The crucible of innovation in wildlife and habitat conservation is in southern Africa where it has co-evolved with decolonization, political transformation and the rise of development, ownership, management and livelihood debates. Charting this innovation, early chapters of this volume deal with the traditional 'fines and fences' conservation that occurred in the colonial and early post-independence period, with subsequent sections focussing on the experimentation and innovation that occurred on private and communal land as a result of the break from these traditional methods. The final section deals with more recent innovations in the sector, focussing on building and strengthening the relationships between parks and society. Importantly, the book provides a data-rich summary of experimentation with more inclusive models of conservation in terms of ecological, social, political and economic indicators. Published with the Southern African Sustainable Use Specialist Group (SASUSG) of IUCN.

`Everybody talks about payments for environmental services nowadays, yet we still chronically lack good case studies systematically analyzing the experiences out there. This book fills an important gap by bringing together in-depth analyses of carbon-focused PES and PES-like schemes from three tropical continents. Using a sustainable livelihoods approach, the book convincingly confirms our sound intuition: poor farmers voluntarily participating in PES initiatives worldwide will usually become better off. As forest and climate change initiatives continue to blossom, this irrefutable insight will become valuable.' - Sven Wunder, Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), Brazil This resourceful book draws on several case studies to derive implications for the design of Payment for Environmental Services (PES) schemes that are very relevant to current climate change negotiations and the implementation of Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD) schemes at the national level. With its focus on livelihoods, the book also provides important lessons that are relevant to the design of PES schemes focusing on environmental services other than carbon conservation. Drawing practical lessons for the design of activities aimed at reducing deforestation and forest degradation while benefiting rural people, this book will appeal to academics, practitioners and students involved in the fields of environment and natural resource management, forestry and development studies. This insightful study is accessible also to non-experts in presenting the key issues faced in avoiding deforestation and benefiting livelihoods.

The crucible of innovation in wildlife and habitat conservation is in southern Africa where it has co-evolved with decolonization, political transformation and the rise of development, ownership, management and livelihood debates. Charting this innovation, early chapters deal with the traditional 'fines and fences' conservation that occurred in the colonial and early post-independence period, with subsequent sections focussing on the experimentation and innovation that occurred on private and communal land as a result of the break from these traditional methods. The final section deals with more recent innovations in the sector, focussing on building and strengthening the relationships between parks and society. Importantly, the book provides a data-rich summary of experimentation with more inclusive models of conservation in terms of ecological, social, political and economic indicators. Published with the Southern African Sustainable Use Specialist Group (SASUSG) of IUCN