Gender Differentiated Preferences for a Community-Based Conservation Initiative

Abstract

Community-based conservation (CBC) aims to benefit local people as well as to achieve
conservation goals, but has been criticised for taking a simplistic view of “community” and
failing to recognise differences in the preferences and motivations of community members.
We explore this heterogeneity in the context of Kenya’s conservancies, focussing on the
livelihood preferences of men and women living adjacent to the Maasai Mara National
Reserve. Using a discrete choice experiment we quantify the preferences of local community
members for key components of their livelihoods and conservancy design, differentiating
between men and women and existing conservancy members and non-members. While
Maasai preference for pastoralism remains strong, non-livestock-based livelihood activities
are also highly valued and there was substantial differentiation in preferences between individuals.
Involvement with conservancies was generally perceived to be positive, but only if
households were able to retain some land for other purposes. Women placed greater value
on conservancy membership, but substantially less value on wage income, while existing
conservancy members valued both conservancy membership and livestock more highly
than did non-members. Our findings suggest that conservancies can make a positive contribution
to livelihoods, but care must be taken to ensure that they do not unintentionally disadvantage
any groups. We argue that conservation should pay greater attention to individuallevel
differences in preferences when designing interventions in order to achieve fairer and
more sustainable outcomes for members of local communities