Development and Conservation in Three Protected Areas in East Africa and India: Does Tourism lead to a Synthesis?

Abstract

This article concerns itself with two problems in developing countries: human development and biodiversity. Apparently they are conflicting objectives, and more so in the protected areas of the developing countries, where the poor have to depend on forest resources for their survival. We here ask the question: what effects have institutionalised conservation had on human activities and welfare in and around the parks? We eventually move to propose and test the hypothesis that tourism in and around the parks has resulted in reconciling the conflicting goals of conservation and development. Here, the indicator of conservation is given by the factor change of the number of species, while the indicator of development is given by the factor change of local employment. Based on survey and secondary data analysis in Serengeti National Park (NP) and the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, both in Northern Tanzania, the Maasai Mara National Reserve in Southern Kenya and the Corbett NP and Tiger Reserve in Kumaon, northern India, we find that an increase in tourism can happen simultaneously with increased bio-diversity in the form of numbers of key species and with human development in the form of local employment. The mechanism behind this development is institutional change.