'More eyes watching...': Lessons from the community-based management of a giant fish, Arapaima gigas, in Central Guyana

This study aims to identify lessons in how community-based conservation can be facilitated. The problems and potential of community-based conservation can only be understood by examining the histories of projects where community-based management has been planned and implemented. This thesis is based on one such examination; a case-study of the Arapaima Management Project in Central Guyana. The objectives of the study were to: (a) investigate the role of community self-organisation in the development of the Project; (b) examine the role of cross-scale institutional linkages in facilitating or hindering the Project; and (c) identify tools or interventions that can be used by NGOs and community organisations to increase governmental support for community-based conservation.; Guyanese law forbids harvesting of the Arapaima gigas, but is rarely enforced. The Project includes a community imposed harvesting ban, the formation of fisher groups at village and regional levels, a local monitoring program, river check points, and community education and awareness campaigns. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)...