What future for protected areas? Analysing the mismatch between South Africa’s pre-existing protected areas system and the declared vision in contemporary conservation policy

Alberts, Reece C., Retief, Francois P., Bond, Alan J. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3809-5805, Roos, Claudine and Cilliers, Dirk P. (2024) What future for protected areas? Analysing the mismatch between South Africa’s pre-existing protected areas system and the declared vision in contemporary conservation policy. Environmental Management. 1274–1286. ISSN 0364-152X

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Abstract

Designation of protected areas has enjoyed global application as a means of biodiversity conservation for over 100 years. National conservation policy is essential as a means of protecting biodiversity, but is contingent on, amongst others, changing values and international drivers, and remains dynamic in many countries. As conservation policies evolve, the role of pre-existing protected areas within broader strategies for conservation can become unclear, with consequences both for the ability of the conservation policies to achieve their stated goals, and also for biodiversity outcomes within a nation. In order to map evolving inconsistencies between conservation policy and the role of protected areas within it, we develop a conceptual conservation policy framework synthesised from different policy orientations reported in the literature. Using South Africa as a case study, the conceptualisation is used to characterise the policy goals for protected areas in the recently adopted conservation policy, and the pre-existing protected areas system which remains on the statute books. The results indicate that the conceptual conservation policy framework can be used identify misalignment between policy and practice, and has enabled a mismatch to be identified between South Africa’s pre-existing protected areas system and its contemporary conservation policy, which suggests that the management of protected areas is likely to significantly change towards greater access and monetisation at the expense of their intrinsic value.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	Funding: Open access funding provided by North-West University.
Uncontrolled Keywords:	conservation policy,south africa,protected areas,policy implications,policy orientations,environmental science(all) ,/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/2300
Faculty \ School:	University of East Anglia Research Groups/Centres > Theme - ClimateUEA Faculty of Science > School of Environmental Sciences
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Environmental Social Sciences
Depositing User:	LivePure Connector
Date Deposited:	16 Sep 2024 10:30
Last Modified:	12 Nov 2024 15:30
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/96757
DOI:	10.1007/s00267-024-02051-8

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