Honors Theses
Date of Award
2014
Document Type
Undergraduate Thesis
Department
Public Policy Leadership
First Advisor
David Rutherford
Relational Format
Dissertation/Thesis
Abstract
The aim of this study is to investigate integrated conservation and development projects (ICDPs) and to help improve their future implementation by identifying the underlying philosophies that make ICDPs successful. Conserving natural ecosystems in developing regions is important, but it is difficult because local people use those ecosystems for their sustenance and are not capable of forgoing that use unless some other means exists for them to earn a living. Consequently, ICDP emerged in the early 1990's as a means to both conserve natural resources and provide economic development for the local people. This thesis provides an in-depth analysis of five successful ICDPs, chosen by diversity in location, size, habitat, and availability of information. Data were collected and compiled from published case studies and the projects' internal reports. The comparison of these ICDPs revealed the presence of three fundamental philosophies: community empowerment, bottom-up hierarchy, and ecotourism. These philosophies successfully involve the local communities in conservation, making ICDPs an extremely valuable and effective conservation method. Existing studies on ICDPs were either conducted before the projects reached maturity, thus concluding in the project's failure, or solely focused on specific guidelines that ICDPs should follow in order to be successful. This thesis adds to the literature by extending the identified characteristics of ICDPs to include the fundamental philosophies that make an ICDP successful.
Recommended Citation
Smith, Emory, "Integrated Conservation and Development Projects (Icdps): Characteristics of Success and Recommendations for Implementation" (2014). Honors Theses. 321.
https://egrove.olemiss.edu/hon_thesis/321
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