Community Protected Area relationships in an African Context

The study sought to establish adjacent community¿s livelihood in relation to PAs, how communities interact with SWRA and how policy issues impact community livelihood. The results showed that a variety of park products to improve local adjacent communities are available in SWRA in the form of goods and services. The study also found that SWRA is currently playing a very limited role to improve adjacent community¿s livelihood, hence interventions should be done for greater benefits to influence natural resource conservation. However, due to policy issues, the local communities are not able to freely access the natural resources for their use. The study established that participation and legal access by adjacent local communities need to be in place to balance natural resource conservation and livelihood through developing a framework that promotes the integration of LCL and natural resource conservation in SWRA.