In examining the contest for the Upper Padas forests, a series of philosophical questions emerges. Should any one party automatically be privileged over the other in the claim to forest? Do local people’s rights to exhaust their own resources, to achieve their own priorities and short-term goals, supersede the role of government in marshalling the use of state resources for development? Are conservationists justified in valuing threatened biodiversity over either of these aims? These are questions without any easy answers, but they will need to be addressed as different interests increasingly contend for the scattered forest refuges that now remain. The most agreeable solution is for each party to acknowledge the interests of the others in order to come to a synergistic solution. The danger for conservation organisations is that it is often too easy to over-extend assistance and to take on the concerns of communities without assuring that biodiversity conservation retains its primacy.

I believe that communities should assume some responsibility for biodiversity which is in their care. However, governments with whom nations vest this important duty have the most prominent role to play in protecting important areas and supporting compatible economic activities in such areas. The economic opportunity cost to communities will need to be considered. Using the concept of negotiated agreements, economic assistance could be developed and incorporated by governments and NGOs into agreement packages, with the understanding that the benefits will be withdrawn if the substance of the agreement is violated. Ultimately, as long as communal lands continue to act as de facto refuges for threatened biodiversity, there is a role for conservation NGOs to bring together the parties concerned to creatively secure the protection of these areas and improve development prospects for local communities. Policy reform, addressing tenure in collaboration with government partners, and tackling economic issues are some of the key elements to such a strategy.