Towards harmonious conservation relationships: A framework for understanding protected area staff-local community relationships in developing countries

This paper conceptualises a framework for assessing protected area (PA)–community relationships and is premised on the view that positive PA–community relationships enhance conservation. A meta-synthesis of existing academic literature with a qualitative orientation was used to review the PA staff-community relationships, and data were analysed using an inductive qualitative approach. From a review of 105 published documents focusing on wildlife conservation, community involvement and PA–community relationships, it emerged that relationships are mostly influenced by attitudes. With the case of PA–community relationships, the question that arises is ‘whose attitude’? The paper proposes that both PA staff attitudes and community attitudes play an important role in shaping these relationships. Based on these findings, we propose a PA–community relationship framework that illuminates the human–wildlife interface as critical space in shaping conservation attitudes. In particular, four major factors affecting PA staff-community relationships were identified: (i) history of creation of the PAs focusing on forced relocation, and the fences and fines approach; (ii) benefits and costs associated with living closer to PAs; (iii) socio-demographic factors in which the influences of sex, age, level of education, number of years stayed in the village, experience accrued from working in PAs, household size, number of livestock, sources of income, and level of income; and (iv) community involvement in conservation-related developmental projects. We conclude that enhanced PA–community relationships promote wildlife conservation through participatory approaches and collaboration between PA staff and communities. We recommend for continued assessment and monitoring of PA staff and community relationships in order to allow for sustainable conservation especially in developing countries.