2018 Conference

Individual Paper Presentation

Participation, particularly when used merely as a technical tool, can become a series of one-time activities or events. Furthermore, when managers and communities have adopted different operational understandings of “participation,” attempts to foster participation are less likely to succeed at meeting conservation goals and community engagement. In reframing participation to focus on the participant we can identify the level of participation that is desired by all parties, creating more meaningful engagement. Here I present my findings using vignettes from my research of sea turtle conservation in four coastal communities in northeastern Brazil. Through household questionnaires and focus groups, community members expressed the varying ways they want to participate and why. Although community members were receptive to information sharing as one vehicle for engagement, they also indicated a need for increased unity within the community and a sense of belonging to bring the conservation program and the community closer together. These examples illustrate the difference in perception of participation between conservation managers and community members. My analysis further demonstrates how conservation activities align with different motivations for participation, helping to identify why certain people participate more than others. Understanding how people in a community perceive participation and how they want to participate (i.e., participant-centered) could be very useful in planning for conservation. This may be especially important for these four coastal communities where a sense of belonging and community may be waning as urbanization stretches further into remote areas bringing with it second home development and part-time residents. Finally, I present considerations for improving our understanding, application, and assessment of participation in conservation at the community level.