Integrated Conservation and Development Projects

Abstract

ntegrated conservation and development projects, or ICDPs, represent a new approach to the conservation of biodiversity and ecological systems in developing countries (Wells and Brandon 1993). ICDPs distinguish themselves from other approaches by setting a dual and equal focus on biological conservation and human development. Their main goal is to link conservation and development such that each fosters the other. Even though conservation and development have generally figured as antithetical alternatives, ICDPs have multiplied throughout the developing world in little more than a decade. More than 100 ICDPs have been described (Alpert 1993, Anderson and Grove 1987, BSP 1993, Butynski and Kalina 1993, Goldstein 1994, Hamilton et al. 1993, Lewis and Carter 1993, Lucas 1992, McNeely 1993, 1995, Potter et al. 1993, Redford and Padoch 1992, Wells et al. 1992, West and Brechin 1991, Western et al. 1994, Wright 1992), including more than 50 in at least 20 countries of sub-Saharan Africa. Earlier reviews have judged ICDPs to be promising but unproven (BranICDPs aim to fill the