Research overview: community-based natural resource management outcomes

Community-based natural resource management, CBNRM, devolves authority over wildlife and habitat to local communities on the premise that local stewardship, backed by tangible benefits, conserves better than top-down control. This overview surveys research evaluating CBNRM outcomes relevant to big cats, examining where the approach has delivered conservation and livelihood gains and where it has fallen short. Studies analyze the conditions for success, including secure rights, equitable benefit-sharing, strong local governance, and sufficient benefits to offset the costs of living with predators. Researchers also document failures driven by elite capture, weak institutions, or benefits too small to change behavior. The overview frames CBNRM as a widely adopted but variable strategy, cautioning that its success is highly context-dependent. It matters because much big cat range lies on community lands, making the performance of community-based approaches central to whether predators can persist outside formal protected areas across large parts of their range.