Anatomy of ICDPs

The Anatomy of Integrated Conservation and Development Projects

• Leadership: ICDPs can be executed by government agencies, NGOs, private citizens, private corporations, or any combination of partnerships between these parties. Well-known organizations involved with ICDPs include the World Wildlife Fund, (12, 13) The World Bank, (5) and government branches in Asia, Africa, South America, and North America.

• Funding: The funding of each ICDP depends on the individual project. Some are short-term grants, others involve legislative changes that affect long-term spending within the government.

• Geographic division: ICDPs may isolate different areas within their project zone by significance so that they can address the most pressing issues in each place. The overarching strategy is to divide each project site into protected areas, buffer zones, compensation, and economic development.(7)
• Example Strategy: Yunnan Great Rivers ICDP (2)

• Designation	Characteristics	Example
  Preservation Zones	High biological diversity, encompassing unique vegetation and important wildlife habitats	Napa and Bita Lakes
  Economic Zones	Locations for sustainable development activities and continuation of some traditional community-based economic activities	Provincial Development Zone of Diqing Autonomos Prefecture
  Scenic/recreation Zones	Natural scenic resources which will accommodate either restricted recreation activities or permit active recreational pursuits	Jade Dragon Snow Mountai
  Cultural Zones	Include existing population settlement, traditional use and cultural sites which would incorporate historical plant collection sites and ancestral medicinal plant gathering areas	Dayan (old Lijiang)

Bita Lake: A designated Preservation zone in the Yunnan Great Rivers ICDP

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• Election-run community involvement: ICDPs implemented in Nepal's largest protected area, The Annapurna Conservation area, are run by an election and nomination process that involves community members who may seek support from the ICDP if necessary. The committees hold meetings to make decisions related to development, institutions, and conservation.(8)

• The World Wildlife Fund's ICDPs: Educating Local People on Sustainable Harvesting
• WWF’s ICDP in Bhutan: A program to encourage locals to build their house's roofs out of metal rather than bamboo, decreasing the amount of labor needed to repair roofs as well as the amount of bamboo harvested per household per year.(12)
• WWF’s ICDP in Yunnan, China: One project taught locals how to sustainability harvest mushrooms from the forest, improving balance within the ecosystem as well as reliability of income for the farmers.(13)
  
  

Riverside, California, USA is part of an Integrated Development Project

• Land-use legislation: The Riverside County, CA, a county experiencing great economic growth and political development, designed an Integrated Conservation and Development Projected called "The Multiple Species Habitat Conservation Plan," with the goal of encouraging development and land-use while also setting up many new acres of preserved land. (3)