Ecodevelopment Planning for Biodiversity Conservation: A Guideline

Ecodevelopment is a multi-disciplinary and multi-stakeholder led collaborative strategy, currently being adopted in India to link the conservation values of wildlife protected areas with the livelihood and development aspirations of the local communities. The success of this programme essentially depends upon the ability of the planners to understand the complex issues involved in ecodevelopment and integrate these with the overall planning process. This guideline is a step forward in providing basic and concise framework for ecodevelopment planning. The guideline contains structured information on concepts, issues and the planning process. It has extensively drawn on experiences from the field and lessons learnt from effective ecodevelopment models currently being implemented in a range of sites across the country. Protected Area Managers, development planners, NGOs, trainers, researchers and those involved in integrated conservation and development projects should find this guideline a useful resource. This document is an outcome of the project on "protected area management planning guidelines and training including regional planning and regulation" under the GEF India Ecodevelopment Project of Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India.