The impacts of cocaine-trafficking on conservation governance in Central America.

• The narco-deforestation observed in PAs represents an institutional shift as DTOs enter landscapes, undermine existing conservation institutions, and establish forms of rule within territories designated for conservation. • Drug trafficking impacts conservation governance in three primary ways: 1) violence and corruption undermine long standing conservation coalitions; 2) drug profits capitalize extractive economic booms inside protected lands; and 3) trafficking organizations erode territorial control of conservation institutions and exploit strict "fortress" conservation governance models. • Conservation models may better resist DTO influence when institutions are arranged to support local decision-making about resources, and incentivize local leadership in conservation with strong expectations of land tenure. This research is motivated by the compelling finding that the illicit cocaine trade is responsible for extensive patterns of deforestation in Central America. This pattern is most pronounced in the region's large protected areas. We wanted to know how cocaine trafficking affects conservation governance in Central America's protected areas, and whether deforestation is a result of impacts on governance. To answer this question, we interviewed conservation stakeholders from key institutions at various levels in three drug-trafficking hotspots: Peten, Guatemala, Northeastern Honduras, and the Osa Peninsula in Costa Rica. We found that, in order to establish and maintain drug transit operations, drug-trafficking organizations compete with and undermine conservation governance actors and institutions. Drug trafficking impacts conservation governance in three ways: 1) it undermines long standing conservation coalitions; 2) it fuels booms in extractive activities inside protected lands; and 3) it erodes the territorial control that conservation institutions exert, exploiting strict "fortress" conservation governance models. Participatory governance models that provide locals with strong expectations of land tenure and/or institutional support for local decision-making may offer resistance to the impacts on governance institutions that we documented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]