SummaryIn any conservation programme, a variety of actors participate and interact in its different phases. They commonly have different perspectives and priorities regarding conservation, and diversity in the ensuing perspectives constitutes a barrier to effective conservation. In this paper, we analyse the different perspectives around the Programa de Conservación de Maíz Criollo (Programme for the Conservation of Native Maize in Mexico; PROMAC) in order to understand the possible causes that resulted in the programme not fulfilling its objectives. We used Q methodology and semi-structured interviews with farmers from a natural protected area to analyse the perspectives of the key actors who conceptualized, designed and implemented the programme and of the target population. Our research identified two different perspectives: (1) native maize can only be conserved with the support of community processes; and (2) the government, and not farmers, is responsible for the conservation of native maize. For farmers, native maize is key to their subsistence livelihoods, and they participated in the programme because of government monetary incentives. These differences contributed to dissimilar interpretations throughout the programme’s implementation phase, which, in turn, likely contributed to PROMAC failing to meet its objectives.

中文翻译：

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墨西哥本土玉米保护的观点：公共项目分析

总结在任何保护计划中，各种行为者在其不同阶段参与并相互作用。他们通常对保护有不同的观点和优先事项，随后观点的多样性构成了有效保护的障碍。在本文中，我们分析了围绕Maíz Criollo 保护计划（墨西哥本土玉米保护计划；PROMAC），以了解导致该计划未能实现其目标的可能原因。我们使用 Q 方法和对自然保护区农民的半结构化访谈来分析概念化、设计和实施该计划的主要参与者和目标人群的观点。我们的研究确定了两个不同的观点：（1）本地玉米只能在社区进程的支持下得到保护；(2) 政府而非农民负责保护本地玉米。对于农民来说，本地玉米是他们维持生计的关键，他们参与该计划是因为政府的货币激励措施。