abstract
- Although there has been increasing interest in trying to link the livelihoods of people living near natural resources, there has been little attempt to systematically assess or measure this linkage. A conceptual framework for defining the linkage between livelihood activities and conservation is developed and then a scale to assess the strength of linkage across five dimensions: species, habitat, spatial, temporal and conservation association. Evaluating 39 project sites in the Biodiversity Conservation Network tests the framework and scale. Finally, the relevance of linkage to designing appropriate conservation strategies is discussed