Using the resource books

Beyond Fences is not meant to be read from cover to cover. The first volume is a companion to a process, and is meant to be used following the requirements of the process itself. It is not a guide and does not spell out step-by-step procedures. The second is a reference book, to be consulted on specific items as needs arise.

The volumes can be used by individuals, but they have really been designed for a team of professionals working together in a conservation initiative. The team should ideally include key managers as well as the staff responsible for the interaction with local people and organized groups. The resource books could be used by such a team at the beginning of an initiative as an aid to assess options and plan activities but they could also be helpful at later stages. In particular they could sup-port various types of review, help to re-focus and redirect activities, and provide ideas to solve problems rooted in social issues. They could also serve as a basis for training personnel on social concerns in conservation.

We recommend that the team members who will use the books (let us call them the “professional team”) familiarize themselves with the books’ contents before doing anything else.

Volume 1 begins with some questions and answers on what the books are all about (you are reading that part right now). A brief introduction, entitled “Seeking social sustainability”, discusses the reasons social concerns are important for a conservation initiative. The following three main sections address three such concerns: “Involving the people”; “Addressing local needs in conservation”; and “Managing a sustainable initiative”. These three topics were identified by professionals with expertise in biological and social sciences and conservation practice. They do not cover everything that is important about people and conservation, nor are they completely independent of each other. Yet, they group some major concerns and lessons on what motivates people to act for conservation, and what helps them succeed.

Volume 2 is also composed of three main sections. The first section, “Concept files”, contains concise essays that illustrate key terms, concepts and considerations on particular conservation issues. The second section, “Participatory tools and processes”, is useful for conservation professionals who wish to communicate with local people and involve them in gathering information, assessing problems and opportunities, planning activities, managing conflicts and monitoring and evaluating results. The third section is an extensive collection of brief examples from the field, offering lessons learned in conservation initiatives that seized or missed opportunities to take action on social concerns. This last section is closely linked to Volume 1, as it offers examples of what happens when the options for action listed in Volume 1 are actually put into practice or ignored.

Before we enter into specific suggestions on how to use the resource books, we also need to stress that they do not provide any general structure or framework to plan or review a conservation initiative. First, such a framework would need to include many more considerations than social concerns (e.g., matters of geopolitical opportunity or financial feasibility) which are well beyond the scope of this work. Second, specific frameworks are established and required practice for most institutions in charge of conservation initiatives (governmental agencies, aid agencies, NGOs) and each organization has its own guidelines and specific procedures. There is little value in trying to provide a generic model here. Third, and perhaps most important, even the organizations that in the past relied heavily on “project cycle” approaches are now exploring more flexible and loose alternatives (Cernea, 1996). The World Bank, for instance, is currently reassessing its procedures — from site identification to evaluation of activities — and discussing alternative modes of operation. The key verbs are now “listening”, “confirming hypotheses”, “exploring alternatives” and “learning-by-doing”. The good judgement of staff and flexible, ongoing interaction with various social actors — not the strict application of rules and procedures — are beginning to be seen as central to the success of an initiative (Picciotto and Weaving, 1994).

How, then, can these resource books be used? The easy answer is that they should be used to support and complement whatever process the professional team in charge of the conservation initiative is already following — to plan, review, carry out training or evaluate its own work. The books can provide checklists and aide memoires, research questions and methods, ideas for activities to be tried out, themes for discussion in training sessions, possible indicators for monitoring and surveillance, and so on. They are not designed to ‘guide’ you to do anything, but instead offer for your attention and stimulate you to consider and discuss a wide menu of items and options (see Table 1 below).

Let us try to clarify this with more information on the content of Volume 1. Each of the three main sections of Volume 1 is structured in the same way. First, a series of key questions (and sub-questions) is introduced. These are meant to stimulate the professional team to discuss three sets of social concerns (i.e., participation, local needs and internal management) in the context of their particular initiative. The specific questions may be more or less relevant in different environments. Yet, a team that would meet around a table (or under a tree), answer the questions and discuss the answers, would explore much of what is important to know about those concerns in their specific context.

Not all the terms, concepts or issues will be familiar to everyone in the team. In that case, the concept files listed in Volume 2 may be useful; they are cross-referenced in Volume 1. You may want to take a look at those files if you are sufficiently intrigued or stimulated by some of the questions. It may also happen that some people in the team disagree on possible answers to a question. It is useful to acknowledge this early on, since people generally take for granted that others share their views and may end up discovering that this is not the case when it is too late to remedy. Most crucial, you may find out that you do not know the answers to some important questions. What could you do in that case?

Table 1 How to use the resource books (summary)

You may want to read further along in Volume 1, where indicators and warning flags are listed for each set of concerns, and in Volume 2, where participatory tools and processes are illustrated. Finding out about social indicators and warning flags in a participatory way, directly involving the people you are dealing with, is an excellent way of both gathering information and improving social relations with the conservation initiative.

Once you are satisfied with answering questions and discussing particular social concerns, you may want to explore what can be done about them. Each section in Volume 1 moves from questions to indicators to options for action. The options are activities that respond to particular needs and could be incorporated in the plan of action of the conservation initiative. It is important to stress that not all options are appropriate in all contexts, and that several of those listed are, in fact, alternative choices. All options should be evaluated on a case-by-case basis, and especially in terms of the assumptions they hold true (implicitly or explicitly), the trade-offs they require and their feasibility in the local context.

When you have identified an option as potentially appropriate, you may want to find out more about it by reading about some examples from the field where the option has been utilized or ignored. Section 6 of Volume 2 encompasses a range of such examples, cross-referenced to Volume 1. In some cases, the reader is also referred to concept files and participatory tools and processes in Volume 2.

The three main sections in Volume 1 can be explored in any order. They can simply complement — in total or in part — the process of planning, review, evaluation or training that may be taking place in the conservation initiative. If the team members are designing a monitoring programme, for instance, they may first want to consider the three sets of indicators and warning flags included in Volume 1 and the methods and tools in Section 5.5. If they are having a refresher training session they may hold some meetings to discuss one or more key questions listed in Volume 1, or concept files from Volume 2. If the initiative is plagued by conflicts or missed opportunities, the team may wish to identify alternatives by reviewing the options for action listed in Volume 1 and the relevant examples from the field in Volume 2. If the initiative is being planned from scratch, the team may want to explore all the questions and options listed in Volume 1 and put to use the participatory methods and tools illustrated in Volume 2 to involve local people in the assessment and planning itself (see Table 1 above). Some concrete examples may help you visualize how something like this could work out in practice.

Community-based resource management in Central Africa

An integrated conservation and development project is being planned in Dense Forest in Bangassou in the Central African Republic (Telesis, 1996). UNDP and USAID are funding the design of the project, with technical support from the World Wildlife Fund and the Private Voluntary Organizations and Non-governmental Organizations in Natural Resources Management (PVO-NGO/NRMS) Project. The goal of the project is to enable the local people to manage their renewable resources in a sustainable way, and the project has to figure out how best could this be achieved, with particular attention to the policy environment, the local economy, and the existing knowledge, skills and institutions for the management of natural resources. The region encompasses primary and secondary forests at various stages of regeneration. It possesses significant species richness, including populations of large mammals fleeing intense hunting pressures in the Sudan. The region is very remote, with a small population and chronic economic stagnation.

The project is being designed on the basis of various hypotheses, including the following:

• that a reform of tenure laws and practices is a precondition for reversing destructive land uses;
• that the diversification of local employment can reduce pressures on threatened natural resources;
  and
• that local communities can effectively take control of local environmental management and conservation activities.

Project management is expected to be minimal, and most planning and management decisions are to be carried out by local communities.

The ‘minimal’ professional team working for this project could make use of the resource set in several ways. Since local participation is a crucial component of the project, they could first review Section 1 of Volume 1 as an aid to reflect upon the existing social reality and to identify which activities can be planned, and in what order. They could also review some concept files of particular concern to them, e.g., “Indigenous resource management systems”, “Local institutions for resource management”, “Social actors and stakeholders”, “Decentralizing and devolving government”, “Local knowledge in conservation” and “Cross-cultural communication and local media”.

Once they have outlined a plan to involve the communities in the initiative, they could consider using some of the participatory methods and tools listed in Section 5 and developing a monitoring system that includes collecting data on some of the indicators listed in Section 1. As they progress, they may find that it becomes more and more important to assure that conservation and the meeting of local needs are pursued through the same activities. Section 2 of Volume 1 may then help by offering more ideas to be considered and discussed with the local people. In the discussions, the examples of Section 6 may be recalled, so that lessons learned in past successes and failures are shared and taken in.

Finally, some problems may at one time or another surface between the ‘minimal’ professional staff and the local people, or within the staff itself. It may then be the moment to review what Section 3 of Volume 1 has to offer, and possibly review the project management process on that basis.

Mitigation measures in Lao People’s Republic

The World Bank has been asked to back up some major financial investments in the Lao People’s Republic that would provide infrastructure work (damming an important watershed for the production of hydroelectric power). The artificial lake to be created would flood an area of rich biodiversity and deprive a number of local indigenous communities of their land and means of livelihood. Prior to making a decision on the matter, the Bank has commissioned an in-depth study of environmental and social impact. This is expected to be the basis of a plan for mitigation measures that would provide maximum protection for the integrity of local biodiversity and the interests of the local people. Short of scrapping the project plan — which seems highly unlikely in the current political context in Lao — the mitigation measures may help minimize ecological damages and assure that people affected are equitably treated and compensated.

In this context, Beyond Fences may help to provide for the social sustainability of any mitigation plan that may be initially developed. If, for instance, the plan foresees relocation and compensation for the affected people, team members may find useful insight in various concept files (e.g., “Social concerns in resettlement programmes”, “Equity in conservation”, "Compensation and substitution programmes”, "Cross-cultural communication and local media”, "Poverty, wealth and environmental degradation”, "Population dynamics and conservation”) and a series of ideas for local investments to link environmental conservation and local livelihood in Section 2 of Volume 1. As for the Central African case, the participatory methods and tools illustrated in Volume 2 may help involving the local communities in the planning of the mitigation activities.

Conserving Lake Victoria

The IUCN Office in Eastern Africa developed a project proposal for the conservation of natural resources in Lake Victoria (IUCN, 1996). This followed the rapid development of the fishing export industry, which had adversely affected the lake’s environmental quality and biodiversity. The project seeks to promote sustainable use of the lake’s resources and to examine how the interests of the traditional fisheries can be reconciled with those of the export-oriented fisheries. A preliminary analysis identified and analyzed a range of local stakeholders, including those directly linked with the industry, such as local fishermen, fishmongers, fish processors, local communities in general (as consumers and employees) and local NGOs. The challenge ahead is for the stakeholders to be fully engaged in planning and implementing activities that will lead to the effective conservation of the integrity and biodiversity of Lake Victoria’s ecosystem and resources. The professional team in charge of the initiative is expected to be relatively large and may have to include representatives from several countries. It may become even larger as the team interacts with the numerous stakeholders who — following the explicit strategy of the programme — should be empowered to take action for the conservation of their environment.

How could the staff of the Lake Victoria conservation project make use of Beyond Fences? There are various ways. First of all, they may wish to use all they can find in the books to help them identify and contact stakeholders (e.g., the questions and options in Section 1). They may then direct their attention to developing resource management agreements involving the stakeholders: a matter that is still poorly documented in development and conservation literature to date.

Section 1 of Volume 1 contains several checklists to help review rele-vant information and numerous options for action that lead to management agreements, conflict resolution among stakeholders and — possibly — local institutions taking charge of management decisions in the long run. In Volume 2, more ideas and references on the subjects can be found in various concept files ("Conflicts in conservation”, "Collaborative management regimes”, "Equity in conservation”, "Sustainable farming, forestry and fishing practices”, "Incentives and disincentives to conservation”, etc.), in Section 5 (Participatory tools and processes for planning and managing conflicts) and Section 6 (Examples from the Field).

The Lake Victoria programme specifies that staff of national institutions for resource management will be trained to interact effectively with local stakeholders and to involve them in conservation activities. Beyond Fences can also be used to support this component. If a problem-based (not a lecture-type) methodology is adopted, trainees should first identify some of the problems they have encountered in their interactions with various groups of stakeholders (fisherpeople, those employed in transportation and local industries, fish vendors, etc.). They could then go through the two resource books to identify what they could do to meet these challenges. They could, for instance, pick some options for action, discuss them in their work groups and take notes about the discussions. After training, the resource books would remain both a useful reminder of discussions and a collection of ideas.

Monitoring conservation in South America

PROBONA is a joint initiative of the Swiss NGO Intercooperation and the IUCN office for South America (SUR). The project is concerned with the conservation of native forests in the Andean region. It includes a review of the present status of relevant ecosystems, demonstration cases of sustainable use of forest resources, coordination of various social actors at both the level of general information and the level of practice, strengthening of regional capacity and applied research (IUCN, 1994). The projects run by Intercooperation usually pay great attention to monitoring both the planned activities and outputs and the socio-economic change that results. Projects usually last several years and are subject to review on a regular basis.

For a project such as PROBONA, Beyond Fences could be useful as a tool to review how social concerns are taken into consideration in the project itself. A meeting could be called among the project staff and various counterparts to illustrate the status of activities and identify problems. After the presentations, one possible course of action would be for the participants to split into three groups, each of which would explore issues of participation, needs and management. Groups would use the material in the resource set to identify key elements for reporting, prepare a summary of their analysis, and present it to the others.

Unlike Intercooperation, IUCN is a union of member organizations and is primarily interested in communicating and sharing knowledge among those members. Copies of Beyond Fences could be distributed to its members so that they can explore for themselves the crucial social issues that make a difference in their conservation work. Those issues could then be compared and discussed in workshops, where institution members of IUCN will have a common frame of reference and possibly even a common lexicon. For instance, the experience of PROBONA, summarized with the help of the resource books, could be presented as a case study for the others to discuss and build upon.

Networking and capacity building in Pakistan and southern Africa

In Pakistan, Intercooperation is supporting several intermediate-level NGOs in the North West Frontier, Sindh and Punjab provinces. The emphasis is on promoting sustainable land-use practices (e.g., in forestry and agriculture) and on strengthening membership-based organizations. Although some of the partner NGOs are experienced in relating to local societies and achieving effective results with participatory methodologies, others are not.

Intercooperation could offer Beyond Fences as a tool for its partner NGOs. The resource books could be discussed in networking meetings and — when appropriate — tried out in field activities. Workshops could be called to discuss how the books can be used to plan, evaluate or redesign initiatives. Such workshops, in fact, may be scheduled as part of ongoing capacity-building.

Similarly, the volumes could be used in a six-week training course in Harare, promoted by IUCN and the Centre for Applied Social Sciences of the University of Zimbabwe. The course is a residential initiative in which mid-level natural resource managers from southern African countries gather to review the social concerns relevant in their work and identify ways to respond to them. Beyond Fences could be used by the course participants as a tool for group work, a source of ideas and/or a reference package.

We hope that these examples provide some ideas on how to use the resource books. Yet, we would like you to remember that social situations are invariably more com.plex than any document can fathom, and that local customs and language will be fundamental in shaping the way in which the matters outlined in these volumes will be understood and interpreted. In addition, it should not be expected that a positive compromise or ‘happy ending’ is achievable in all situations. Too often, power imbalances among stakeholders, human failures, lack of financial means, lack of accountability, natural disasters and the like will conspire against positive outcomes for both conservation and social concerns. Regular monitoring and feasibility assessments should be built into any initiative so that, at least, the professional team can quickly reassess actions, as needs arise.

Users of these volumes are strongly encouraged to incorporate other documents, resources and their own experience to build on the ideas and options offered here. Beyond Fences is intended to stimulate you to figure out what needs to be done and how it could best be done. It may look like a set of two books, but it isn’t: Beyond Fences is a process!

References for introduction

Cernea, M., personal communication, 1996.

IUCN/SUR, Progress and Assessment Report 1994 of the Probona Project, Quito, 1994.

IUCN, Socio-Economics of the Nile Perch Fishery on Lake Victoria, Project Proposal, Eastern Africa Regional Programme of IUCN, Nairobi, 1996.

Picciotto R. and R. Weaving, "A new project cycle for the World Bank?” Finance and Development, Dec. 1994.

Telesis USA, Inc., Sustainable Economic Development Options for the Dzanga-Sangha Reserve (Central African Republic), Executive Summary, Providence R.I., 1996.

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