Beyond Win-Wins: Understanding diverse impacts of complex protected area governance arrangements on human wellbeing and conservation in tropical forests

The role of protected areas has expanded from focusing on nature conservation, to also include human wellbeing and equitable governance objectives. Some contend that these objectives are mutually supporting, with ‘win-win’ outcomes possible for people and nature. However others consider these objectives to be competing, necessitating trade-offs. In response to the expanding remit of protected areas, complex governance arrangements have evolved. Yet understanding of how novel governance arrangements impact multiple objectives remains limited. In this PhD I aimed to evaluate how innovations in protected area governance have led to complex impacts on human wellbeing and conservation. The main contributions were first, to develop a generalised methodology for measuring human wellbeing in the context of development and conservation projects. The Wellbeing Indicator Selection Protocol provides a step-by-step guide to developing context-specific wellbeing indicators based on local perspectives and aligned with established wellbeing theory through the integration of quantitative and qualitative approaches. Second, I assessed the impact of community forests combined with forest certification in Tanzania as an example of recent innovations in protected area governance seeking to achieve win-wins. I found that certified community forests positively impacted wellbeing, conservation effectiveness and reduced gender inequality, though did not reduce elite capture. Finally, I undertook an in-depth analysis of the pathways by which certified community forests impact human wellbeing, governance effectiveness and forest restoration. I identified positive interacting pathways between certified community forests, equitable governance and wellbeing, though also trade-offs between conservation and agriculture. By integrating the contrasting perspectives of different actors and research methods, this thesis has contributed to advancing understanding of protected area governance and a shift away from the panacea of win-win solutions, towards a more in-depth understanding of what works where, for whom and why.