Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
ment model of managing a conservation area, emerged as a tool to share the rights
and responsibilities over natural resources management between a conservation
authority and a collective group of landowners or private landowner (Fay, 2007;
Reid and Turner, 2004, p225). TRANSFORM tried to take things further by
combining the contractual park model with a rural developmental perspective
aimed at creating synergies between conservation and rural development.
TRANSFORM's experiences with these types of interventions and
approaches range from assisting in policy level design to the on-site implementa-
tion of community-based projects. The programme's practices have been centred
on integrating CBNRM initiatives within broader planning, advising on rural
development decisions, clarifying frameworks for a clearer understanding about
resource rights, facilitating and assisting interactions between communities,
parastatal conservation agencies and government agencies, as well as assisting
with internal community dynamics, particularly with regard to benefit sharing
arrangements.
Building consultant capacity and popularizing alternative models
The Africa Safari Lodge programme was a strategic move to try to spread a
'community rights for equity' development model into the rest of Southern
Africa. The first ideas for this network emerged from an association between
GTZ, the Ford Foundation and Mafisa development consultants. Its mandate has
been to facilitate the integration between tourism, conservation and rural develop-
ment. It was to combine and coordinate efforts from communities, the state and
private partners. Within the proposed framework the private partner can be seen
as a springboard that can create equity by allowing part ownership, employment
and social development within the business venture. Using a process of outside
funded interventions, the ASL programme is documenting these experiences and
spreading them to their Southern African countries. See www.asl-foundation.org
for case studies and information.
Case studies
For the sake of this chapter, two of TRANSFORM's pilot sites have been chosen
for in-depth analysis. The subjective choice for these two particular cases was
made on the basis that they offer interesting and contrasting perspectives towards
community-based tourism. Even if the country context and the rural develop-
ment objectives were the same, the Richtersveld and Makuleke examples had very
clear distinctions in their approach to tourism.
1
In the Richtersveld the community chose an approach based on small
community-based tourism operations with no linkages to the private sector.
2
At Makuleke the community and TRANSFORM used a Community-
Public-Private-Partnership (CPPP) approach which relied on private sector
partners to engage in building, operating and transferring tourism lodges in
transparent concession processes.
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