Protected Areas and Rural Livelihood: An overview of the Mediating role of Wildlife Tourism

Abstract

The present study contributes to the body of knowledge in protected areas conservation by exploring the role of nature based tourism in strengthening the relationship between protected areas and rural community. The paper draws largely from Sustainable Livelihood Framework. The study was carried out by analyzing peer-reviewed literature from published sources such as books, journal articles, conference proceedings and published documents from major international and national organisations. The analysis shows that majority of the scholars agree that benefits arising from protected areas tend to accrue largely to the international community, national governments and the private sector in the form of revenues from nature based tourism, while a large amount of conservation costs are borne by local communities living adjacent to protected areas. Without receiving significant benefits from tourism, local communities will continue to view wildlife as a threat to their livelihoods and develop resentments against conservation of protected areas