Biodiversity and Development: The evolution of Community Based Conservation and implications for Danish development cooperation

Loss of nature and biodiversity constitutes a major global crisis for environment and development and interacts closely with the climate crisis. Denmark has historically provided support to biodiversity conservation in a number of countries. After a period of limited attention, conservation is again rising on the agenda of Danish development cooperation, especially in the context of Nature-based Solutions (NbS) which form part of Denmark’s strategy for development cooperation.
This working paper provides an overview of the evolution of community based biodiversity conservation approaches since the 1980s, where new approaches are heading, and what the overall lessons are so far. The working paper focuses on the socioeconomic and governance dimensions of CBC and draws particularly on experiences from area-based conservation in the African setting. The working paper concludes by providing recommendations for Danish development cooperation on how it can supports community based conservation.