Assessing opportunity costs of conservation: Ingredients for protected area management in the Kakamega Forest, Western Kenya
The 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 r...
| Autores principales: | , , , |
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| Formato: | Journal Article |
| Lenguaje: | Inglés |
| Publicado: |
Elsevier
2009
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| Acceso en línea: | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/394 |
| _version_ | 1855533465188958208 |
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| author | Borner, J. Mburu, J. Guthiga, Paul M. Wambua, S. |
| author_browse | Borner, J. Guthiga, Paul M. Mburu, J. Wambua, S. |
| author_facet | Borner, J. Mburu, J. Guthiga, Paul M. Wambua, S. |
| author_sort | Borner, J. |
| collection | Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace) |
| description | The 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. |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | CGSpace394 |
| institution | CGIAR Consortium |
| language | Inglés |
| publishDate | 2009 |
| publishDateRange | 2009 |
| publishDateSort | 2009 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| publisherStr | Elsevier |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | CGSpace3942024-06-26T09:37:28Z Assessing opportunity costs of conservation: Ingredients for protected area management in the Kakamega Forest, Western Kenya Borner, J. Mburu, J. Guthiga, Paul M. Wambua, S. The 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. 2009-11 2010-01-13T10:55:37Z 2010-01-13T10:55:37Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/394 en Limited Access Elsevier Börner, 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. |
| spellingShingle | Borner, J. Mburu, J. Guthiga, Paul M. Wambua, S. Assessing opportunity costs of conservation: Ingredients for protected area management in the Kakamega Forest, Western Kenya |
| title | Assessing opportunity costs of conservation: Ingredients for protected area management in the Kakamega Forest, Western Kenya |
| title_full | Assessing opportunity costs of conservation: Ingredients for protected area management in the Kakamega Forest, Western Kenya |
| title_fullStr | Assessing opportunity costs of conservation: Ingredients for protected area management in the Kakamega Forest, Western Kenya |
| title_full_unstemmed | Assessing opportunity costs of conservation: Ingredients for protected area management in the Kakamega Forest, Western Kenya |
| title_short | Assessing opportunity costs of conservation: Ingredients for protected area management in the Kakamega Forest, Western Kenya |
| title_sort | assessing opportunity costs of conservation ingredients for protected area management in the kakamega forest western kenya |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/394 |
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