Tropentag, October 11 - 13, 2006 in Bonn "Prosperity and Poverty in a Globalized World – Challenges for Agricultural Research"

Participatory Land Use Planning for the Protection of Biodiversity

University of Dortmund, Faculty of Spatial Planning, Germany

Abstract

Poor households reduce their expenditures and earn their living by using ‘free' resources from the forest. In Kakamega Forest in Kenya this has led to a devastating destruction of biodiversity. Such a situation requires not only solutions on the individual farmer's side, but also collective action within the communities living close to the forest, the formulation and implementation of appropriate policies to protect biodiversity and competent actors with the possibility to embark on concerted action. Participatory land use planning has proved to be a method that can provide a platform for discussion of problems, solutions and different options. It can bring different stakeholders together for planning and implementation and it has the possibility to implement identified solutions, if Government, administration and NGO/CBO are properly involved in the process. The poster explains the method of Participatory Land Use Planning, its usefulness with regard to the protection of biodiversity as well as the link between participatory research and policy formulation.

Keywords: Biodiversity, buffer zone, livelihoods, participatory land use planning

Contact Address: Karin Gaesing, University of Dortmund, Faculty of Spatial Planning, Schlossstr. 78, 33824 Werther, Germany, e-mail: karin.gaesingweb.de