Background/Question/Methods
Conservation efforts inclusive of local communities have been widely implemented however, the effectiveness of this paradigm remains contentious. We investigate whether an Integrated Conservation and Development Project (ICDP), located in Guyana, has effectively translated into successful conservation at the village level.  Assessing participant’s attitudes is a commonly used method to measure project success, however, it fails to measure conservation success from a biological standpoint. To our knowledge, this is the first study in which ICDP success has been evaluated using wildlife abundance and richness data. We test the hypotheses that: 1) villages that participate in ICDP will have pro-conservation attitudes, and 2) positive attitudes translate into greater species richness and abundance of highly desirable hunted species. To measure attitudes towards wildlife conservation, 10 randomly selected households from 10 villages were administered a mainly fixed-response attitude survey. Animal track, and other sign counts, served as a proxy measure for species abundance and richness data. Approximately 13,500 animal track/sign counts were collected by local indigenous parabiologists over an eight-month period surrounding 13 villages and 2 unhunted control areas.  Track and sign counts were conducted via 1m x 4 km transect lines placed in a stratified random method around villages.
  Results/Conclusions
All ten villages exhibited pro-conservation attitudes, which did not vary significantly between ICDP and non-ICDP villages. However, two villages, that have had little to no contact with Western conservation ideals or influence from conservation organizations, held significantly less (P = 0.012), although still pro-conservation, positive conservation attitudes. Interestingly, the village’s average conservation attitude was positively correlated with average species richness/km at the village level (P = 0.013).  Active hunting areas surrounding indigenous villages supported greater species richness than control areas. Species richness was not statistically different between ICDP and non-ICDP villages, however species richness was significantly (P = 0.008) lower at control sites compared to the non-ICDP villages. Differences in relative abundance of tapir, a highly sought after species, was not significant between management strategies, however, control sites had a significantly (P = <0.001) greater abundance of red brocket deer, another highly desirable species, when compared with both ICDP and non-ICDP village lands. In conclusion, evaluating the success of the ICDP through two different methods produced slightly different results. Direct analyses of wildlife populations are only moderately supportive of ICDP project success, whereas consideration of attitude data demonstrates success through highly conservation-minded communities.