Assessing conservation attitudes of mountain communities under different resource management regimes in northern Pakistan

Worldwide protected areas (PAs) of various categories are established to address human-induced biodiversity losses. This emerging system of land use greatly influences peoples' attitudes, which has been used as an indicator and predictor to evaluate the success of conservation programmes. In this study, we have assessed conservation attitudes, by comparing self-reported practices and perceptions of people under two management regimes in northern Pakistan: (a) community-based conservation programme in village Khyber (CBC-only) and (b) co-management of Khunjerab National Park and its buffer zone in village Sost (CBC-NP). Located in the same geographical region, the two sites were demographically and socio-economically comparable. The data were acquired by quantitative (household survey) and qualitative (semi-structured interview) methods, involving adult respondents from 123 randomly selected households in Sost, 104 in Khyber and selected community representatives from both sites, respectively. The data was analysed through descriptive statistics, Chi-squared and t-tests. The results revealed that the communities at both sites were largely aware and appreciative of the conservation programmes. Despite drawing diverse economic benefits from the Khunjerab National Park, the people of CBC-NP showed lesser positive attitudes than those of the CBC-only. The study thus concluded that apart from economic benefits, the local attitudes are largely influenced by a greater sense of participation, ownership and level of engagement in conservation programmes. Since negative attitudes cause conflicts and subsequently failure of PAs, increase community engagement in policies and practices are highly essential for efficient management of PAs.