The Project will promote sustainable development in an ecologically sensitive area, i.e., encouraging environmentally sound social and economic development in tandem with protection of the biological wealth and ecological functions that makes it possible. The Project has two inter-related objectives: (i) improved socioeconomic welfare of rural communities in the buffer zone of the Park (defined as the areas abutting the boundary of the Park and the two watersheds served by the Lariand and Gumbasa rivers); and (ii) improved Park management.