FACTORS AFFECTING LOCAL COMMUNITIES’ SUPPORT FOR ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY IN TAMAN NEGARA PAHANG, KUALA TAHAN MALAYSIA
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.24191/myse.v12i1.2540Keywords:
Environmental sustainability, Local communities, Perspectives, National parkAbstract
Local support for protected areas management is increasingly viewed by conservationists as an important determinant of success of many environmental sustainability efforts. As such, this paper presents data from a case study of local people living in villages of Kuala Tahan within the boundaries of the Taman Negara Pahang, Malaysia. In-depth interviews and non-participant observations were used to examine contributing factors that influence perceptions of local communities on environmental sustainability activities surrounding the national park. The collected data were analysed using thematic analysis. Overall, the positive impact of the park establishment was better perceived than the negative ones, mainly because the tourism development surrounding the park created more income and employment opportunities for the local people. Other reasons for liking the park include appreciation of nature, improvements of local infrastructure and culture, community environmental knowledge and awareness, and good park-people relationship. In contrast, tourism incurred high cost of living and this being the most negative aspects mentioned by the informants. This paper suggests exploring local communities’ perspectives by taking into account their needs and opinions should become a management priority of the national park in order to identify effective environmental sustainability strategies.
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