Assessing Equity in Protected Area Governance: Approaches to Promote Just and Effective Conservation

Neil Dawson,Adrian Martin,Finn Danielsen

doi:10.1111/conl.12388

Abstract

AbstractWith the inclusion of equity concerns in Aichi Target 11 of the Convention on Biological Diversity, equitable management has become an important objective for the world's protected areas. The way equity is defined and operationalized influences whether this strategic shift can help identify pathways commensurate with conservation effectiveness. We examined equity around a protected area in Laos, combining quantitative and qualitative methods to explore the three dimensions of procedure, recognition, and distribution. Local understandings of equity depended on discrete, evolving issues, with attention to informal decision making and dynamic values required to uncover suitable solutions. We show that equity definitions focused on material distribution and assessments reliant on standardized indicators may result in inadequate responses that sustain local perceptions of inequitable management and miss opportunities for effective conservation. Equity should be considered a management goal to continually adapt toward, informed by stakeholder dialogue.

Highlights

Equity has emerged as an important goal of protected area (PA) management (McDermott et al 2012), exemplified by Aichi Target 11 of the Convention on Biological Diversity which aims, by 2020, for “effectively and equitably managed” PAs
We show that equity definitions focused on material distribution and assessments reliant on standardized indicators may result in inadequate responses that sustain local perceptions of inequitable management and miss opportunities for effective conservation
While few respondents in Phon Song reported having lost land to the PA (7% of households compared to 30% in Khorn Ngua), land access was constrained by PA boundaries

Summary

Introduction

Equity has emerged as an important goal of protected area (PA) management (McDermott et al 2012), exemplified by Aichi Target 11 of the Convention on Biological Diversity which aims, by 2020, for “effectively and equitably managed” PAs. Equity is considered important for ethical reasons, because conservation can cause negative impacts to local populations, and for instrumental reasons, because attention to the outcomes experienced by local populations may be a condition for conservation effectiveness (Hutton et al 2005). Effectiveness, the impact of management on biodiversity outcomes (Coad et al 2015), might be achievable without attention to social justice issues, especially if sufficient resources can be directed toward rule enforcement (Holmes 2013). Perceptions of unfairness lead to higher PA management costs (Pascual et al 2014), sometimes through active resentment, such as vengeance killing of charismatic fauna (e.g., Mariki et al 2015), whereas positive perceptions of governance and social outcomes are associated with improved effectiveness (de Koning et al 2016; Oldekop et al 2016)

Methods

Results

Conclusion