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ISSN 2278-2540 | DOI: 10.51583/IJLTEMAS | Volume XIV, Issue X, October 2025
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Ex-Situ Actors and Their Contribution to Conservation-
Development Agenda in Old Oyo National Park
Pius Ogujo Egwumah
1
, Rashidat Omolola Sotolu
1
, Tyonzughul Joe Orsar
1
, Benjamin Tertsea Tyowua
1
, Paul Ukper
Ancha
2
1
Department of Wildlife and Range Management, Joseph Sarwuan Tarka University, Makurdi, Nigeria.
2
Social and Environmental Forestry, Joseph Sarwuan Tarka University, Makurdi, Nigeria.
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.51583/IJLTEMAS.2025.1410000099
Received: 12 October 2025; Accepted: 19 October 2025; Published: 13 November 2025
Abstract: Effects of a green globe is felt even far away from the point of greening. Biodiversity protection or otherwise has far
reaching effects even beyond the source zone. This has fueled the need for this research, gauging contribution of external actors
on park protection in Old Oyo National Park (OONP). Two sets of questionnaire were administered to park officers and Support
Zone Communities (SZCs) assisted with organized Focused Group Discussions (FGDs) in each of the six ranges of the park.
Secondary data augments survey from records obtained from the park head office at Isokun. A total of 70 PMs were surveyed
purposively at the Park headquarters and at the six ranges. From a sampling frame of 30%, a total of 40 villages were randomly
and unevenly pooled from all six range stations depending on number of villages per range. Five households were randomly
selected each and the household heads were purposively sampled. This was aided with FGD sessions. Most (74%) of the SZCs
engage in farming, some (22.5%) practice both hunting and herding with overlap in each case. Average annual PCI for the SZCs
was lesser than that of the PMs. External actors engage with the SZCs in economic empowerment, park-community synergy and
more. These activities were agreed by PMs (42.86%) to be in concord with sustainable conservation, while SZCs agreed that
park-community collaboration benefit them (66.5%). Community empowerment and partnership among others are inevitable to
attain social acceptability, economic viability and ecological sustainability of park resources.
Keywords: Sustainable Conservation, Park Partnership, Collaboration, Economic Empowerment, Projects.
I. Introduction
Landscape approach to the restoration of the world’s ecosystems is a huge challenge requiring the coordinated decision making of
many stakeholders, right holders and landowners including communities, governments and the private sector. Working across so
many sectors, and with so many stakeholders, requires novel ways of working together to ensure that participation is real, that
groups are represented and that conflicts can be resolved. Typically, this involves a bottom-up approach. There has to be
inclusion of people who need to be empowered to participate in stakeholder processes and decision making. Additionally, new
methods would be required to ensure collaboration across sectors and governance levels. Important institutions concerned with
ensuring that restoration decisions are made and implemented in an equitable fashion may be established in-situ or on a regional
scale. According to Walters (2017), ability to adapt to local needs and good governance are pivotal to a successful restoration
which needs to be context-specific. This signifies that attempt at community-based development projects should be directed at
solving specific pressing problem(s) of such communities under pro-people management authorities. Additionally, people-
centered dimension to conservation, which ensures locals have security of access to protected areas; reap from protected areas;
and are actively involved in nature land management, is likely to earn their support for conservation efforts (Thondhlana et. al.,
2016). This is expected to also aid social equity thus reducing conflict eruption in nature parks (Holmes-Watts and Watts, 2008).
And of course, this is as opposed to the ‘fortress conservation’ initiative which gained most part of the twentieth century (Adams
and Hutton, 2007). Nigeria is endowed with a plethora of biodiversity resources and their ecosystems. These are threatened with
degradation and extinction due to an imbalance between economic development and biodiversity conservation (Anwadike, 2020).
Role of National Parks in Nigeria is majorly to conserve and protect species, habitats, ecological and geographical zones.
Scientific and empirical dimensions to conservation in these parks have been a failure decrying a human dimension to
conservation (Muhumuza and Balkwill, 2013). However, involvement of National Parks, especially in Nigeria, in community
projects is limited mainly by meagre budgets. Hence, necessitating the need for this research exploring the roles of non-park
bodies in contributing to community projects in order to aid conservation efforts in Old Oyo National Park. The park earns its
uniqueness among all Nigerian National Parks due to its fascinating pockets of archaeological, cultural and historic features
dotted within and around the park. As Okomu National Park stands as the only remaining virgin National Park in Nigeria, so are
there abundance of solid mineral deposits in the Old Oyo National Park such as Tantalite, Columbite, Granite, Marble stone and
many more both at Sepeteri and Oyo-Ile axes of the park. Additionally, as Obajanna in Kogi State is notable for cement deposit,
Igbeti town in Oyo State is notable for Marble stone deposit. Recently, despite regular tourism tours and protective laws, Old Oyo
National Park has been under threat from poaching, hunting, logging, mining as well as illegal herder encroachment. Participation
and partnership have been identified to be essential for implementation of the dual task of park conservation and rural
development (Andrew-Essien, 2018). This has triggered the modelling of this research prying into the coupling of park and
people and the significance of non-park actors in the initiative in OONP.
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Some Global Conservation Bodies and Their Contributions to Conservation
African Wildlife Foundation (AWF) protects wildlife and wild lands to thrive in modern Africa (AWF, 2024); Centre for
Biological Diversity (CBD) protects endangered species through legal action, petitions, media and activism; Conservation
International (CI) protects nature as a source of food, fresh water, livelihoods and a stable climate; Eco-Health Alliance protects
health of people, animals and the environment from emerging infectious diseases; International Union for Conservation of Nature
(IUCN) is a partnership of 1400 organizations working towards sustainable use of natural resources through improving human
condition, balancing people with the environment they depend on and conserving the exactness of nature (Schwass, 2024);
Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) saves wildlife and wild species worldwide with programs in 60 countries and manages five
New York City wildlife parks including the Bronx Zoo; World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) also called World Wildlife Fund,
promotes a future where people live in harmony with nature through ensuring sustainable use of renewable natural resources
(Strauss and Petrick, 2024);.
Conservation-Development Projects in Africa
These are Integrated Conservation and Development Projects which link the conservation of biodiversity in protected areas with
social and economic development in the surrounding areas. Aim here is to protect natural habitats and uncultivated areas, and to
provide incentives for establishment of new ones. Protected areas and community conserved areas, making up a quarter of the
earth’s surface in land and sea, holds high potential for human development through securing ecosystem services, maintaining
livelihoods and shading the impacts of climate change (Glemarec et. al., 2010). Hence, efforts of conservation bodies in coupling
social development is a self-supporting system paradigm that is expected. Some of these include: Wildlife Conservation in
Greater Kruger Park, South Africa focus on students’ research on endangered animals to assist wildlife trusts and reserve
management teams; Chimpanzee Conservation is the project of The African Conservation Foundation to conserve chimpanzees,
including the endangered Nigeria-Cameroon chimpanzee; Namibia National Biodiversity Program (NNBP) coordinate and
supports biodiversity conservation and its sustainable use (Mulonga et. al., 2014).
II. Materials and Methods
The Study Site: Northern Ogun Forest Reserve (est. 1936) and the southern Oyo-Ile Forest Reserve (est. 1941) were both
converted to game reserves in 1952. Due to density and diversity of wildlife species population, the two were merged by the then
Western State Government in the late 1960s to form the Upper Ogun Game Reserve. This was later upgraded to the present status
of a National Park by the Federal Department of Forestry. Old Oyo National Park was established to preserve the cultural,
historical and archaeological features in the abandoned sites of the then capital city of the ancient Old Oyo empire at Oyo-Ile,
Bara and Koso, to protect, preserve, conserve and manage representative samples of indigenous flora and fauna of the south-west
geographical region of Nigeria. Old Oyo National Park takes its name from Oyo-Ile (Old Oyo), the ancient political capital of Old
Oyo Empire of the Yoruba people, and contains the ruins of the city (Thornton, 1999). The park has six range offices (fig.1). the
park is sited in the northern Oyo and southern Kwara States of Nigeria with the administrative head office of the park in Oyo
town, in Isokun area, along Oyo-Iseyin road. It covers an approximate land area of 2,512km
2
and lies on latitudes 8
0
15’-9
0
00’N of
the equator and on longitudes 3
0
35’-4
0
42’E of the Greenwich Meridian. Rainy season is between April and September with the
highest rainfall recorded around July to August. Range of annual rainfall in the park is between 900mm and 1,500mm. Mean
annual temperature is between 12
0
C and 37
0
C. Temperature is highest in the dry season with the mean daily maximal greatest
around February and March (33.6
0
C) and the lowest values (20
0
C) during the height of harmattan in December and January. The
southern part of the park is drained by the Owu, Owe and Ogun Rivers, while the northern sector is drained by the Tessi River.
The park is endowed with unique and spectacular features of abundant water resources that drain most part of the park throughout
the year like the Ibuya pool and the Ikere Gorge dam. There is a great diversity of fish species in the major water bodies.
Park’s Biodiversity: The park is rich in flora and fauna resources. Notable flora species include: Parkia biglobossa, Afzelia
africana, Vitelaria paradoxum, Vitex doniana, Daniella oliveri, Ceiba pentadra, Andropogon spp, Eliomarus spp, and
Hyparrhenia dissolute. Notable fauna species that could be found in the park include: Buffon’s kob (Kobus kob), Roan antelope
(Hippotragus equinus), Western hartebeest (Alcelaphus buselaphus), Bush buck (Tragelaphus scriptus), baboon (Papio anubis),
Patas monkey (Erythocebus patas), Oribi (Ourebia ourebi), Grimm’s duiker (Sylvicapra grimmia), Lion (Panthera leo), Warthog
(Phacochoerus aethiopicus), Water buck (Kobus defasa), Red-flanked duiker (Cephalophus rufilatus), Black and white colobus
monkey (Colobus vellerosus), Green monkey (Cercopithecus aethiops) and many more.
Sampling Techniques
Sources of Data: Two sources of data were employed to elucidate information from respondents for this survey. These are
primary and secondary data sources. For the primary data source, two sets of structured questionnaire were designed for two
categories of respondents: Park Officials and members of the Support Zone Communities (SZCs). This was aided with organized
Focused Group Discussions and In-depth Interview in each selected village. In-depth interview targeted leaders of community
association and groups including heads of departments as well as range officers at each of the selected range offices. For the
secondary data however, relevant pieces of information were retrieved from the park annual report files. Records on local groups,
community-based conservation and empowerment programs as well as external aid groups were obtained from the park head
office at Isokun.
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Questionnaire Design and Data Collection: A sampling size of 18 percent from a staff strength of about four hundred was
adopted on park officers targeting department heads and park officers involved in projects at the six ranges of the park and at the
park headquarters (HQ) at Oyo town. Hence, ten park staff were picked from each of the range offices and the HQ, focusing on
project heads, department heads and management officers. This makes a total of 70 park staff purposively selected for the survey
of this research. For the park communities however, a multistage sampling procedure was adopted (Akosim et al., 2010). From all
the six range stations, 30% of the number of villages in each range were randomly pooled (table 1) with a total of 40 selected
villages. Five households were then randomly picked from each of the selected villages to give a total of 200 selected households
in the entire park for questionnaire administration. Taking household heads’ involvement in empowerment initiatives into
account, they were selected in each household. A total of 200 copies of questionnaire sets were then distributed to support zone
villages of Old Oyo National Park to elucidate information from the park inhabitants. The empirical phase of this study was
conducted between August 2023 and September, 2024 covering periods of rainy and dry seasons. The assistance of an interview
guide, who understands the cultural and traditional disposition of the locals, was employed in order to syphon as much authentic
information as possible from the SZC members. An approximate time of five and three minutes were spent respectively
completing a questionnaire set by the local communities before and after the FGD sessions with them.
Statistical Analysis: Data emanating from this survey is processed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS version
20.0) and subjected to both descriptive and inferential statistics. Results from descriptive analysis in frequencies of occurrences
and percentages are presented in the form of tables and charts. Inferential package employed includes: Mann-Whitney U Test.
Table 1: Range Offices and Their Respective Selected Villages
Range Office
Number of SZCs
30% of SZCs Selected
Households/ Community
Oyo-Ile
12
4
20
Tessi
9
3
15
Sepeteri
17
8
40
Marguba
20
8
40
Tede
38
11
55
Yemoso
19
6
30
Total
115
40
200
Source: Field Survey (2024)
III. Results
Socioeconomic Indices as a Function of SZC Members Livelihood Pattern OONP
Age range of respondents is between 31 to 40 years. Most of the respondents are married (80.37%) and males (82.22%). Highest
percentage (54.3%) of the park managers have a family size of 1-5 individuals per household, while for the park communities,
highest household size (43.5%) was recorded for the >10 household size category. As expected, all the park officers are civil
servants with a minute percentage of them (5.7%) engaging in alternative livelihood sources. This is in contrast to the SZC
members whose main occupation includes farming (74%), herding (12.57%), while their alternative sources of income include
hunting (12%), trading (37.5%) and others. These are Garri and palm oil processing, sales of wood, planks and charcoal. There is
no significant difference (P>0.05) in alternative sources of livelihood among the selected villages in each range station and across
villages in the selected range stations. A little above 25% of the SZCs are primary school leavers. There exist marked significant
differences (P<0.05) between the two groups of respondents in their educational attainment, annual income and per capita income
(PCI) as depicted on table 2.
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Fig. 1: Map of Old Oyo National Park Showing the Support Zone Villages
Source: OONP, 2023
Table 2: Demographic and Socioeconomic Parameters of Responds
Variables
Park Managers (n=70)
Support Zone
Communities (SZCs)
(n=200)
Total (N=270)
AGE:
%
%
%
<21
0
6.0
4.4
21-30
21.4
13.0
15.2
31-40
32.9
34.0
33.7
41-50
44.3
29.0
33.0
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50-70
1.4
18.0
13.7
Total
100.0
100.0
100.0
SEX:
Female
11.4
20.0
17.8
Male
88.6
80.0
82.2
Total
100.0
100.0
100.0
Family Size:
1-5
54.3
23.0
31.1
6-10
31.4
33.5
33.0
>10
14.3
43.5
35.9
Total
100.0
100.0
100.0
Main Occupation:
Civil Service
100
0.0
25.9
Farming
4.3
74.0
55.9
Herding
0
22.5
16.7
Hunting
0
25.5
18.9
Trading
1.4
37.5
28.1
Others
0
41.5
30.7
No Altntive
94.3
0.0
24.4
Total
100.0
100.0
-
Educational Attainment:
Non-Formal
0
39.0
28.9
Primary
0
25.5
18.9
Secondary
11.4
23.0
20.0
Tertiary
88.6
12.5
32.2
Total
100.0
100.0
100.0
Annual Income (‘000₦):
500-1,000
44.3
73.5
65.9
1,001-1,500
18.6
14.0
15.2
1,501-2,000
28.6
10.0
14.8
>2,000
8.6
2.5
4.1
Total
100.0
100.0
100.0
PCI (₦)
221,795
123,219
172,507
Source: Field Survey, 2024.
Collaboration and Partnership: Ex-Situ Conservation Actors and Their Projects In Old Oyo National Park
Old Oyo National Park enjoy collaboration and support from local aid agencies with interest in conservation (Table 3). These
supports range from providing services for environmental protection of the park and the support zone communities; conservation
education and awareness to communities and even to students in schools; strengthening park-community cooperation; as well as
economic empowerment of community members.
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Table 3: Aid Groups and Their Respective Community-Based Programs Contributing to Conservation of OONP
Aid Agency
Program Type
Agenda
Premier FM 93.5 Ibadan
Broadcast Conservation Education Programs;
Conservation Club in Public Secondary
Schools
Conservation Education and
Awareness
National Orientation Agency, Oyo
West LG
Interschool Football Clubs; Community
Awareness Train
Park-Community Cooperation
Caring Climate Film Production
Osogbo
Conservation Education and Awareness Train
Conservation Education and
Awareness
Green Bond Afforestation Program
(Federal Government)
Cash Crops and Fruit Crops Plantation
(Mango, Orange, Cashew, Palm, Shea Butter,
Rose Wood)
Environmental protection (Flood
Control) and Economic Empowerment
Program for Park Communities
Source: Field Survey (2024)
Community-Based Projects and Its Significance on Ecosystem-Based Approach to Sustainable Conservation in Old Oyo
National Park
Community Development Projects (CBP) agreed to be of benefit to local communities around the park, actually yield less than
500,000 per year (95.83%) for each household as seen in figure 2. Hence, local peoples’ support for conservation (fig. 3) is
expressed to be low (54.17%). Their support for conservation is lowly dependent on their cravings for empowerment from result
of correlation between the peoples’ urge for empowerment and development, versus their for support for park conservation.
Fig. 2: Amount (in ₦) Benefited by SZCs from Community-Based Projects per Annum
Source: Field Survey (2024)
Fig. 3: Relationship Between Park Benefits and Community Support for Conservation in OONP
Source: Field Survey (2024)
Monetary Benefits of Community Based
Projects in the Park
>1m 500,000-1m <500,000
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Hypothesis: Testing Correlation between Support for Conservation Against Urge for Empowerment and
Development Among SZCs of OONP
Test Statistics: Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient (r)
x = independent variable (communities’ urge for empowerment and development)
y = dependent variable (community support for conservation)
r = n∑ XY - ∑ X ∑Y
(n∑ X
2
- (∑X)
2
) (n ∑Y
2
(∑Y)
2
)
n = number of data point, x,y pairs
∑ XY = sum of product of x-value and y-value for each point
∑X = sum of x- values in the data set = 51.6
∑Y = sum of y-values in the data set = 55.1
∑X
2
= sum of squares of x-values in the data set
∑Y
2
= sum of squares of y-values in the data set
(∑X)
2
= square of sum of x-values in the data set
(∑Y)
2
= square of sum of y-values in the data set
-1 < r < +1
-1 denotes a strong negative correlation while +1 denotes a strong positive correlation
r = +0.3983, R
2
= 0.1586, p = 0.1777 (p>0.05)
Decision: there exists a weak positive correlation between support for conservation and peoples’ urge for empowerment and
development by SZC members and the correlation is not significant. 15% support for empowerment and development by the
SZCs influence their support for conservation.
IV. Discussion
Socioeconomic Pointer to Low Income Level of SCZs in Old Oyo National Park
National Parks, nature reserves and other protected areas across the developing world are known to harbor human influx whose
population derive their means of livelihood from biodiversity resources use (Toyobo et al., 2014). The scenario is not different
from the case of Support Zone Communities (SZCs) of Old Oyo National Park (OONP) where buffer zone inhabitants are
comprised of able-bodied males of large family sizes. Formal education gives exposure, broadens horizon and opens up more
opportunities for survival. This the managers of the resource have but the locals haven’t. Locals who have very low educational
background; with large family sizes and some of whom have been in the park since birth, who have spent nothing less than a
decade in the park, with subsistence means of livelihood, often see themselves as the original custodians of the park and its
resources. With low level of education, the rurals could mostly earn through artisanal work, farming, trading, and subordinate
government jobs making them low-level income earners. As park managers earn their living through resource protection,
community members rely on resource use for their sustenance. Per capita income, which describes the average annual income per
person per year, has a significant difference between the managers of biodiversity and the rural communities harboring OONP,
with the managers earning more. Expectedly, where park managers are keen on resource protection, community members are
winding their ways around exploitation and encroachment through hunting, mining, fishing, logging, charcoal production. If there
are provisions for financial assistance to the locals to fund their businesses, perhaps, it could have been a lot better to convince
them over their cooperation with wildlife protection. Locals in places like Sepeteri and Ago Awaye towns engage in artisanal
works like mechanic, vulcanizing, fashion designing, with the reality of proximity of that zone to the border town- Saki, this gives
those towns an outlook of communities detached and far away from a protected area.
Conservation Success as a Function of Economic Empowerment of Park Communities in OONP
The economic valuation of protected areas is currently receiving considerable attention from policymakers and park managers, as
such information can assist with the identification and design of funding mechanisms and the provision of alternative sustainable
livelihood opportunities to park communities as corroborated in the work of Pisani et al. (2021). Need for this is not farfetched
from OONP as locals need funding for livestock production, handicraft making, fish production, scholarship for indigenous
students of the communities, as its been enjoyed by the locals of Lake Mburo National Park, Uganda (Twinamatsiko et.al., 2022).
Encroachment in the park as well as close proximity of communities to the park exposes fauna species to poaching. Hydrogen
cyanide is contained in cassava. Communities throw cassava peelings into rivers Ajaku and Ogun, poisoning and killing aquatic
lives. After this, the locals demand more compensation from the park authorities as they claim that the benefits that they are
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getting from the park is too minute. This corroborates the assertion of King (2010) that involvement of communities in park
management has ethical and economic impacts. There are also complaints that government-promised development projects are
not getting to them. This could push locals to harbor poachers at a price; connive with or harbor illegal entrants to log, poach,
mine; or engage extensively in all forms of illegal exploitation of park resources. Another root of complaints by locals over
insufficiency of park developmental projects is premised on need to address their livelihood needs amidst conservation costs
(Archabald and Naughton-Treves, 2001). As a result of the perceived inequitable distribution of benefits, unauthorized resource
use takes place as was the case in the research findings of Twinamatsiko et al. (2014) and Harrison et al. (2015) indicating that
those who engage in poaching are poorer people than those who perceive less involvement within the adjacent communities of
protected areas. And it therefore necessitates tackling illegal biodiversity exploitation through empowerment and system change.
Pro-Conservation Efforts of Ex-Situ Stakeholders in the Park
The delivery of positive outcomes relating to biodiversity; recognition and respect for rights-holders and stakeholders living in or
near the area or dependent on its natural resources; and meeting human needs through ecosystem services (Dudley et. al., 2022) is
a way of achieving CBD goal 30x30. Involvement of external actors with these groups is rooting conservation through the people
as was the case where a methodology was designed to support the social actors involved in the management of protected areas of
National Natural Parks of Colombia (UNEP-WCMC, 2018). Just as stakeholders from different levels including farmers,
government agencies, civil society groups, private sectors cooperate to plant 2.4 million trees to stabilize river banks of Harda
district in India; government recognized a community-led organization, Community Resource Management Areas (CREMA), to
restore farmlands across Ghana; around 270 groups jointly focus on landscape restoration of the Atlantic Forest Restoration Pact
in Brazil (Walters, 2017), OONP enjoys a variety of interventions from different actor groups who are outside the territories of
the park, making frantic efforts to sustain resource protection and conservation through empowering the local support zone
communities. In 2013, Old Oyo National Park partnered with Caring Climate Film Production in the production of a movie titled
‘Igbo Oba’, employing locals as ad hoc actors and extras. Also the same year, Kob Football Club was established by HYZIK
concept to bring communities in the park together for entertainment rapport. Since 2014, National Orientation Agency of the Oyo
West Local Government has been organizing periodic sensitization programme titled ‘Doing the Right Thing at All Time’. Same
year, the park also started an awareness creation programme through 92.5 FM Amuludun Radio in joint collaboration with Cote
de Voire and the Republic of Benin. On a regular basis, the park organizes Jingles on National Television Authority (NTA)
Ibadan, Broadcasting Corporation of Oyo State (BCOS) Osun, BCOS Oyo, Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN) Ibadan
and Premier FM 93.5 Ibadan. The park also organizes Conservation Clubs in public secondary schools in the park support zone
communities. In all, partnership, participation and collaboration are expressed towards park conservation while involving and
benefiting the locals in one way or the other. If these are routine, continuous and sustainable, locals’ stewardship for conservation
would be achieved as was established by Chadzon et al. (2020). And enforcement officers would have lesser encounter with
complicated scenarios and threats to deal with. Likewise, the ‘withdraw and returnstrategy of the people withdrawing from
resource exploitation at the instance of benefit and returning to it as soon as benefit seizes, would come to a alt. this would assist
to better secure the park and its resources for a more sustainable park-people engagement.
V. Conclusion
International standards on sustainable development and environmental protection emphasize the need for public participation.
This is with the assumption that greater public participation can improve quality of decisions, improve public respect of those
decisions, and improve public perception of government. However, public perception among non-government officials vary
depending on the level of consultation. Governance and equity assessment approach demonstrate ecosystem-level management to
promote sustainable conservation of biodiversity. Integration, however, requires the meaningful involvement of stakeholders.
Procedural, distributive and recognitive equity are instrumental to improving the landscape of decision making for better and
equitable conservation. It is evident that the functioning of the protected area is dependent on a better working relationship with
the community. Greater governance and equity strengthen community support for conservation and development. The more
people felt involved and that they benefited from protected areas, the more they increased their conservation support and
stewardship.
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