Protected areas, 2012
Protected area Downgrade Downsize Degazette
Global trends in protected area
downgrading, downsizing, and degazettement
(PADDD)
Roopa Krithivasan & Mike Mascia
WWF Conservation Science Program
Enacted PADDD
Proposed PADDD
All PADDD, 1900-present
When?
Enacted PADDD, 1900-2010
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000
Downgrade
Downsize
Degazette
Total
All PADDD, 2000-2012
Ru
ssia
, 20
12
Tan
zan
ia, 2
01
2
Cam
bo
dia
, 20
13
Bo
tsw
ana,
20
10
Why?
0
500
1000
1500
2000
Industrial Local Consplanning
Other Unknown
Nu
mb
er
of
PAD
DD
eve
nts
proposed
enacted
So what?
Implications for CBD 2020
A Africa Asia LAC
(Mascia et al, in review)
Implications for REDD
(Forrest et al., in prep.)
2000-2010: 2.9 million MgC; $9M - $132M
2010-2100: 89-631 million MgC; $76M - $7.95B
PADDDtracker.org
Conclusions
PADDD widespread but overlooked
Historic & contemporary
PADDD is not “good” or “bad”
Driven by global & local forces
Implications for: • Conservation
• Human well-being
Acknowledgements (I)
Moore Foundation
MacArthur Foundation
BlueRaster
UNEP-WCMC
WWF Staff – Nasser Olwero (WWF-US CSP)
– Charles Huang
– Leo Bottrill
– Surin Suksuwan (Malaysia)
– Kinley Gyeltshen (Bhutan)
– Vijay Moktan (Bhutan)
– Rebecca Ng (Asia)
– Fathi Hanif (Indonesia)
– Yulia Kalashnikova (Russia)
– Leo Bottrill (Asia, E. Africa)
– Shubash Lohani (Asia)
– Jon Miceler (Asia)
– Matthew Lewis (Asia)
– Jonathan Cook (Mekong)
– Nirmal Bhagabati (India)
– Dipankar Ghose (India)
– Vishaish Uppal (India)
– Santosh Nepal (Nepal)
– Andrea Santy (LAC)
– Gina DeFerrari (Belize)
– Adolfo Moreno (Bolivia)
– Paul Siegel (Senegal)
– Chris Weaver (Namibia, Southern Africa)
– Greg Stuart-Hill (Namibia, Southern Africa)
– Nanie Ratsifandrihamanana (Madagascar)
– Neil Burgess (Eastern Africa)
– Lisa Steel (Central Africa, Namibia, Madagascar)
– Allard Blom (Central Africa)
– Robin Naidoo (Namibia)
– Michael Wright (Eastern Africa)
– Caroline Simmonds (Eastern Africa)
– Keya Chatterjee (Morocco)
– Barney Long (Africa)
– Jessica Forrest (Africa)
Acknowledgements (II)
Others Richard Cowling (NMMU, S. Africa) Steven Holness (S. Africa National Parks) John Mason (Nature Conservation
Research Centre, Ghana) Jordan Kimball (USFS, Guinea & Sierra
Leone) Sita Zougouri (Burkina Faso) Art Blundell (West Africa) Delali Dovie (U. of Ghana, Ghana) Julia Baker (Imperial College London,
Uganda) EJ Milner-Gulland (Imperial College
London, Uganda) Natalie Walker (NWF, Brazil) Bruno Monteferri (Peru) Craig Mills (WCMC)
World Resources Institute (WRI)
Peter Veit (Eastern Africa)
Lalanath DeSilva (Sri Lanka)
Augustine Njamnshi (Cameroon)
UNDP
Nik Sekhran (Zambia)
Johan Robinson (Zambia)
Midori Paxton (Namibia)
Linda Baker (Namibia)
Jonathan Smith (Namibia)
Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS)
Fiona (Boo) Maisels (Central Africa)
Michelle Wieland (Sudan, Congo, Malawi, DRC)
Industrial scale extraction and production
Cause: Oil & gas
Cause: Mining
Cause: Industrial agriculture
Cause: Infrastructure
Local land claims and land pressures
Cause: Land claims
Cause: Rural settlements
Cause: Subsistence
Can PADDD improve PA management?
Cause: Conservation Planning
USA
, 20
12
Nature Vol 467|16 September 2010
Downgrades
Downsizes
Degazettes
Proposed Downgrades
Proposed Downsizes
Proposed Degazettes
Case study: India
Implications for connectivity
Copyright:© 2009 ESRI
1905
Copyright:© 2009 ESRI
Offset
Offset
Offset
Downsize Downsize
Copyright:© 2009 ESRI
Roads and “Parcels”
• Metrics: Length of roads, Road Density, Number of Parcels/Area, Parcel “edginess” (perimeter:area)
Parcel
Roads
PADDDtracker.org
Use it
Share it
Provide feedback
Collaborate
Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe, Dec 26, 2009 (AFP)
“Zimbabwe's main power plant says it needs to dig for new coal reserves under a river inside a national park to keep running.”
• Wilpattu National Park, Sri Lanka, October 2011 (The Sunday Times)
“Wilpattu National Park to cut two 60 foot roads, one close to its unique villu system and the other hugging the coastline.”
“The Cambodian Prime Minister has approved a 9,000ha rubber plantation in Virachey National Park despite its status as a protected area”
Virachay NP, Cambodia, March 2011 (Phnom Penh Post)
Hainan NP, China, April 2010 (The Guardian)
“The golf course is
inside the core
conservation zone,
which is supposed
to be off-limits to
human activity.”
• Venezuela, April 2010 (ParkWire)
“Venezuela is planning to reorganize its national system of protected areas, covering over 50 percent of the territory… Some national parks and reserves will be extended and some others will be reduced”
Funtionality
• browsing – Map view – List view – Country profile – Event profile
• Search
– PADDD type & status – country, – year, – Cause – Etc.
• Add events * • edit existing events * • Discuss events & rate accuracy*
• Download dataset* * member-only
What PADDDtracker will (and will not) do
• The focus of PADDDtracker is on documenting legal changes to PAs that reduce the size or status of a PA.
• PADDDtracker does not document
– Illegal activities
– Upgrades, upsizing, or expansion
– PA management
– Biodiversity
Implications
PADDD not necessarily bad… – Alternate forms of governance may conserve better
(Nepstad, et al.)
– More efficient allocation of conservation resources (Fuller, et al.)
– Address historic injustice
– Balance development needs
In many cases PADDD events likely bad for biodiversity
Conservation tool not working as intended
Conclusions
PADDD widespread but overlooked
Historic & contemporary phenomenon
Driven by global & local forces Conservation impacts unclear Social science for evidence-based policy