Conserving Tropical Biodiversity amid Weak Institutions

Abstract

Tropical-biodiversity conservation has changed radically over the past generation. Until the early 1980s, conventional wisdom held that central governments should manage all conservation efforts in developing countries. Over the past 15 years or so, scholars, conservation practitioners, and policymakers have advocated an alternative approach based on bottom-up direction by local communities in response to real or perceived government malfeasance, misfeasance, or nonfeasance under the previous top-down model. Now that some of the pitfalls of community authority over conservation decisions have become apparent, the question is what, if any, best-bet strategies exist if the institutions of both government agencies and communities are ill equipped to han