Social-ecological contributions of protected areas to their surroundings

Abstract

Global expansion of protected areas is widely seen as a vital response to declines in biodiversity. Protected areas affect adjacent societies, economies, and ecosystems via spillovers, but these secondary benefits and costs are often inconsistently and incompletely described and evaluated. The absence of interdisciplinary conceptual and methodological frameworks for spillover identification and analysis limits the integration and generalizability of spillover research. To address this problem, we summarize the literature to identify a core of existing research that provides a foundation for a more consistent comparative approach to spillovers across locations, ecosystems, and research disciplines. This core identifies seven categories of spillover and four direct mechanisms by which they occur. Integration with existing social-ecological systems approaches provides a general framework with broad relevance and applicability. Adoption of a more standardized social-ecological approach to spillovers will support better scientific practice, planning, and legislation under the Global Biodiversity Framework’s 30 × 30 Target.