Does conservation make sense to local communities?

Abstract

The Kruger National Park in South Africa is a key ecotourism attraction for both domestic and international tourists. The South African National Parks have recently come under pressure to uplift communities and to build relationships with communities. This study therefore aimed to answer the question: how do communities benefit from the Kruger Park? Two surveys were conducted: a tourist survey to estimate expenditures, and a community survey to determine the perceived contribution of the Park. The results show that the Park has a significant impact on the local economies in both income and employment generation. Local communities have a positive attitude to the Park and deem it to have a beneficial effect on their quality of life.

Keywords:

• conservation
• economic impact
• social impact
• multiplier analysis
• Kruger National Park
• South Africa

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank Glenn Phillips and Joep Stevens of SANParks for data and financial assistance, and the National Research Foundation for financial support. Any errors or omissions remain the responsibility of the authors.

Notes

¹According to Roland-Holst & Sancho (1995), SAMs have been used extensively in the decomposition of activity multipliers that shed light on the circular flow of income (see for example Stone, 1981; Defourny & Thorbecke, 1984; Pyatt & Round, 1985; Robinson & Roland-Holst, 1988).