Stakeholder Engagement Model: Making Ecotourism Work in Peru’s Protected Areas

During the past two decades, there has been a shift in protected area management approaches from top-down management models to more diverse governance approaches that involve various forms and degrees of participation from local populations. These new participatory approaches seek to reaffirm cultural values, maintain cultural landscapes, recognise the relationship between people and nature, improve government-citizen relationships, create “partners” in conservation, and contribute to the alleviation of poverty by providing socio-economic benefits beyond protected area boundaries. The development of resource management plans through public participation has been identified as an important step to accomplish these objectives. In 2007, research to test a hybrid model of public participation focused on understanding the factors that make public participation processes and the implementation of their results effective from the point of view of the participants rather than the managers. The study evaluated participatory processes used to develop tourism plans for two Peruvian national parks (Huascaran National Park and Yanachaga-Chemillén National Park). The findings suggested that perceptions of “success” were influenced by different key factors depending on the identity of a participant. People who participated, but represented the government and nonprofits, viewed the process as “successful” if several specific criteria were met, whereas people who represented communities, businesses, and their own interests viewed the process as “successful” largely via other criteria. These differences suggest that future participatory processes should create strategies to address the factors that assist both kinds of participants to believe a process was successful and effective.