Examining the Psychological Implications of the National Park Paradigm on Inequality and Poverty

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to explore the level of poverty in the communities surrounding Sebangau National Park, as the newest national park established in Indonesia, as well as to compare the success of ecotourism in Botswana, Malawi and Namibia that provide benefits to their surrounding communities through employment as well as the "trickledown effect." The mixed-method study was conducted on 100 residents and interviews with eight-core informants. The quantitative data was analyzed descriptively and juxtaposed with qualitative results. The results show that the ecotourism policy has been running well (average 4.39 from a maximum of 5.00 in both aspects), but at the same time, social inequality is high (average 4.41) as well as poverty (4.38). The results of the interviews also revealed problems in the absence of proactivity from supporting community groups to eradicate poverty and the lack of touch from the government in general in improving inequality and poverty in society. Moreover, the results of a cross-sectional study in the Sebangau National Park, Indonesia, show the contrary situation to the national park in Africa that could lead by the different paradigm of national park management.