Community Conservation Agreements
Community Conservation Agreements are a negotiated exchange of benefits in return for changes in resource use, depending on verified performance. Once a village development committee and government authorities formalize a Conservation Agreement, it is used as the framework for all development activities within the project, and integrated with land-use planning. Benefits are channeled through village development funds, and include support for village development committees in managing the funds by building village level capacity, thereby ensuring that appropriate access and benefit sharing provisions are included in all CAs.
- Community engagement
- Village institution development
- Livelihood / income support
- Wages (training & equipment) for conservation jobs (patrolling, monitoring, reforestation)
- Investment in social services and infrastructure
- Investment in livelihood activities
- Project teams need to monitor and assess the compliance and performance of the villages with the CAs
- CAs need to be renegotiated when necessary to ensure long-term suitability and community engagement
- Incentives for high performance (and disincentives for low performance) should be built in.