58 © Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences 2003 Ambio Vol. 32 No. 1, Feb. 2003 http://www.ambio.kva.se INTRODUCTION Decades of conservation efforts have left a global network of protected areas, rich in wildlife, forming a true heritage for man- kind (1). However, in many instances, the eviction of villagers and nomadic groups associated with the creation of these areas has left deep scars. Subsequent lack of participation in the prof- its of mass tourism or other park revenues has nourished an al- most universal local hostility to protected areas (2, 3). In the mid- 1980s this led to a change in conservation paradigm, whereby development was incorporated to counter the negative aspects of conservation for local people (4), in particular their loss of access to exploitable resources, generally called people-oriented conservation (5) or community conservation (6). Further, it was felt that the efficiency of conservation could be improved by linking conservation and development (7), hence the dominant project form of Integrated Conservation and Development Projects (ICDPs) referred to in this paper. In an idealized form ICDPs cover 3 subjects: i) protected area management; ii) man- agement of buffer zones; and iii) local social and economic de- velopment (7). Emphasis has been placed, at least on paper, on stimulating the participation of local communities in the formu- lation and implementation of these projects. The decade after the start of the first ICDPs, a variety of re- ports on their activities have appeared (3, 7, 8, 10, 12, 13). Ini- tially, the discussion centered on the justification of people-ori- ented conservation (3, 8) or, alternatively, its reject (e.g. 9). Later reports discussed preliminary results of ICDPs and the need for adjustments. Brandon (10), for example, identified questionable assumptions on which many ICDPs have been based which led to disappointing results, especially with regard to their conser- vation objectives. She argued that many ICDPs have been set up as aid projects where typical governmental responsibilities, such as law reinforcement, have been neglected. Lately, Adams and Hulme argued to move beyond rhetoric and proposed more diversified community conservation, tuned towards the specific situation (6). The long-term role of ICDPs in the future of protected areas, most notably the danger of immigration encouraged by its own activities, has thus far received only scant attention. In a review of ICDP case studies Salafsky (11; p. 455) noted that “none of the case studies mentions developing strategies to deal with the influx of poor migrants that can be expected if the project does indeed succeed in raising standards of living relative to surround- ing areas”. Brandon and Wells (12) and to some extent Caldecott (13) also discussed the potential risk of people being attracted by the activities of an ICDP. First-hand experiences with the phe- nomenon have been reported, in narrative terms only, from the forests of West Africa (14) and the Central African Republic (15). One can well imagine the following, highly simplified, im- migration-risk scenario for open-access systems (16). A protected area is surrounded by a few poor communities, who depend on the (illegal) exploitation of the protected area’s natural resources. However, this low-intensity exploitation has hardly any impact on the area’s ecology. For a variety of reasons, an ICDP is started in the area, improving local living conditions, thereby attract- ing (poor) newcomers, who want to share in the increased re- sources. In the absence of barriers, immigration will continue until everybody has once more reached the same (low) level of development. The result is that the protected area is now sur- rounded by many, instead of a few, poor communities, who still have to make use of the same resources, thereby jeopardizing its ecology due to their increased numbers. Is this development or conservation or neither one? This article provides case studies of an ICDP in the Waza- Logone area of Cameroon with which to examine the validity of this scenario for open-access and possibly other property sys- tems as well. These experiences are compared with those from other ICDPs, and strategies to deal with immigration problems associated with such projects are illustrated with a recent exam- ple from Waza-Logone. WAZA-LOGONE CASE STUDIES The Waza-Logone Area The Waza-Logone project area covers about 8000 km 2 in the Sahelo-Sudanian zone of Cameroon (Fig. 1). The area is bor- dered in the west by Nigeria and in the east and north by the Logone River, which forms the border with Chad. The region is characterized by floodplains, which are intensively used for fishing (17) and dry-season grazing (18). The area includes 2 national parks, Waza and Kalamaloué, containing a diverse population of large mammals: elephant (Loxodonta africana), Article Integrated Conservation and Development Projects (ICDPs) aim to stimulate conservation without the previous negative experiences for local people, but pay little attention to their long-term impact such as immigration. The rehabilitation of the Logone floodplain in North Cameroon, the core activity of the Waza-Logone ICDP, has led to a 34% increase of sedentary fishermen and a multiple number of temporary fishermen. Whereas livestock pres- sure tripled, kob antelopes, a key floodplain species, have not increased, reducing their competitiveness. The virtual disappearance of wildlife in nearby Kalamaloué National Park (NP), due to advanced human encroachment forms, is therefore a bleak perspective for Waza NP. Examples from the Central African Republic (CAR), Galapagos, Nigeria and Zimbabwe also showed that in open-access systems, improvement in living standards (devel- opment) may stimulate immigration, jeopardizing the sta- bility necessary in protected areas (conservation). Most ICDPs lack demographic monitoring, masking its possible immigration risk. To counter the immigration risk in Waza, a policy was formulated based on local stakeholder cat- egorization and subsequent privileges, resulting in the voluntarily displacement of a village out of Waza NP. It is further recommended that ICDPs should be involved in regional land-use planning and discourage development activities that stimulate immigration. Paul Scholte Immigration: A Potential Time Bomb under the Integration of Conservation and Development