People-oriented Approaches in Global Conservation: Is the leopard changing its spots?

Whereas local people were once considered a threat to nature and were often removed from protected areas, many international and national conservation organisations now promote a wide range of people-oriented conservation approaches. Despite these changes, this paper suggests that we should be cautious about claiming that ‘participation’ has been mainstreamed in global conservation programmes. Drawing mainly on case studies from the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), the author suggests that organisational structures, fundraising imperatives, dominant conservation narratives, and western environmental values all work against the ‘leopard changing its spots’.