Within conservation, the need to measure the impacts on people from conservation initiatives such as projects and programs is growing, but understanding and measuring the multidimensional impacts on human well-being from conservation initiatives is complex. To understand the constituent components of human well-being and identify which components of well-being are most common, we analyzed 31 known indices for measuring human well-being. We found 11 focal areas shared by two or more indices for measuring human well-being, and the focal areas of living standards, health, education, social cohesion, security, environment, and governance were in at least 14 of the 31 human well-being indices. We examined each of the common focal areas and assessed its relevance to measuring the human well-being impacts of a conservation initiative. We then looked for existing indices that include the relevant focal areas and recommend the use of Stiglitz et al. (2009)—a framework designed to measure economic performance and social progress—as a starting place for understanding and selecting human well-being focal areas suitable for measuring the impacts on people from a conservation initiative.
References
[1]
Brockington, D.; Igoe, J.; Schmidt-Soltau, K. Conservation, human rights and poverty reduction. Conserv. Biol. 2006, 20, 250–252, doi:10.1111/j.1523-1739.2006.00335.x.
[2]
West, P.; Igoe, J.; Brockington, D. Parks and peoples: The social impact of protected areas. Annu. Rev. Anthropol. 2006, 35, 251–277, doi:10.1146/annurev.anthro.35.081705.123308.
[3]
Sunderland, T.C.; Sayer, J.; Hoang, M.H. Evidence-Based Conservation: Lessons from the Lower; Mekong; Routledge: London, UK, 2012.
[4]
Underwood, A.J. On beyond BACI: Sampling designs that might reliably detect environmental disturbances. Ecol. Appl. 1994, 4, 3–15, doi:10.2307/1942110.
[5]
Krebs, C.J. Ecological methodology; Addison Wesley Longman: Menlo Park, CA, USA, 1999.
[6]
Ferraro, P.J.; Hanauer, M.M.; Sims, K.R. Conditions associated with protected area success in conservation and poverty reduction. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 2011, 108, 13913–13918, doi:10.1073/pnas.1011529108.
[7]
Naughton-Treves, L.; Alix-Garcia, J.; Chapman, C.A. Lessons about parks and poverty from a decade of forest loss and economic growth around Kibale National Park, Uganda. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 2011, 108, 13919–13924, doi:10.1073/pnas.1013332108.
[8]
Conservation Measures Partnership. Open Standards for the Practice of Conservation, Available online: http://www.conservationmeasures.org/ (accessed 14 December 2012).
[9]
Conservation Initiative on Human Rights. Available online:https://www.community.iucn.org/ cihr/Pages/default.aspx(accessed 14 December 2012).
[10]
Roe, D.; Yassin-Mohammed, E.; Porras, I.; Giuliani, A. Linking biodiversity conservation and poverty reduction: De-polarizing the conservation-poverty debate. Conser. Lett. 2012, doi:10.1111/j.1755-263X.2012.00292.x.
[11]
World Development Report. Attacking Poverty 2000/2001; World Bank: Washington, DC, USA, 2000.
[12]
Giovannini, E. A framework to measure the progress of societies. Rev. Econ. Pol. 2011, 121, 93–118.
[13]
Smith, L.M.; Case, J.L.; Smith, H.M.; Harwell, L.C.; Summers, J.K. Relating ecosystem services to domains of human well-being: Foundation for a US index. Ecol. Indic. 2013, 28, 79–90, doi:10.1016/j.ecolind.2012.02.032.
[14]
Progress Around the World. Available online: http://www.wikiprogress.org (accessed 14 December 2012).
[15]
McClanahan, T.R. Effects of fisheries closures and gear restrictions on fishing income in a Kenyan coral reef. Conserv. Biol. 2010, 24, 1519–1528, doi:10.1111/j.1523-1739.2010.01530.x.
[16]
Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. Ecosystems and Human Well-Being: Current State and Trends; Island Press: Washington, DC, USA, 2005; Volume 1.
[17]
Golden, C.D.; Fernald, L.C.; Brashares, J.S.; Rasolofoniaina, B.R.; Kremen, C. Benefits of wildlife consumption to child nutrition in a biodiversity hotspot. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 2011, 108, 19653–19656.
[18]
Joshi, P.; Rao, N. Role of indigenous people in conservation of biodiversity of medicinal plants: An Indian case study. Sur. Sustain. 2011, doi:10.1007/978-3-540-95991-5_10.
[19]
Quammen, D. Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic; W.W. Norton: New York, NY, USA, 2012.
[20]
Nankhuni, F.J.; Findeis, J.L. Natural resource-collection work and children’s schooling in Malawi. Agr. Econ. 2004, 31, 123–134.
[21]
Bandyopadhyay, S.; Shyamsundar, P.; Baccini, A. Forests, biomass use and poverty in Malawi. Ecol. Econ. 2011, 70, 2461–2471, doi:10.1016/j.ecolecon.2011.08.003.
[22]
Boone, C.; Glick, P.; Sahn, D.E. Household water supply choice and time allocated to water collection: Evidence from Madagascar. J. Dev. Stud. 2011, 47, 1826–1850, doi:10.1080/00220388.2011.579394.
[23]
Danielsen, F.; Burgess, N.D.; Balmford, A.; Donald, P.F.; Funder, M.; Jones, J.; Alviola, P. Local participation in natural resource monitoring: A characterization of approaches. Conserv. Biol. 2008, 23, 31–42.
[24]
Thomas, D.H.L. Local organisations—an entry point for conservation and poverty reduction. In Biodiversity Conservation and Poverty Alleviation: Exploring the Evidence for a Link; Roe, D., Elliott, J., Sandbrook, C., Walpole, M., Eds.; John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.: Chichester, UK, 2013.
[25]
Ostrom, E. A general framework for analyzing sustainability of social-ecological systems. Science 2009, 325, 419–422, doi:10.1126/science.1172133.
[26]
Gutiérrez, N.L.; Hilborn, R.; Defeo, O. Leadership, social capital and incentives promote successful fisheries. Nature 2011, 470, 386–389, doi:10.1038/nature09689.
[27]
Helliwell, J.F. Understanding and improving the social context of well-being. Nat. Bur. Econ. Res. 2012, No. w18486.
[28]
Tang, C.P.; Tang, S.Y. Institutional adaptation and community-based conservation of natural resources: The cases of the Tao and Atayal in Taiwan. Hum. Ecol. 2010, 38, 101–111, doi:10.1007/s10745-009-9292-8.
[29]
Glew, L. Evaluating the Effectiveness of Community-Based Conservation in Northern Kenya. Ph.D. Thesis, University of Southampton, Hampshire, UK, 2012.
[30]
Balmford, A.; Rodrigues, A.S.L.; Walpole, M.; Ten Brink, P.; Kettunen, M. The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity: Scoping the Science; European Commission: Cambridge, UK, 2008.
[31]
Leisher, C.; Hess, S.; Boucher, T.M.; van Beukering, P.; Sanjayan, M. Measuring the impacts of community-based grasslands management in Mongolia’s Gobi. PLoS One 2012, 7, e30991.
[32]
Ostrom, E. Governing the Commons: The Evolution of Institutions for Collective Action; Cambridge University Press: New York, NY, USA, 1990.
[33]
Agarwal, B. Gender and forest conservation: The impact of women's participation in community forest governance. Ecol. Econ. 2009, 68, 2785–2799, doi:10.1016/j.ecolecon.2009.04.025.
[34]
McClanahan, T.R.; Marnane, M.J.; Cinner, J.E.; Kiene, W.E. A comparison of marine protected areas and alternative approaches to coral-reef management. Curr. Biol. 2006, 16, 1408–1413, doi:10.1016/j.cub.2006.05.062.
[35]
Weber, J.G.; Sills, E.O.; Bauch, S.; Pattanayak, S.K. Do ICDPs work? An empirical evaluation of forest-based microenterprises in the Brazilian Amazon. Land Econ. 2011, 87, 661–681.
[36]
Groom, B.; Grosjean, P.; Kontoleon, A.; Swanson, T.; Zhang, S. Relaxing rural constraints: A ‘win-win’ policy for poverty and environment in China? Oxford Econ. Pap. 2010, 62, 132–156, doi:10.1093/oep/gpp021.
[37]
Jumbe, C.; Angelsen, A. Do the poor benefit from devolution policies? Evidence from Malawi’s forest co-management program. Land Econ. 2006, 82, 562–581.
[38]
Jagger, P. Forest Incomes After Uganda’s Forest Sector Reform: Are the Rural Poor Gaining?; CAPRi Working Paper No. 92; International Food Policy Research Institute: Washington, DC, USA, 2008.
[39]
Wilkinson, R.G.; Pickett, K.E. Income inequality and social dysfunction. Annu. Rev. Sociol. 2009, 35, 493–511, doi:10.1146/annurev-soc-070308-115926.
[40]
Bhagwat, S.; Kushalappa, C.; Williams, P.; Brown, N. The role of informal protected areas in maintaining biodiversity in the Western Ghats of India. Ecol. Soc. 2005, 10, 8.
[41]
Robson, J.P.; Berkes, F. Sacred nature and community conserved areas. In Nature and Culture: Rebuilding Lost Connections; Pilgrim, S., Pretty, J., Eds.; Routledge: London, UK, 2012.
[42]
Stephanson, S.; Mascia, M. Measuring Social Well-Being: An Approach to Spatially Assess the Social Context for Large-Scale Conservation Planning and Action; World Wildlife Fund: Washington, DC, USA, 2009.
[43]
Kittinger, J.N.; Finkbeiner, E.M.; Glazier, E.W.; Crowder, L.B. Human dimensions of coral reef social-ecological systems. Ecol. Soc. 2012, 17, 17.
[44]
Stiglitz, J.E.; Sen, A.; Fitoussi, J.P. Report by the Commission on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress. Available online: www.stiglitz-sen-fitoussi.fr/ (accessed on 14 December 2012).
[45]
MDGs. United Nations Millennium Declaration: Resolution Adopted by the General Assembly; United Nations: New York, NY, USA, 2000.
