Conservation in Context: Variability in Desired and Perceived Outcomes of Community Based Natural Resources Governance in Ghana

Community resource management areas (CREMAs) in Ghana are protected areas managed under a community-based governance regime. This study examined five CREMAs to understand how desired outcomes and perceived performance of these CREMAs vary at a regional level, and the factors that might account for this variability. Importance-performance analysis showed that for all 29 outcomes examined, importance exceeded performance, indicating a need to improve on performance, but perhaps also to create more realistic expectations. Desired outcomes were factor analyzed, and the socioeconomic factor was rated as the most desired group of outcomes but was also the factor with the largest gap between desired and perceived achieved scores. Rankings of outcomes varied among the CREMAs, with attributes such as the role of external agents, communication strategies, social–ecological contexts, and local leadership appearing to be important. The demonstrated variability emphasizes the need to understand inter-CREMA variability in designing possible management interventions.