Myth and reality in the rain forest: how conservation strategies are failing in West Africa

Abstract

John Oates tackles one of the most serious challenges facing the world's conservation leaders today: How can the needs of wildlands and wildlife be reconciled with the needs of people? Current conservation theory holds that wildlife can best be protected through the promotion of human economic development. Oates disagrees. Drawing on his extensive experience as a primate ecologist who has worked on rainforest conservation projects in Africa and India, he argues that the linking of conservation to economic development has had disastrous consequences for many wildlife populations, especially in West Africa. He maintains that in those parts of the world where people are very poor, human well-being is more likely to be promoted by large-scale political, social, and economic reforms than by community development schemes associated with conservation projects.