MANAGING RESOURCES AND RESOLVING CONFLICTS - NATIONAL-PARKS AND LOCALPEOPLE

One of the major management problems in protected areas of developing nations is the ever more intensifying land use disputes with local, of ten native, people. The customary rights of local people over natural resources, if curtailed by the establishment of national parks, and th eir disregard by decision-makers, have given rise to open conflicts, t hus jeopardizing conservation goals. These conflicts have tremendous i mpact on the management of natural resources, not only within the park ecosystem but also in its surroundings. To attain the interdependent goals of conservation and sustainable development, such disputes must be promptly and consensually settled. This paper briefly discusses the paradigm of national park establishment and its impact on local livel ihood. It then highlights major sources of conflict which have occurre d in national parks in developing countries. Some theoretical approach es to conflict resolution as relevant to national parks are summarized , and several strategies, as employed in particular situations, are di scussed. It is concluded that an in-depth understanding of human ecolo gy beyond the boundaries of parks and the conceptualization of strateg ies to resolve the innate problems are imperative. The integration of several strategies is deemed essential in order to address issues comp rehensively and on a larger scale.