Conservation and Development: What Can Be Learned from Municipality of Janiuay, Iloilo, Philippines?

This study attempted to examine how conservation and development projects are increasingly being critiqued for having failed to meet their objectives. The study was a qualitative study. The present study was focused on the goal of combining biodiversity conservation with the promotion of local economic development to create a win-win situation for both endangered species and marginalized peoples. Numerous recent studies have questioned the effectiveness of the conservation and development projects in the Municipality of Janiuay, Iloilo, Philippines. This present study is based on in-depth interview with the Officer of the Municipal Environment and Natural Resources and other stakeholders of Janiuay, Iloilo, Philippines. The findings revealed that the community development and conservation programs in the local community of the Municipality of Janiuay, Iloilo, Philippines, were developed in response to uncompromising confrontations between local people and nature reserve managers when managers attempted to enforce reserve regulations. Finally, they have met with both failures and successes and these programs have been successful in transforming what was once a violent relationship between local people and nature reserve managers into a much more cooperative one.