{"title":"Access to Assets and Influence: Governance and Livelihoods in Protected Areas of the Annapurna and Everest Regions, Nepal.","authors":"Jonathan H Hanson","doi":"10.1007/s10745-025-00643-4","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Calls to expand the global Protected Area (PA) network to halt biodiversity loss have considerable social implications, especially for rural communities resident in or around them. Particularly in the Global South, where power imbalances between communities and conservation authorities can be more acute, PA governance approaches and limits on livelihood activities vary. Employing a theoretical framework integrating political ecology, access theory, and the Sustainable Livelihoods model, I profiled the livelihoods of households in Nepal's Annapurna Conservation Area (ACA), with a more decentralized governance model, and Sagarmatha National Park (SNP), with a more centralized management approach. In 2014, 705 household questionnaires were collected, alongside 70 interviews for cross-methods triangulation. Livelihood scores were significantly higher in ACA, to which the park's co-management approach has contributed through the creation of social capital, or influence. Linear regression models found that larger households and access to income from tourism best explained higher household livelihood scores, with revenue from livestock making an essential contribution in ACA but not SNP. Despite significant constitutional changes in Nepal since the data were collected, the relationship between PA governance and local livelihoods remains a critical issue for conservation in the country, the region, and the world. Access to influence, via involvement in PA governance, can improve access to multiple asset classes and therefore contribute to more positive socio-economic outcomes. In the context of achieving protected area targets in a socially-just manner, and in generating and maintaining social support for their governance, including and empowering local communities is therefore essential.</p><p><strong>Supplementary information: </strong>The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10745-025-00643-4.</p>","PeriodicalId":13192,"journal":{"name":"Human Ecology","volume":"53 5","pages":"1069-1085"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0000,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12852147/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Human Ecology","FirstCategoryId":"90","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10745-025-00643-4","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2025/9/19 0:00:00","PubModel":"Epub","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"ANTHROPOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Calls to expand the global Protected Area (PA) network to halt biodiversity loss have considerable social implications, especially for rural communities resident in or around them. Particularly in the Global South, where power imbalances between communities and conservation authorities can be more acute, PA governance approaches and limits on livelihood activities vary. Employing a theoretical framework integrating political ecology, access theory, and the Sustainable Livelihoods model, I profiled the livelihoods of households in Nepal's Annapurna Conservation Area (ACA), with a more decentralized governance model, and Sagarmatha National Park (SNP), with a more centralized management approach. In 2014, 705 household questionnaires were collected, alongside 70 interviews for cross-methods triangulation. Livelihood scores were significantly higher in ACA, to which the park's co-management approach has contributed through the creation of social capital, or influence. Linear regression models found that larger households and access to income from tourism best explained higher household livelihood scores, with revenue from livestock making an essential contribution in ACA but not SNP. Despite significant constitutional changes in Nepal since the data were collected, the relationship between PA governance and local livelihoods remains a critical issue for conservation in the country, the region, and the world. Access to influence, via involvement in PA governance, can improve access to multiple asset classes and therefore contribute to more positive socio-economic outcomes. In the context of achieving protected area targets in a socially-just manner, and in generating and maintaining social support for their governance, including and empowering local communities is therefore essential.
Supplementary information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10745-025-00643-4.
期刊介绍：
The theoretical orientation of Human Ecology emphasizes the problem-solving significance of human culture and behavior, from food procurement to systems defining kinship—not to mention political and religious life. The perspective generally embraced here is that human ecology is part and parcel of the larger field of ecology and not simply analogous to it. Contributions to Human Ecology emphasize the complex ways in which humans shape and in turn are shaped by their environment. Original articles, research reports, and brief communications based on empirical research are welcome from fields as diverse as environmental impact studies, resource or habitat maintenance, health and nutrition, risk management, land use history—to name a few. Disciplines commonly represented include anthropology, biological, life and health sciences, geography, and sociology. The journal is peer reviewed. A book review section appears in each issue.
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