Exploring the effects of alternative income opportunities on rainforest use: Insights from Guatemala's Maya Biosphere Reserve

A fundamental tenet of conservation and development is that providing alter native income opportunities to local residents near protected natural al ea s will lead to fulfillment of biodiversity objectives. This belief was exam ined in a project centered on a conservation-oriented language school in a community traditionally dependent on consumption of forest products. Data f rom the school's thirty-two homestay families revealed a moderate and sligh tly decreasing level of dependence on destructive forest practices. Althoug h overall dependence on unsustainable activity appeared to be on the declin e, data fi om some households supported the opposite hypothesis-that provis ion of alternative economic opportunities can lead to accelerated destructi on of the forest. The study highlights the importance of examining popular assumptions about reducing pressure on parks in the tropics. It also identi fies key fieldwork challenges that one confronts while exploring alternativ e income effects, especially the complexity of household decision making an d the influence of broader scale forces.