SummaryCommunity nurseries within natural protected areas (NPAs) represent an attractive option to link biodiversity conservation with socioeconomic development, yet their functioning lacks proper assessment. Here, we analyse the national context of community nurseries in Mexican NPAs and suggest a specific framework to evaluate their viability. First, we examine the impact of a major governmental funding programme on these projects. Next, we conduct a case study in a focal nursery to identify challenges faced by its operation. Despite the large number of community nurseries funded by the programme, current performance indicators are not suitable to assess their viability. In turn, the case study reveals this nursery’s partial success, with a clear contribution to social development but a limited impact on economic improvement and vegetation conservation. Regardless of the characteristics of individual community nurseries, we suggest a framework that is potentially useful for evaluating community nursery viability, which enables agencies to detect problems, find solutions and use resources efficiently, while balancing biodiversity conservation and development.

中文翻译：

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将保护与社会经济发展相结合：墨西哥保护区社区托儿所的潜力

摘要自然保护区 (NPA) 内的社区托儿所是一种将生物多样性保护与社会经济发展联系起来的有吸引力的选择，但其运作缺乏适当的评估。在这里，我们分析了墨西哥 NPA 社区托儿所的国家背景，并提出了一个评估其可行性的具体框架。首先，我们考察了一项主要的政府资助计划对这些项目的影响。接下来，我们在一个重点托儿所进行案例研究，以确定其运营面临的挑战。尽管该计划资助的社区托儿所数量众多，但目前的绩效指标并不适合评估其可行性。反过来，案例研究揭示了这个托儿所的部分成功，对社会发展的贡献明显，但对经济改善和植被保护的影响有限。无论个别社区托儿所的特点如何，我们都建议一个可能对评估社区托儿所可行性有用的框架，该框架使机构能够发现问题，找到解决方案并有效利用资源，同时平衡生物多样性保护和发展。