Assessing opportunity costs of conservation: Ingredients for protected area management in the Kakamega Forest, Western Kenya

cg.coverage.countryKenya
cg.coverage.iso3166-alpha2KE
cg.coverage.regionEastern Africa
cg.identifier.doihttps://doi.org/10.1016/j.forpol.2009.05.004
cg.issn1389-9341
cg.issue7
cg.journalForest Policy and Economics
cg.subject.ilriBIODIVERSITY
cg.subject.ilriLIVELIHOODS
cg.volume11
dc.contributor.authorBorner, J.
dc.contributor.authorMburu, J.
dc.contributor.authorGuthiga, Paul M.
dc.contributor.authorWambua, S.
dc.date.accessioned2010-01-13T10:55:37Zen
dc.date.available2010-01-13T10:55:37Zen
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10568/394
dc.titleAssessing opportunity costs of conservation: Ingredients for protected area management in the Kakamega Forest, Western Kenyaen
dcterms.abstractThe Kakamega Forest is the only remaining tropical rainforest fragment in Western Kenya and hosts large numbers of endemic animal and plant species. Protected areas were established decades ago in order to preserve the forest's unique biodiversity from being converted into agricultural land by the regions large number of small-scale farmers. Nonetheless, recent research shows that degradation continues at alarming rates. In this paper we address an important challenge faced by protected area management, namely, the design of a cost-effective incentive scheme that balances local demand for subsistence non-timber forest products against conservation interests. Using primary data collected from 369 randomly selected farm-households we combine a farm-household classification with mathematical programming in order to estimate the opportunity costs of conserving the Kakamega Forest and restricting access to non-timber forest product resources. We validate our model and analyze the impact of changes in major economic frame conditions on our results before we derive recommendations for an improved protected area management in the study region. Our findings suggest that a more flexible approach to determining the price of recently established forest product extraction permits would greatly enhance management efficiency without significantly compromising local wellbeing.en
dcterms.accessRightsLimited Access
dcterms.bibliographicCitationBörner, J.; Mburu, J.; Guthiga, P.; Wambua, S. 2009. Assessing opportunity costs of conservation: ingredients for protected area management in the Kakamega Forest, Western Kenya. Forest Policy and Economics. v. 11(7). p. 459-467.en
dcterms.descriptionJohn Mburu and Stephen Wambua are ILRI authorsen
dcterms.extentp. 459-467
dcterms.issued2009-11
dcterms.languageen
dcterms.licenseCopyrighted; all rights reserved
dcterms.publisherElsevier
dcterms.typeJournal Article

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