Title
Are public-private partnerships, conservation concessions, and other alternatives to conventional protected area management necessary for achieving conservation success in Asia?
Author(s)
O‘Kelly, Hannah; Hedges, Simon
Published
2017
Abstract
Asia is in the midst of a biodiversity conservation crisis. Protected Areas (PAs) are expected to fulfill an ever-growing list of functions, but the majority are failing in one of their most important goals, the protection of wildlife. Traditional PA management regimes are failing to reduce adequately the key threats of intense, unsustainable hunting, as well as habitat loss and degradation. These issues are not restricted to Asia and in an effort to address them, in Africa there has been a trend during the last decade, for countries to delegate PA management responsibility to non-governmental organizations. While the nature of the management agreements varies significantly among countries, and among protected areas, these agreements are often referred to collectively as public-private partnerships (PPPs). In addition, a number of other alternatives to conventional PAs, including private conservancies, are common in Africa. We review the ?pros and cons‘ of PPPs, private conservancies, and conservation concessions and explore reasons why equivalent approaches remain uncommon in Asia. The lack of such alternative conservation models in Asia is partly explained by differences in the region‘s legal systems, the challenges of implementing law enforcement, and various cultural differences. Nevertheless, it seems possible that these issues could be overcome in at least some instances, and that such private or part-private approaches may represent the only realistic means of conserving significant wildlife populations in parts of Asia. Such alternative regimes could also serve as models of conservation success, and potentially engender the stronger political will that is so critically needed.
Keywords
Africa; Asia; Protected Areas; Alternative; Biodiversity Crisis
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PUB26779