Trade-offs Among Multiple Goals for Transboundary Conservation

by Charles Besanon

What do we know?at least 188 internationally adjoining protected area complexes (Besanon and Savy, 2005)Spanning the borders of 122 countriesMultiple objectives

biodiversity conservation;cultural heritage and exchange;international cooperation;maintenance of peace and security;promotion of sustainable development;regional economic integration;restitution of land tenure;local economic development; poverty alleviation, etc.

Transboundary Conservation Objectives

Paper concentrated on two issuesNew typologyNeed for further development of frameworks for assessing peace and security impactsThis presentationTypologyLessons learned from the Transboundary Virunga-Bwindi regionWhere are we going?

Transboundary protected areasTransboundary conservation and development areasParks for PeaceTransboundary migratory corridorsA typology of transboundary conservation practice

Transboundary protected areasA transboundary protected area is an area of land and/or sea that straddles one or more borders between states, sub-national units such as provinces and regions, autonomous areas and/or areas beyond the limit of national sovereignty or jurisdiction, whose constituent parts are especially dedicated to the protection and maintenance of biological diversity, and of natural and associated cultural resources, and managed co-operatively through legal or other effective means.Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park

Transboundary conservation and development areasTransboundary conservation and development areas are areas of land and/or sea that straddle one or more borders between states, sub-national units such as provinces and regions, autonomous areas and/or areas beyond the limit of national sovereignty or jurisdiction, whose constituent parts form a matrix that contributes to the protection and maintenance of biological diversity, and of natural and associated cultural resources, as well as the promotion of social and economic development, and which are managed co-operatively through legal or other effective means.Maloti-Drakensberg TBCDA

Parks for peaceParks for Peace are transboundary protected areas that are formally dedicated to the protection and maintenance of biological diversity, and of natural and associated cultural resources, and to the promotion of peace and cooperationWaterton-Glacier International Peace Park

Transboundary migratory corridorsTransboundary migratory corridors are areas of land and/or sea in two or more countries, which are not necessarily contiguous, but are required to sustain a biological migratory pathway, and where co-operative management has been secured through legal or other effective means. European Greenbelt

Utilizes a regional approach to protecting mountain gorillas and the afro-montane habitat they live inOrganizes transboundary activities such asregional meetings;joint patrols; and joint monitoringAddresses threats to the ecosystem through promoting sustainable development programmesInternational Gorilla Conservation Programme (IGCP)

Can peace parks build peace and/or protect the environment?What determines their success and/or failure?Recommendations for policymakersQuestions and conclusions

Can peace parks build peace and/or protect the environment?YesPossible to do bothHow?Through strengthening institutional structures (PAAs)third party mediationOperating in neutral spaceLocally-basedOffering incentives other than strict protection of resources (tourism)Example specific to IGCP: through organization of regional meetings, joint ranger patrols, trainings and monitoring.

Can peace parks build peace and/or protect the environment?Militia/military effects are context specificUgandaIn Bwindi and Mgahinga: SWIFT patrols are military with tourist sensitizationMilitarization of the environmentRwandaMilitary reinforces government control of protected areasIn DRCLocal defense forces not paid salary. May be very destabilizingPresence of other foreign troops may bring stability because they are disciplined and want to see continued gorilla tourismThey minimize raids by rogue groups and Interahamwe

Can peace parks build peace and/or protect the environment?But -Also true that conservation may contribute toward conflictHow?By increasing socio-economic inequalities or fueling the belief that such inequalities are increasingBy benefiting certain groups more than othersCultural/subculturalEthnicSocio-politicalSocio-economicGender, etc.By increasing competition for development resources & political controlBy limiting access to lands that provide some aspect of livelihoods in times of severe strainBy introducing new structures that challenge existing ones (social, political, or economic)

What determines their success and/or failure?Strong and resilient network of institutions and organizations with common purposeIn this case 3rd party actors in transboundary coordination roleFailures can result from one party being too dominatingMust have peace to maintain peaceHelpful to have charismatic mega-fauna that looks like us (good marketing)

Recommendations for policy makersTransboundary conservation is a very slow and deliberate processDesign structures specific to the project areaCreate flexible processes in case of conflicts (many types)Must develop new tools for measurement of impactsTrade-offs are inherent when you have both conservation and social goalsComplex context means a need to build strong networks to share experiences and disseminate best practice information

The endcharles.besancon@gmail.com

Good morning. I want to thank Geoffrey Dabelko and all of the Woodrow Wilson Institute Staff for bringing me here and for organizing this important event.

With such a big topic, where does one start? Lets begin with an overview.

Today we know that there are at least 188 internationally adjoining protected areas on the borders of at least 122 countries.

We also know that there are multiple objectives that have been set for these areas.

From biodiversity conservation to cooperation, peace, economic development to poverty alleviation. Transboundary conservation areas seemingly do it all!

Really though, what we have is experimentation on a Grand Scale as transboundary conservation practice reflects a range of methods of all or some of the objectives above.

This has caused some problems however as it has led to difficulty in the definition of precisely what is meant by transboundary conservation and how best to undertake it.

So, where are we going?

In the paper Trevor Sandwith and I prepared for the Environmental Change and Security Report, we concentrated on two topics. First, our ongoing work with IUCN-WCPA to develop a new transboundary conservation typology based upon different types of practice.

Secondly, in the paper, we discuss the lack of strong frameworks to assess the potential for transboundary conservation to contribute to a culture of peace and cooperation. The discussion follows with the description of one such attempt that I have personally been involved with in Central Africa along with the International Institute of Sustainable Development .

This presentation will begin with a discussion of the typology because standardized terminology can aid in making comparative analysis

Next I will talk about some of the preliminary results of the peace and conflict impact assessment I have been working on in central Africa and the implications for other peace parks.

As part of our work with the Transboundary Protected Areas Task Force of WCPA of IUCN we have been developing a new transboundary conservation typology based upon different types of practice.

This work comes out of discussions that began at the ITTO/IUCN sponsored meeting in Ratchathani Thailand, and furthered at a transboundary experts meeting held at La Maddalena Island - Sardinia, Italy where a working group was formed. Based upon their work, we offer the following typology.

Transboundary protected areas Transboundary conservation areas Parks for Peace Transboundary migratory corridors

Now I will go through these quickly

Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park between South Africa and BotswanaAnd we include Bwindi in this transboundary region, even though it is not contiguous with the other protected areas because this is the last habitat of the mountain gorilla, a species that will not reproduce in captivity. So this- go back one slide is the only place they can live. It is the most densely populated part of Africa in and is highly agriculturalThe parks and surrounding area are dominated by massive volcanoes that are active. In the background here is Nyiragongo in the Democratic Republic of Congo.When the volcano erupted in 2002 it basically wiped out the city of Goma. You can see here in this photo the lava engulfed everything in its path as there was very little warning. These are some children outside the Ntarama church genocide memorial in Rwanda where approximately 5000 died in a few days. And of course mountain gorilla tourism is the glue that keeps this system togetherTourists in groups no larger than 6 are escorted by a mixture of park rangers, trackers, guides and porters - and the military into the jungle.Once they arrive at the gorillas, they are given no more than one hour to be in their presence. For this, they spend 375USD per person in Uganda and Rwanda and 275/person in the DRC. Theres some conflictI am working closely with the International Gorilla Conservation Programme (IGCP), a coalition of WWF, AWF (African Wildlife Foundation) and FFI (Fauna and Flora International).They utilize a regional approach to gorilla conservation and work to increase the capacity of the PAAs. Some of their activities are inherently cooperation-building such as hosting regional meetings, joint patrols, and joint monitoring programmes. And they address threats discovered by their monitoring programmes mainly by targeted sustainable development projects at the border of the parks.In fact, one of the greatest threats to the parks is encroachment. This is the border to Virunga National Park and farmlands outside. There is no buffer zone. Another great threat, especially in the DRC is the presence of the military, both foreign and domestic that can create instability.So that is a quick overview of some of the many issues in the region. But now I want to get into answering some of the questions that we were brought together here to answer.So the questions are:Stabilization depends upon military leadership, organization, level of funding and disciplineAs we mention in the paper, doing a peace and conflict impact assessment is not only a good way to expose some of these issues, but also to help minimize them in the future and to inject additional conflict sensitivity into programme operations.Transboundary conservation is a very slow and deliberate process even in the best of situations, where there is no armed conflict or history of war. Whenever you have a planning situation that is characterized by groups with different cultures, that speak different languages and