Protected Areas and Human Displacement: Improving the Interface between Policy and Practice

"Despite a growing and increasingly sophisticated set of international policy guidance and norms governing issues of equity and the rights of indigenous and local people, conservationists continue to face moral and practical dilemmas in the application of these guidelines in the field, especially in cases where conservationists seek to restrict access to natural resources. One source of the dilemma is that successful implementation of international covenants may require a stronger enabling environment (in the form of fairness, legitimacy of political actors, transparency and accountability) than typically exists on the ground. Conservationists also need to be better informed about existing best practice on community participation. However, both policy and practice can be ultimately strengthened by an iterative process in which practitioners provide regular input to policy development in order to improve the normative basis for successful conservation."