The challenge of matching biodiversity conservation and community’s livelihoods: historical trends and participatory interventions in the Kafa biosphere reserve, Ethiopia

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to explore the interactions between biodiversity conservation and community livelihoods, and the challenges they pose, in the Kafa Biosphere Reserve. The analysis was conducted by tracing the perspectives, interests and actions of governance regimes (or institutions) from customary institutions to participatory interventions. A qualitative historical analysis method was used to collect and interpret data, alongside an analytical framework called the Policy Arrangement Approach. In general, Kafa biodiversity conservation and community livelihoods have been shaped by competing and conflicting structures, discourses and interests over different periods of governance, all of which have more or less lacked effective 'hands and feet on the ground'.