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Forest For Who? A Minor Field Study Exploring Local Narratives About Mgahinga Gorilla National Park, South-Western Uganda

Larsen, Astrid Lund LU (2018) SGED10 20181
Department of Human Geography
Abstract
Integrated Conservation and Development (ICD) strategies in nature conservation are increasingly recognised as a way to protect the world’s remaining rainforest without neglecting the needs of the local people who are dependent on the forest resources for their livelihoods. With that said, there is still much to be learned about how to best design and implement ICD in the management of national parks. Many forest dependent communities living adjacent to national parks remain excluded from decision making, and their experiences, views and knowledge remain unheard. This case study addresses that issue in an exploration of local narratives about Mgahinga Gorilla national Park (MGNP) in South-western Uganda, where ICD strategies are used in... (More)
Integrated Conservation and Development (ICD) strategies in nature conservation are increasingly recognised as a way to protect the world’s remaining rainforest without neglecting the needs of the local people who are dependent on the forest resources for their livelihoods. With that said, there is still much to be learned about how to best design and implement ICD in the management of national parks. Many forest dependent communities living adjacent to national parks remain excluded from decision making, and their experiences, views and knowledge remain unheard. This case study addresses that issue in an exploration of local narratives about Mgahinga Gorilla national Park (MGNP) in South-western Uganda, where ICD strategies are used in the management, in response to local antagonism towards the park after its establishment in 1991. I employ a social-ecological perspective in the investigation of how the communities neighbouring Mgahinga Gorilla National Park make sense of the national park, its history and its management, and what implications it has for local environment stewardship and sustainability. I identify and analyse four dominant local narratives about MGNP drawing on the stories told by residents from five villages neighbouring MGNP. The study shows that the local communities do not associate MGNP with the same balance of opportunities and challenges, and that they have various and heterogeneous interests in relation to the national park based on their individual and collective experiences and interactions in the social ecological systems around MGNP through time. (Less)
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author
Larsen, Astrid Lund LU
supervisor
organization
course
SGED10 20181
year
type
M2 - Bachelor Degree
subject
keywords
Mgahinga Gorilla National Park, Uganda, Integrated Conservation and Development, protected area management, local narratives, Social Ecological Systems
language
English
additional info
This thesis is based on a field study carried out in the villages neighbouring Mgahinga Gorilla National Park, in South-Western Uganda. It has been carried out as a part of the Minor Field Study (MFS) Scholarship Programme, funded by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida)
id
8944172
date added to LUP
2020-02-07 14:38:15
date last changed
2020-02-07 14:38:15
@misc{8944172,
  abstract     = {{Integrated Conservation and Development (ICD) strategies in nature conservation are increasingly recognised as a way to protect the world’s remaining rainforest without neglecting the needs of the local people who are dependent on the forest resources for their livelihoods. With that said, there is still much to be learned about how to best design and implement ICD in the management of national parks. Many forest dependent communities living adjacent to national parks remain excluded from decision making, and their experiences, views and knowledge remain unheard. This case study addresses that issue in an exploration of local narratives about Mgahinga Gorilla national Park (MGNP) in South-western Uganda, where ICD strategies are used in the management, in response to local antagonism towards the park after its establishment in 1991. I employ a social-ecological perspective in the investigation of how the communities neighbouring Mgahinga Gorilla National Park make sense of the national park, its history and its management, and what implications it has for local environment stewardship and sustainability. I identify and analyse four dominant local narratives about MGNP drawing on the stories told by residents from five villages neighbouring MGNP. The study shows that the local communities do not associate MGNP with the same balance of opportunities and challenges, and that they have various and heterogeneous interests in relation to the national park based on their individual and collective experiences and interactions in the social ecological systems around MGNP through time.}},
  author       = {{Larsen, Astrid Lund}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Forest For Who? A Minor Field Study Exploring Local Narratives About Mgahinga Gorilla National Park, South-Western Uganda}},
  year         = {{2018}},
}