typologies of participation. 110 structured questionnaires were used to collect data from national park staff and local people. Using simple random sampling, 3 villages were selected from Borgu sector of the park. Key informants including village elders, youth representatives, and rangers were consulted. 70% of the respondents replied that their communities have traditional laws protecting wildlife in the park. 31.5% said employment is the major benefit. 90% of park staff replied that communities provide useful information. Chi square test (P < 0.05) revealed existence of problems between local communities and park management which is dependent on community of origin. Stakeholders’ engagement in the park ranked high using typologies of participation. This study established convincing evidence that the higher the level of local communities’ involvement the higher their level of support. This is pertinence to conservation of wildlife resources. Also, most of the claims about participatory approach tested true.
Key words: Participatory approach, local communities, wildlife conservation
INTRODUCTION
Many different and sometimes discrepant interests must be put into consideration in any nature conservation projects (Olander and Landin, 2005) and representatives of this interest are called stakeholders. A stakeholder is a person or group of individuals who have a fixed interest in the outcome of a programme or project and also in the environment of its operation (McElroy and Mills, 2000).
Stakeholder has also been defined as groups, individuals or organizations that are affected by decisions or actions and have the power to influence, threaten, support, jeopardize or impact on the success of the decisions or actions (NOAA, 2007; Reed et al., 2009). A negative attitude to a project by stakeholders can intensely impede its implementation (NOAA, 2007). This impediment can lead to overrunning the cost and time schedule due to conflicts of interest and controversies concerning the project (Olander and Landing, 2005).
Stakeholders’ involvement, integrated management, participatory approach, stakeholders’ engagement and stakeholders’ participation have been used to mean the same concept (Arnstein, 1969; Narayanan, 2003; Khan, 2006; Reed, 2008; and Allen et al., 2011).