Biological resource management: Integrating biodiversity concerns in rural development projects and programs

Abstract

The paper examines how to better accommodate biological resource concerns in rural development projects where poverty alleviation and welfare improvement are the primary aims and considerations. It notes that habitat change and land-use intensification outside Protected Areas (in their various forms) are to an extent inevitable given population and economic growth, human value systems, and the demands of the market. The challenges it addresses are to ensure that change and development occur without unnecessary loss of bioresources, that sustainable as well as productive systems are established, and that the social groups most dependent on biological resources do not suffer.