TY - JOUR

T1 - An Outcome-Oriented, Social-Ecological Framework for Assessing Protected Area Effectiveness

AU - Ghoddousi, Arash

AU - Loos, Jacqueline

AU - Kümmerle, Tobias

N1 - © The Author(s) 2021. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Institute of Biological Sciences.

PY - 2022/2/1

Y1 - 2022/2/1

N2 - Both the number and the extent of protected areas have grown considerably in recent years, but evaluations of their effectiveness remain partial and are hard to compare across cases. To overcome this situation, first, we suggest reserving the term effectiveness solely for assessing protected area outcomes, to clearly distinguish this from management assessments (e.g., sound planning). Second, we propose a multidimensional conceptual framework, rooted in social-ecological theory, to assess effectiveness along three complementary dimensions: ecological outcomes (e.g., biodiversity), social outcomes (e.g., well-being), and social-ecological interactions (e.g., reduced human pressures). Effectiveness indicators can subsequently be evaluated against contextual and management elements (e.g., design and planning) to shed light on management performance (e.g., cost-effectiveness). We summarize steps to operationalize our framework to foster more holistic effectiveness assessments while improving comparability across protected areas. All of this can ensure that protected areas make real contributions toward conservation and sustainability goals.

AB - Both the number and the extent of protected areas have grown considerably in recent years, but evaluations of their effectiveness remain partial and are hard to compare across cases. To overcome this situation, first, we suggest reserving the term effectiveness solely for assessing protected area outcomes, to clearly distinguish this from management assessments (e.g., sound planning). Second, we propose a multidimensional conceptual framework, rooted in social-ecological theory, to assess effectiveness along three complementary dimensions: ecological outcomes (e.g., biodiversity), social outcomes (e.g., well-being), and social-ecological interactions (e.g., reduced human pressures). Effectiveness indicators can subsequently be evaluated against contextual and management elements (e.g., design and planning) to shed light on management performance (e.g., cost-effectiveness). We summarize steps to operationalize our framework to foster more holistic effectiveness assessments while improving comparability across protected areas. All of this can ensure that protected areas make real contributions toward conservation and sustainability goals.

KW - Aichi Target 11

KW - Area-based conservation

KW - Impact evaluation

KW - National park

KW - Social-ecological systems

KW - Ecosystems Research

KW - Sustainability Governance

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85125085685&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1093/biosci/biab114

DO - 10.1093/biosci/biab114

M3 - Journal articles

C2 - 35145352

AN - SCOPUS:85125085685

VL - 72

SP - 201

EP - 212

JO - BioScience

JF - BioScience

SN - 0006-3568

IS - 2

ER -