Forest conservation, value conflict, and interest formation in a Honduran national park

We argue that attempts to superimpose park regulatory regimes on existing l and uses in the tropics represent conflicts between alternative cultural mo dels of natural resource management. The results of such conflicts are uniq ue regulatory regimes emerging from distinctive processes that redefine the terms and limits of natural resource use. In creating a scarcity of availa ble resources. parks encourage social differentiation and greater awareness of societal patterns of inequality, establishing a potential for the artic ulation of demands for social and environmental equity. We evaluate these c laims with a case study of the Cerro Azul Meambar National Park in Honduras . We base our analysis on 54 indepth interviews of Park residents in five P ark communities.