Traditional, national and international conservation efforts have tended to rely on strict protection through the establishment of national parks and other protected areas. These conservation efforts have made limited impact because they failed to address the values, priorities and practices of the people. The future of conservation efforts hinges upon cooperation and support (participation) of the local people. One of the main challenges in engendering participation of local people in the conservation efforts is the fact that most communities often view conservation as antithetic to development. It is therefore the believe of most conservationists that environmental conservation especially in developing countries would not succeed in the long term unless local people perceive those efforts as preserving ecological integrity as well as serving their economic and cultural needs and the effective way of achieving this is through community participation.

The Geography Seminar Series is organized by the Geographical Honors Society Gamma Theta Upsilon Eta Omicron Chapter.