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Buffer Zones as a Conservation Strategy

Abstract Buffer zones serve as zones outside a protected area from which people can derive material or economic benefit, but which also provide wildlife habitat and ecosystem services. “Integrated conservation and development programs” (ICDPs) established in buffer zone communities promote sustainable patterns of economic development. However, they have been widely criticized for poor implementation. In this paper, I examine Conservation International's AMISCONDE program in Costa Rica as a case study of the role of ICDPs in buffer zones. The study suggests that varying and poorly defined conceptions of buffer zones among ICDP workers and participants can contribute to the failure of ICDPs to implement effective buffer zone-based conservation strategies. Alternative approaches to buffer zone delineation are examined. Recommendations include the clarification of competing buffer zone definitions; construction of a buffer zone definition that can be shared by all conservation participants in the region; and systematic assessment of the conceptual linkages between ICDP activities and conservation goals.