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

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 compar...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Conservation letters 2019-11, Vol.12 (6), p.n/a
Main Authors: De Vos, Alta, Clements, Hayley S., Biggs, Duan, Cumming, Graeme S.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biodiversity
Conservation
Conservation easements
Environmental stewardship
Landowners
Legislation
Nature reserves
PADDD
Private property
privately protected areas
protected area dynamics
protected area expansion
protected area resilience
Protected areas
South Africa
Terrestrial environments
voluntary land rights transfer
Wildlife conservation
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Summary: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.
ISSN:1755-263X
1755-263X
DOI:10.1111/conl.12644