Financing Africa’s Protected Areas
نویسندگان
چکیده
Protected Areas (PAs) are fundamental for biodiversity conservation, for the provision of ecosystem services, and for tourism. In Africa, they are subject to increasing pressures of two kinds: objective factors, like high human fertility rates, that are generally not open to human manipulation, and subjective factors that are under human control. A major subjective component has been reduction in operational budgets for PA management, which has led to inadequate infrastructure and staff deficiencies. The allocation of the limited funding available is complicated by recent shifts in the philosophy of PA management, from military-type models to approaches incorporating local communities. A shortfall in PA funding is the difference between that needed for effective PA management in the long term, and that actually received. Shortfall data are presented for 14 African countries. The costs of PA management appear to be determined by a plethora of factors such as the area of the PA, the density of the surrounding human population, staffing levels, ease of access and whether the PA is located in a forest or savanna biome. Data inconsistencies and problems in data retrieval complicate cross-country comparisons of shortfall data. Towards meeting financial needs of PAs, managers will need Financial Plans and Ideal Budgets. For this, PA managers require additional skills in environmental economics. Options for PA funding are presented at three levels: international, national and site-specific.
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