Land Use Policy 31 (2013) 441–449 Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect Land Use Policy jou rn al h om epa g e: www.elsevier.com/locate/landusepol The effectiveness of economic incentives for sustaining community based natural resource management Helen Suich * Crawford School of Public Policy, The Australian National University, Australia a r t i c l e i n f o Article history: Received 30 April 2012 Received in revised form 8 August 2012 Accepted 14 August 2012 Keywords: Community based natural resource management Incentives Namibia Mozambique Perceptions Equity a b s t r a c t Incentives are key to attracting and maintaining participation in community based natural resource man- agement (CBNRM) initiatives. However, incentives cannot work if people do not know about them, if they are inappropriate or if they are delivered in insufficient quantities. In southern African CBNRM initiatives, many incentives are offered, particularly jobs and community income from hunting and photographic tourism activities. There is a need to assess – jointly – residents’ knowledge and perceptions of these incentives and their actual delivery to determine whether they are likely to be effective in sustaining par- ticipation in CBNRM activities over the long run. This paper reports the results of just such an assessment at two CBNRM sites, the Tchuma Tchato project in Mozambique and Kwandu Conservancy in Namibia. While different types of benefits were delivered at both sites, they were largely of low value and low in volume. It appears that the incentives offered are not inappropriate, but are insufficient – too few people benefit directly and the level of benefits is generally too small. Further, a large minority of households feel benefits have been inequitably distributed and that the direct costs of living with wildlife have been ineffectively addressed. These issues should be viewed as potentially serious challenges to maintaining local participation in CBNRM activities in the long run. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Introduction Community based natural resource management (CBNRM) schemes aim to achieve the dual goals of biodiversity conserva- tion and poverty alleviation. The use of incentives to encourage communities to participate in sustainably managing their natural resources is a critical design element of CBNRM. The literature suggests that incentives to participate in CBNRM must – at worst – contribute at least as much to livelihoods as the returns that could be generated from an alternative use of the resource (Jones and Murphree, 2001; Muir et al., 1996). They must also be sufficient and appropriate to align the individual and social costs and benefits of natural resource management. This does not suggest that financial incentives are the only valid incentives to offer (Rasker et al., 1992; Sommerville et al., 2010). Cultural, social and aesthetic factors have been identified as reasons for becoming involved in conservation initiatives, and some communities con- tinue to participate despite the economic benefits of doing so being in doubt (Wyman and Stein, 2010). It is essential to determine whether the assumptions made about incentives in the design and implementation of CBNRM programmes actually meet the needs and wishes of residents, and * Present address: PO Box 566 Milsons Point, NSW 2061, Australia. E-mail address: helensuich@yahoo.co.uk therefore encourages such participation. The attitudes and knowl- edge of CBNRM area residents is crucial – if they are unaware of incentives, or their attitudes reduce the likelihood of responding to them (e.g., because they are inappropriate or insufficient), then such incentives will be ineffective (Stern, 1992). It has been recognised that if residents’ perceptions of costs and benefits are vastly different to those of programme imple- menters and designers (Barrow and Murphree, 1998; Salafsky and Wollenberg, 2000), programmes are highly unlikely to achieve their objectives. However, the examination of residents’ perceptions of incentives is rarely undertaken. The purpose of this research was, therefore, to examine CBNRM-area residents’ perceptions of the incentives and delivered benefits associated with CBNRM activi- ties, to determine whether they were appropriate and sufficient. Such evaluations are important. If implementers (including com- munities) do not know whether incentives have been delivered, or whether they are appropriate or sufficient, they cannot know whether CBNRM programmes will sustain participation and there- fore achieve their conservation objectives in the long run. The initial incentive of CBNRM was the devolution of prop- erty rights over wildlife to communities, entitling communities to a claim over the stream of benefits generated by the utilisa- tion of wildlife (Bromley, 1989), which could change the balance of costs and benefits associated with wildlife management. These benefits would encourage participation in CBNRM initiatives and sustainable resource utilisation was expected to result (Bond, 2001; 0264-8377/$ – see front matter © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2012.08.008