Conflict management in protected areas: The case of Küre Mountains National Park

Conflicts in the protection, use and management of the assets of protected areas are frequently mentioned in the literature. It is considered beneficial to include local people and other stakeholders in the area management process before and after planning, without neglecting the interaction of protected areas particularly with these stakeholders. Buffer zones and participatory approach concepts in the management of protected areas came to the fore for the first time during the planning of the Küre Mountains National Park (KMNP). In this study, it is aimed to disclose the existence of conflict in the protected areas in the case of KMNP and to create a conflict management model for this protected area. The institutions and organizations responsible for the field, local governments, non-governmental organizations, local people and others (tourists, media, universities, etc.) is addressed as the main interest groups for the protected areas. In this study, the importance of these interest groups in conflict management was investigated. This study, which covers the years 2015-2018, includes field observations and researches, individual interviews, questionnaires and analysis of the obtained data within the scope of conflict analysis. The questionnaires were applied to 425 individuals in 110 different villages. In addition, interviews were conducted with 31 individuals representing public institutions and non-governmental organizations and 6 individuals from the national park administration. According to the findings, the encountered problems with the declaration of the national park is generally attributed to the national park and the national park administration. In particular, the lack of information and lack of communication has an important role in the conflicts in this area. Generally, national park applications, wildlife activity, utilization of forest resources and tourism activities have been determined to cause conflicts in the process of national park management and the reasons for these conflicts and possible results have been tried to be determined. Conflict styles have been identified and appropriate conflict management strategies have been tried to be established by measuring the responses of individuals in the case of a conflict in the protected area. In the event of any conflict within the protected area, the local people claimed that the national park administration mostly uses forcing and avoiding style; the national park management stated that they use the problem solving and obliging style.