Abstract
Protected areas in the Congo Basin cover approximately 6% of the landscape, and several international NGOs are proposing substantial additions to the present network of parks and reserves. Yet, chronic under-funding has long precluded effective management of most parks and reserves resulting in their progressive ecological impoverishment, and the loss of biodiversity. Furthermore, not only are the indebted nations of the Congo Basin not in a position to contribute significantly to cover the recurring costs of protected area management, the growing opportunity costs of setting aside protected areas is increasing the incentives to local communities and national governments to 'illegally' exploit economically valuable resources within parks and reserves. If the global value of the biodiversity contained within the Congo Basin is considered worth preserving then donors and international NGOs must work with national governments to reach consensus on an optimal protected area network that (a) contains a representative assemblage of forest species; (b) is composed of forest blocks that are sufficiently large, intact, and likely to persist; (c) contains zones of active speciation (e.g. ecotones), and (d) can expect to receive sufficient long-term financial support to ensure effective management. Given the 'need to eat today' reality of economies in the Congo Basin, the international community must decide to shoulder most of the costs of conservation of globally important biodiversity. If donors continue to under-finance protected areas rather than make the hard choices associated with prioritizing protected area spending then most if not all protected areas within the Congo Basin will continue to exhibit reductions in the biomass of individual species, and risk the extirpation or extinction of large, slow reproducing species, and rare endemics.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bagri A,Blockhus J,Grey F andVorhies F (eds) (1998) Economic values of protected areas: a guide for protected area managers-Draft Report for the Economic Benefits of Protected Areas Task Force-World Commission in Protected Areas. IUCN, Gland
Adams JS andMcShane TO (1996) The Myth of Wild Africa: Conservation Without Illusion, University of California Press, Los Angeles
ART (1998) Costs of Conserving State Protected Areas in Southern Africa, 6, pp 1-2. Africa Resources Trust, Harare
Aylward B,Allen K,Echeverria J andTosi J (1996) Sustainable ecotourism in Costa Rica: the Monteverde Cloud Forest Preserve. Biodiversity and Conservation 5: 315-343
Bell RHV andClarke JE (1984) Funding and financial control. In: Bell RHV andMcShane-Caluzi E (eds) Conservation and Wildlife Management in Africa: The Proceedings of a Workshop Organized by the US Peace Corps at Kasungu National Park, Malawi. October 1984, pp 543-555. Office of Training and Support, Forestry & Natural Resources Sector, US Peace Corps, Washington, DC
Blom A (2001) The impact of tourism on protected area management and the local economy in Dzanga-Sangha (Central African Republic). Journal of Sustainable Tourism (in press)
Braatz S,Davis G,Shen S andRees C (1992) Conserving biological diversity: a strategy for protected areas in the Asia-Pacific region. World Bank Technical Paper Number 193. Asia Technical Department Series, p 66. The World Bank, Washington, DC
BSP (1993) African Biodiversity: Foundation for the Future. Biodiversity Support Program, Washington, DC
Butynski TM andKalina J (1998) Gorilla tourism: a critical look. In: Milner-Gulland EJ andMace R (eds) Conservation of Biological Resources, pp 294-313. Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford
Byrne PV,Staubo C andGrootenhuis JG (1996) The economics of living with wildlife in Kenya. In: Bojo J (eds) The Economics of Wildlife: Case Studies from Ghana, Kenya, Namibia, and Zimbabwe, pp 39-78. World Bank, Washington, DC
Chomitz KM andGray DA (1996) Roads, land use and deforestation: a spatial model applied to Belize. The World Bank Economic Review 10: 487-512
CIA (1992) The World Factbook 1992. US Central Intelligence Agency, Washington, DC
Culverwell J (1998) Long-term recurrent costs of protected area management in Cameroon: monitoring of protected areas, donor assistance and external financing, ecological and management priorities of current and potential protected area system, p 75. WWF Cameroon/MINEF, Yaounde
Cumming DHM (1989) Commercial and safari hunting in Zimbabwe. In: Hudson RJ,Drew KR andBaskin LM (eds) Wildlife Production Systems: Economic Utilization of Wild Ungulates, pp 148-169. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
de la Harpe DA (1996) Attaining Financial Self-Sufficiency of National Parks and Other Protected Areas: A Viewpoint from Southern and Eastern Africa, p 24. Price Waterhouse, Harare, Zimbabwe
Deutscher Bundestag (1990) Protecting the Tropical Forests: A High Priority International Task. Deutscher Bundestag, Bonn
Dixon JA andSherman PB (1991) Economics of Protected Areas. Ambio 20: 68-74
Dunning JH andHamdani KA (1997) The New Globalism and Developing Countries. United Nations University Press, New York
Durban JC andRatrimoarisaona S (1996) Can tourism make a major contribution to the conservation of protected areas in Madagascar. Biodiversity and Conservation 5: 345-353
Ferraro PJ andKramer RA (1997) Compensation and economic incentives: reducing pressure on protected areas. In: Kramer RA,Van Schaik C andJohnson J (eds) Last Stand: Protected Areas and the Defense of Tropical Biodiversity, pp 187-211. Oxford University Press, New York
Forman RTT andAlexander LE (1998) Roads and their major ecological effects. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 29: 207-231
Freese CH (1997) Harvesting Wild Species: Implications for Biodiversity Conservation. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore
Freese CH (1998) Wild Species as Commodities: Managing Markets and Ecosystems for Sustainability, WWF/Island Press, Washington, DC
Godoy RA,Wilkie DS andFranks JR (1997) The effects of markets on neotropical deforestation: a comparative study of four Amerindian societies. Current Anthropology 38: 875-878
Gullison RE,Rice RE andBlundell AG (2000) 'Marketing' species conservation. Science 404: 923-924
Hannah L (1992) African People, African Parks: An Evaluation of Development Initiatives as a Means of Improving Protected Area Conservation in Africa. Conservation International, Washington, DC
Howard P (1995) The economics of protected areas in Uganda: costs, benefits and policy issues. University of Edinburgh. PhD Dissertation
James AN,Gaston KJ andBalmford A (1999) Balancing the Earth' accounts. Nature 401: 323-324
James AN,Green MJB andPaine JR (1997) Financial Indicators for Biological Diversity Conservation: A Global Analysis of Protected Area Investment. World Conservation Monitoring Centre, Cambridge
Lake R (1997) Financing biodiversity conservation. Environental Policy and Law 27: 172-175
Leader-Williams N andAlbon S (1988) Allocation of resources for conservation. Nature 336: 533-533
Leader-Williams N,Kayera JA andOverton GL (1996) Tourism Hunting in Tanzania, p 138. IUCN, Gland
MacKinnon JR,MacKinnon K,Child G andThorsell J (1986) Managing Protected Areas in the Tropics. IUCN, Gland
Malcolm JR andRay JC (2000) Influence of timber extraction routes on central African small mammal communities, forest structure, and tree diversity. Conservation Biology 14: 1623-1638
Moye M (1998) Feasibility Research and Consultations for the Creation of a Conservation Trust Fund in Cameroon, p 26. MINEF/WWF Cameroon, Yaounde
Nelson GC andHellerstein D (1997) Do roads cause deforestation? Using satellite images in econometric analysis of land use. American Journal of Agricultural Economics 79: 80-88
Norton-Griffiths M (1995) Property Rights and Wildlife Conservation Options in Kenya. GEC 95-07, pp 1-23. CSERGE, East Anglia, UK
Norton-Griffiths M (1997) Economic incentives to develop the rangelands of the Serengeti: Implications for wildlife conservation. In: Sinclair ARE andArcese P (eds) Serengeti II: Research, Management and Conservation of an Ecosystem, pp 588-604. University of Chicago Press, Chicago
Norton-Griffiths M andSouthey C (1995) The opportunity costs of biodiversity conservation in Kenya. Ecological Economics 12: 125-139
Ntiamoa-Baidu Y,Zeba S andGamassa D-GM (1998) Principles in Practice: Lessons from Biodiversity Conservation Projects in Africa. Biodiversity Support Program, Washington, DC
Omamo SW (1998) Transport costs and smallholder cropping choices: an application to Siaya district, Kenya. American Journal of Agricultural Economics 80: 116-123
Pearce D andMoran D (1994) The Economic Value of Biodiversity. Earthscan, London
Robinson JG andBennett EL (1999) Carrying capacity limits to sustainable hunting in tropical forests. In: Robinson JG andBennett EL (eds) Hunting for Sustainability in Tropical Forests, pp 13-30. Columbia University Press, New York
Ruitenbeek HJ (1992) The rainforest supply price: a tool for evaluating rainforest conservation expenditures. Ecological Economics 6: 57-78
Sherman PB andDixon JA (1991) The economics of nature tourism: determining if it pays. In: Whelan T (ed.) Nature Tourism Managing for the Environment, pp 89-131. Island Press, Washington, DC
Smith NJH (1976) Utilization of game along Brazil' transamazon highway. Acta Amazonica. 6: 455-466
Spergel B,Wilkie DS andBlom A (2001) Prospects for sustainable financing of protected areas in the Congo Forest Region through user fees. Mimeo, World Wildlife Fund, Washington, DC
Sunderland TCH,Clark LE andVantomme P (1999) Non-Wood Forest Products of Central Africa: Current Research Issues and Prospects for Conservation and Development. Food and Agriculture Organization, Rome
Vos CC andChardon JP (1998) Effects of habitat fragmentation and road density on the distribution pattern of the mor frog Rana arvalis. Journal of Applied Ecology 35: 44-56
Wilkie DS (1999) Assessing the potential for non-wood forest products (NWFPs) to contribute to forest conservation: rationale, priorities and status report. In: Sunderland TCH,Clark LE andVantomme P (eds) Non-Wood Forest Products of Central Africa: Current Research Issues and Prospects for Conservation and Development, pp 3-16. FAO/US Forest Service, Rome
Wilkie DS andCarpenter JF (1999a) The potential role of safari hunting as a source of revenue for protected areas in the Congo Basin. Oryx 33: 339-345
Wilkie DS andCarpenter JF (1999b) Can nature tourism help finance protected areas in the Congo Basin? Oryx 33: 332-338
Wilkie DS,Morelli GA,Shaw E,Rotberg F andAuzel P (2000) Roads, development and conservation in the Congo Basin. Conservation Biology 14: 1614-1622
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Wilkie, D.S., Carpenter, J.F. & Zhang, Q. The under-financing of protected areas in the Congo Basin: so many parks and so little willingness-to-pay. Biodiversity and Conservation 10, 691–709 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1016662027017
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1016662027017