The dynamics of proclaimed privately protected areas in South Africa over 83 years

2019/03/20 by Alta De Vos, Hayley S. Clements, Duan Biggs +1 · 1 voice · 2 citations
Environmental Science · Economics, Econometrics and Finance · #Conservation, Biodiversity, and Resource Management #Economic and Environmental Valuation #Forest Management and Policy

paper · pdf · doi:10.1111/conl.12644

openalex publication_date 2019/03/20 · openalex created_date 2019/04/01 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28

Abstract

Abstract Views that protected area (PA) expansion relies predominantly on land purchased by government are increasingly being challenged. The inclusion of privately owned PAs (PPAs) in national conservation strategies is now commonplace, but little is known about their long‐term persistence and how it compares to that of state‐owned PAs. We undertook the first long‐term assessment of the dynamics of a national system of terrestrial PPAs, assessing its growth, as well as its resilience to downgrading, downsizing, and degazettement (PADDD). Between 1926 and 2018, 6.2% of all private nature reserves established in South Africa were degazetted, compared to 2.2% of state‐owned nature reserves. Privately owned PA growth exceeded that of state‐owned PAs. Trends in PA establishment differed between privately owned and state‐owned PAs, reflecting different legislative, political, and economic events. Our findings highlight the value of enabling legislative environments to facilitate PPA establishment, and demonstrate the potential of PPAs as a long‐term conservation strategy.

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• Do private land conservation policies and programs adequately consider climate change?
• Empowering women to protect wildlife in former hunting tourism zones: a political ecology of Akashinga, Zimbabwe

Discussions

• Private protected areas have become an important part of the conservation estate in South Africa. But also raise issues with equity and justice. IMO not a panacea but a very useful complement to state [bsky, 2 points, 0 comments]

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