The community-based conservation practices in Nepal have been widely claimed as a successful approach within the country and internationally. The Annapurna Conservation Area (ACA) has been well cited in the conservation literature for successfully integrating conservation and development practices. A study which was carried out to examine why and how such conservation practices have become more successful that helped to safeguard the biodiversity and improve community livelihoods have developed a new theory: Fusioning.
Fusioning offers a fresh thinking to make conservation for, of and by the people. It was developed during a study of participatory governance in community-based protected area management in Nepal by embedding and fusing traditional, indigenous and contemporary governance principles and values to achieve internationally recognized conservation goals. This embedding and fusioning was supported by the Government of Nepal, national and international non-governmental organizations. Local communities were empowered with regard to livelihood needs, biodiversity conservation and sustainable community development practices and processes. The significant innovation in the theory of fusioning was the indigenizing of a number of conservation and development processes to generate community trust and ownership. This was achieved through fusion governance where traditional and indigenous informal institutions and their resource management practices were driving forces in governing the contemporary conservation practices.
Community empowerment is critical for conservation of biodiversity and securing sustainable livelihoods which can be achieved through the development of mutual trust, commitment, ownership and confidence among conservation partners. The theory of fusioning emerged as a social process of participation which empowered local communities by embedding and fusing traditional, indigenous and contemporary governance principles and values to generate human, natural and financial capital. This social process strengthened and developed local capacity, and information sharing as well as knowledge generation which contributed conservation and development in the Annapurna region.
Fusioning was developed during a study of participatory governance in community-based protected area management in Nepal by embedding and fusing traditional, indigenous and contemporary governance principles and values to achieve internationally recognized conservation goals.
However, there are no straight forward answers to apply the fusioning theory in practice particularly in the establishment of new protected areas or improving the existing conservation practices. It is complex and requires the commitment of vibrant societies and innovation in conservation practices. For example, conservation community must understand an analogy of a fireplace where the firewood in the hearth will not remain burning if we do not rotate logs, knock off embers, keep stoking with new wood and blow continuously. Community-based conservation needs continuous interaction, concrete efforts and cooperation. If not then the conservation efforts eventually will fail or develop a social conflict with lose-lose situation. The theory of fusioning is like the fire metaphor which requires continuous social participation processes to promote biodiversity conservation and sustainable development.
Like many other conservation efforts, community participations are not always perfect, but the fusioning theory offers one of the best strategies to garner local support for conservation and development. The most important aspect is to ensure all the elements of fusioning and practice within the existing social fabric. Building on existing community strengths and promoting collaborative community learning results in ‘workable’ and ‘innovative’ conservation and development approaches and is a building block for achieving local sustainability.
The theory of fusioning makes a significant contribution to our theoretical understanding of conservation science because nature conservation plays a crucial role in ensuring sustainability across the three primary sectors—environmental, social and economic. Ensuring sustainability is a core responsibility of the management agencies and protected areas contribute directly towards meeting such requirements which is the basis of sustainable human development. Further, effectively managed and protected natural areas like the ACA provide significant ecosystem services to local, regional and the international communities. They provide both tangible benefits (e.g., food, fresh water, fuel wood) and intangible benefits (e.g., spiritual, recreational and inspirational) to meet basic human needs while safeguarding the biodiversity.
In summary, fusioning is a social process of empowerment in the context of achieving conservation and development outcomes. The fusioning journey through social empowerment orchestrated by the non-governmental, government and the community institutions led to identification of social and political processes to address conservation problems and livelihood needs. Fusion governance is also crucial to devolve authority, power, knowledge and leadership through embedding traditional, indigenous and contemporary institutions to manage conservation and development. The application of credible communication and information sharing networks are also important aspect of the theory to share conservation benefits. Harnessing of human potential through capacity development is vital for generation of natural and social capitals and financial resources to manage protected areas. The substantial financial inputs from ecotourism and local communities have also contributed to socio-economic development and biodiversity conservation in the ACA. Further, the practice of fusioning has contributed to local sustainability through effective protected area management in a way which could be applied elsewhere in Nepal and worldwide.
(Writer received a PhD in conservation from Griffith University, Australia and is currently CEO of Bird Conservation Nepal.)
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