Privately-owned lands and biodiversity conservation : analysing the role of Private Conservation Areas in the Little Karoo, South Africa.

The number of privately-owned parks has dramatically risen in recent decades across
the world. Increasingly, these areas are attracting the attention of academia, government
and non-governmental organisations because of their potential to combine biodiversity
conservation with sustainable development, which is of particular relevance in
developing countries. Little comprehensive information on private reserves, however,
exists. This thesis investigates the role that private conservation areas fulfil in the Little
Karoo region of South Africa, exploring the politico-economic and socio-cultural reality
of private reserves, as well as their contribution towards protecting key elements of
biodiversity. An interdisciplinary, political ecology-based research framework was
adopted, combining questionnaire surveys, GIS-analyses and interviews. Key findings
revealed that the private protected area sector is substantially contributing to the
representation of key elemen'ts of biodiversity patterns and processes in the region.
Private reserves show high variability and are closely tied to the changeable
circumstances of their owners. However, they are principally used for personal leisure,
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and further, profit does not constitute a primary driver to their establishment. Rather,
complex· networks of human and environmental processes interact across different
levels of analysis to drive the growth in private reserves. Landowners perceive
themselves to fill a legitimate role in the conservation landscape and increasingly
demand recognition from conservation authorities. Successful strategies and policies for
optimising the valuable contribution that private reserves make to conservation need,
first, to be sensitive to both the ecological and social dimensions of conservation areas.
Second, they should focus on raising social capital between landowners, and providing
recognition for the conservation role they fulfil, through the provision of extension
services. Private conservation areas worldwide are likely to continue increasing in years
to come; their potential to provide positive and long-lasting contributions to biodiversity
protection warrants increasing interest and support from the wider conservation
community.