Private Protected Areas Towards a comprehensive map for South Africa Alta De Vos* & Graeme Cumming

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1 Private Protected Areas Towards a comprehensive map for South Africa Alta De Vos* & Graeme Cumming alta.devos@gmail.com 2013 Biodiversity Planning Forum Golden Gate Highlands National Park May 2013 Spatial Resilience of Protected Areas Programme University of Cape Town

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3 Outline The need for a layer of Informally Protected Areas Intro to the Spatial Resilience in Protected Areas Programme What we have Gaps The way forward

4 Global Targets & Challenges PA dominant strategy for achieving conservation targets Network far from comprehensively conserving biodiversity at present Globally strategies being in put a place to achieve better coverage

5 Locally National Protected Expansion strategy: targets & priorities Based on spatial layers of ecosystem and habitat classification, land ownership & tenure, complete PA registry Informal protected areas at the moment inadequately represented

6 Opportunities High opportunity costs in low-lying and often-threatened areas to acquire and manage them PPAs: higher coverage of threatened landscapes; likely to be lower lying, arable land (regional studies) "Mainstreaming conservation" more inclusive and realistic way to achieve conservation targets e.g. Gallo et al (Little Karoo), Reyers et al (Eastern Cape),Rouget et al (Cape Floristic Region)

7 Spatial Resilience of Protected Areas Group Study Protected Areas as linked socialecological systems Focusing on the Spatial Aspect of Resilience

8 Protected Areas as linked SES Services Societal Attitudes

9 Protected Areas as linked SES ES Societal Attitudes

10 Some questions How do they contribute to both the social and ecological elements of conservation goals and strategies? How resilient are they to the winds of change? Does sustainability (economical and ecological) vary predictably with tenure type? What contributions do protected areas make to local and regional equity, and how much variation is there in these outcomes?

11 Answers depend on spatial patterns & relationships: Where are they along biophysical and socioeconomic gradients? How do their location relate to infrastructure? How do membership to networks (e.g. animal exchanges) influence long-term viability

12 Take home message We try to understand the dynamics that drive spatial patterns and processes relating to protected areas We re particularly interested in private protected areas

13 Before that can happen Where? When?

14 Take home message Strategic Protected Area Expansion Understanding spatial resilience of complex social-ecological systems We need a consolidated map of private protected areas (which isn t super easy to get)

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16 Mapping PPAs NPAES 2011 Cape Nature Stewardship layer 2012 KZN Stewardship data (obtained from DEA) DEA data, 2012, includes Limpopo PPA WDPA database Individual land owners Google Maps Government Gazettes

17 What we ve got so far Private Protected Areas

18 What we ve got so far 1086 Areas ~70% with boundaries ~70% with gazettement dates Where? When

19 Gaps Not at farm level Retrospective Gazette checking in progress Boundary Mismatches Some Provinces very under represented (FS, NW, NC)

20 What did we include? owned by freehold or long-term leasehold by a private investor(s) or syndicate; funded and/or run by a private investor or syndicate; managed for biodiversity and possibly for nature tourism, game-based ventures or leisure; and owned with the intent of preserving the land in a predominantly undeveloped state Gallo et al. 2009

21 What did we include? All areas gazetted as private nature reserves All areas in stewardship programmes, including biodiversity agreements and voluntary areas Unconserved declared & Undeclared Conserved

22 Roadmap Available Datasets Draft PPA map DEA Protected Area Database Dynamic updates via crowd-sourcing app Ground Truthing (Gazettes, Landowner) Additional Datasets? Types of PPAs & Land Use

23 Towards a map of private protected areas Provincial Datasets Unconserved declared vs. Conserved Undeclared Stewardship Programmes Other Attributes to consider

24 Questions & Comments