Journal
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Volume 115, Issue 45, Pages E10788-E10796Publisher
NATL ACAD SCIENCES
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1805048115
Keywords
budget; comanagement; conservation effectiveness; deficit; funding need
Categories
Funding
- Panthera
- National Science Foundation Coupled Human and Natural Systems Grant [115057]
- US Agency for International Development
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Protected areas (PAs) play an important role in conserving biodiversity and providing ecosystem services, yet their effectiveness is undermined by funding shortfalls. Using lions (Panthera leo) as a proxy for PA health, we assessed available funding relative to budget requirements for PAs in Africa's savannahs. We compiled a dataset of 2015 funding for 282 state-owned PAs with lions. We applied three methods to estimate the minimum funding required for effective conservation of lions, and calculated deficits. We estimated minimum required funding as $978/km(2) per year based on the cost of effectively managing lions in nine reserves by the African Parks Network; $1,271/km(2) based on modeled costs of managing lions at >= 50% carrying capacity across diverse conditions in 115 PAs; and $2,030/km(2) based on Packer et al.'s [Packer et al. (2013) Ecol Lett 16:635-641] cost of managing lions in 22 unfenced PAs. PAs with lions require a total of $1.2 to $2.4 billion annually, or similar to$1,000 to 2,000/km(2), yet received only $381 million annually, or a median of $200/km(2). Ninety-six percent of range countries had funding deficits in at least one PA, with 88 to 94% of PAs with lions funded insufficiently. In funding-deficit PAs, available funding satisfied just 10 to 20% of PA requirements on average, and deficits total $0.9 to $2.1 billion. African governments and the international community need to increase the funding available for management by three to six times if PAs are to effectively conserve lions and other species and provide vital ecological and economic benefits to neighboring communities.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available