Sustainable use protected areas catalyze improved livelihoods in rural Amazonia

Abstract

Finding new ways to reconcile socio-economic well-being and the sustainability of nature is of crucial importance for contemporary societies, especially in tropical developing countries where the maintenance of local livelihoods is often in conflict. with the conservation of biodiversity. Many projects aimed at reconciling biodiversity conservation goals with social aspirations within protected areas (PAs) have failed in one or two respects. Here, we study the social consequences of living inside or outside sustainably-used PAs in the Brazilian Amazon, using data from over 100 local communities along a 2,000 km section of a great Amazonian river. PAs in this region are now widely regarded as conservation triumphs, having implemented community co-management of fisheries and reestablishing overexploited wildlife populations. We document clear differences in social well-being in communities inside and outside PAs. More specifically, communities within PAs benefit from better access to health care, education, electricity, basic sanitation and communication infrastructure. In addition, living in a PA was the best indicator of household wealth, followed by money transfer programs and the number of people per household. These collective co-benefits clearly influence life satisfaction, with only 5% of all adult residents in PAs aspiring to relocate to urban centers, compared to 58% of adults in unprotected areas. Our results clearly demonstrate that large-scale “win-win” conservation solutions are possible in tropical countries with limited financial and human resources and reinforce the need to truly empower local people in integrated conservation-development programs.