FOREST CONSERVATION, VALUE CONFLICT, AND INTEREST FORMATION.pdf

FOREST CONSERVATION, VALUE CONFLICT, AND INTEREST FORMATION IN A HONDURAN NATIONAL PARK by Max J. Pfeffer, John W. Schelhas, and Leyla Ann Day Cornell University January 2001 1 ABSTRACT FOREST CONSERVATION, VALUE CONFLICT, AND INTEREST FORMATION i IN A HONDURAN NATIONAL PARK We argue that attempts to superimpose park regulatory regimes on existing land uses in the tropics represent conflicts between alternative cultural models of natural resource management. The results of such conflicts are unique regulatory regimes emerging from distinctive processes which re-define the terms and limits of natural resource use. In creating a scarcity of available resources, parks encourage social differentiation and greater awareness of societal patterns of inequality establishing a potential for the articulation of demands for social and environmental equity. We evaluate these claims with a case study of the Cerro Azul Meambar National Park in Honduras. We base our analysis on fifty-four in-depth interviews of Park residents in five Park communities. 1 FOREST CONSERVATION, VALUE CONFLICT, AND INTEREST FORMATION IN A HONDURAN NATIONAL PARK INTRODUCTION Our study of a national park in Honduras addresses on-going debates about the local definition and meaning of natural resources. We argue that common environmental concerns have unique local expressions which emerge from intera