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Case studies
Community Markets for Conservation

Community Markets for Conservation (COMACO) is a business that incentivises conservation and has created a market where conservation can be profitable. COMACO was designed to reward people for conserving natural resources instead of punishing them for poaching.

HUTAN - Kinabatangan Orang-utan Conservation Programme

In 1998, HUTAN, a French NGO, partnered with the Sabah Wildlife Department in Malaysian Borneo to establish the Kinabatangan Orang-utan Conservation Programme.

North Luangwa Conservation Programme

In 1986, in partnership with the Department of National Parks and Wildlife, the Frankfurt Zoological Society initiated a programme in one of Zambia’s unique wilderness areas.

The Chikolongo Livelihoods Project

People who live along the border of the Lilongwe National Park go into the park to poach fish and other animals, and to fetch water. As a result, people are often killed; sometimes by elephants but more often by crocodiles and hippos.

Snow Leopard Enterprises

In 1998, the Snow Leopard Trust initiated Snow Leopard Enterprises (SLE), which aimed to create sustainable economic opportunities for communities living in snow leopard ranges in order to reduce the motivation to poach.

Combatting Wildlife Crime in the Malawi-Zambia Landscape

This initiative supports the Governments of Malawi and Zambia in reducing IWT and poaching and improving transboundary wildlife management in the Malawi-Zambia landscape. 

Matumizi Bora ya Malihai Idodi na Pawaga (MBOMIPA) Wildlife Management Area

Matumizi Bora ya Malihal Idodi na Pawage (MBOMIPA), Swahili for “Sustainable Use of Wildlife Resources in Idodi and Pawaga,” is an association of 21 villages in the Pawaga and Idodi Divisions of Iringa District in central Tanzania.

Makuleke ecotourism project

A partnership between the Makuleke community, Wilderness Safaris and South Africa National (SAN) Parks led to the development of Pafuri Camp, a community-led ecotourism initiative in the northern part of Kruger National Park.

The Hawaii Integrated Coastal Zone Management Project

Widespread community engagement in a scheme based on the sustainable harvesting of olive ridley sea turtle eggs in Guatemala has contributed to a conservation success story in spite of a lack of government resources and weak legislation.

Northern Rangelands Trust

Historically, local communities had little say in how conservation areas in Kenya are managed, and saw little tangible benefit from wildlife protection. As a result, attitudes towards wildlife from the very people that lived alongside it were apathetic.