Paper presented at workshop on Stewardship - Promoting Conservation and Sustainable Use on Private Lands, World
Conservation Congress, Montreal, Canada, October 1996.

THE CONTRIBUTION OF PRIVATE INITIATIVES IN CONSERVING
BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY: A PILOT STUDY

Colin W. Watkins and Michael J.B. Green
World Conservation Monitoring Centre, Cambridge

ABSTRACT A major gap in the available information on the world’s
protected areas concerns private initiatives in protecting biodiversity. In order
to begin to address this gap, a preliminary survey of private protected areas
was carried out in some East and Southern African countries. This pilot study
demonstrates the significant contribution of private initiatives to national
protected area systems and underlines the importance of extending this survey
to entire regions, as part of a global review of the role private protected areas.

1. INTRODUCTION

The World Conservation Monitoring Centre maintains a database of the world’s protected
areas, an initiative which was begun in 1981 by the IUCN Commission on National Parks
and Protected Areas (now WCPA, the World Commission on Protected Areas) when it
established a unit specifically to manage information on protected areas. This database, for
example, provides the basis of the United Nations List of Protected Areas which is regularly
produced by WCMC and WCPA.

Within the database, protected areas are classified according to their management objectives,
based on the internationally recognised system developed and refined by IUCN over many
decades. Under the present management categories system (IUCN, 1994), a protected area
is defined as:

An area of land and/or sea especially dedicated to the protection and
maintenance of biological diversity, and of natural and associated cultural
resources, and managed through legal or other effective means.

While unambiguous in terms of the remit of protected areas to conserve biological diversity,
the definition is suitably broad with respect to the means of achieving this through a range
of different public and private approaches to stewardship.

Sound, comprehensive data on the world’s protected areas is essential for purposes of
planning, policy development and monitoring progress in biodiversity conservation. Over the
years, WCMC has built a fairly comprehensive dataset of protected areas within the wildlife
sector, such as national parks, nature reserves and wildlife sanctuaries administered by
national protected area agencies.

In the case of tropical countries, in particular, coverage has since been extended to the
forestry sector as a contribution to the FAO Forest Resources Assessment 1990. The results
of that study demonstrated vividly a major gap in information on the world’s protected areas.
Protected areas within the forestry sector, many of them forest reserves allocated to
conservation or: watershed protection, accounted for 4.5% of total land area within the
tropics, compared to 7.8% for protected areas in the wildlife sector (WCMC, 1993).

There remain other gaps in the available information on the world’s protected areas, the most
significant of which probably relates to privately owned or managed reserves. Some of the
world’s oldest protected areas were originally established through private initiatives, very
often by nobility for purposes of sport hunting. An early example is the New Forest which
was: declared a Royal hunting preserve in 1079 by King William II. Private initiatives,
through ownership or lease of land by private individuals or conservation bodies, are playing
an increasing important role in biodiversity conservation: witness the Nature Conservancy
in the USA, which owns land throughout the world, and the National Trust which is the
second largest landholder in England. In the tropics, particularly in Africa and Latin
America, there has been a steady rise in the number of private protected areas since the .
1960s (Alderman, 1992). But information on the number, extent and location of private
protected areas, as well as the biodiversity which they safeguard, is either unavailable or
scattered throughout the literature.

In order to begin to address this information gap, WCMC decided to undertake a preliminary
survey of private protected areas in some African countries in order to establish whether or
not a comprehensive study was warranted. The objectives of this preliminary study were:

e to review the scope of private initiatives underway in a selection of African
countries;
e to assess the contribution of the private sector to biodiversity conservation in

a selection of African countries; and

° to provide a basis for developing proposals to carry out a series of regional
studies of private initiatives.

The results of the preliminary survey are presented in this paper.

2D. METHODS
2.1 Scope

The study was confined to selected countries in East and Southern Africa, in the knowledge
that they feature well-established and extensive privately managed protected areas. Selected
countries were Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia. In
order to gain a more representative sample of the private sector, the survey was extended to
include the Republic of South Africa and Zimbabwe. However, time and resources permitted
only the collation of summary statistics for these two additional countries.

A principal difficulty with the term private protected area lies in the word private, which
may be interpreted differently according to the national or local legislation, culture and
language. During the course of the study and as a result of discussions with collaborators
from study countries, a working definition private protected areas was agreed as follows:

Sites owned freehold or formally leased by individuals, corporations and other
private bodies in which wildlife conservation is a primary activity and the
responsibility of such owners or leaseholders.

Laws may sometimes place restrictions and obligations on the owners or leaseholders, but
these do not diminish the private nature of such sites.

Clearly, this definition of a private protected area, in which wildlife conservation is a
primary activity, is weaker that the IUCN definition of a protected area, which is especially
dedicated to the protection and maintenance of biodiversity (Section 1). It is likely, therefore,
that not all private protected areas considered in this preliminary study would qualify as a
protected area sensu IUCN.

2.2 Data gathering

Information on private protected areas was solicited by means of a questionnaire from a
range of contacts within the selected countries. Responses to the questionnaire varied.
Contacts in Uganda, Malawi and Mozambique were unable to find the resources to undertake
the work involved. The Tanzanian authorities provided details of the only significant private
protected area in the country, Mkwaja Ranch. This was supplemented by other information
from Knight Frank International, Estate Agents, who have been marketing the ranch. The
National Parks and Wildlife Services of Zambia provided a list of their privately-owned sites,
as did the Ministry of Environment and Tourism, Namibia. The Centre for Biodiversity,
National Museums of Kenya holds information on many of Kenya’s private protected areas
and was able to complete questionnaires for the majority of such sites.

2.3. Information compilation

Data from the questionnaires were entered into the WCMC Protected Areas Database. Where
available, mapped information was digitised and incorporated with the WCMC Biodiversity
Map Library, a geographic information system which is linked to the Protected Areas
Database. These information management systems were used to generate summary statistics
from which the contribution of the private sector to the region’s protected areas system is
reviewed.

3. PRIVATE PROTECTED AREAS IN EAST AND SOUTHERN AFRICA

The results of this preliminary survey are summarised in Figure 1 and, in Table 1, compared
with the extent of legally designated protected areas under the jurisdiction of government
agencies. Although they cover only a selection of countries in East and Southern Africa, they
demonstrate the extensiveness of private protected areas in several of these countries.

In the Republic of South Africa, private protected areas (i.e. game ranches registered with
the authorities) are very much more numerous and more extensive than legally designated
sites. In Kenya, Namibia and Zimbabwe, the extent of private protected areas is also
significant, both in terms of total land area (1% or more) and in comparison with the legally
designated protected areas system. Only in Tanzania, with just one site, and Zambia do
private protected areas represent a tiny proportion of the entire protected areas system.

Private protected areas provide a variety of important conservation and other services,
ranging from safe havens and breeding endangered species in the wild for subsequent re-
introduction to ecological tourism and sustainable use of wildlife. The conservation role of
private protected areas is sometimes crucial. For example, Ol Ari Nyiro Ranch holds 10%
of Kenya’s remaining 500 black rhinos Diceros bicornis. Further details and examples are
provided in the next section.

The extent of private protected areas in East and Southern Africa, expressed

Figure 1
as a percentage of the total area of each country.

Legend
L]0-1%

EI 0.5-25%
M>5%

[_] No Data

o0o-

30°

Table 1 Extent of private and legally designated protected areas (IUCN Management
Categories I-V) in a selection of East and Southern African countries.

Legally Designated Protected
Total Area Areas?
(sq. km) area 5 area
| 103,706 | 12.
235
[tanzania | 945,050 | 1 | __ ass | 0.05 | 28 | 130,000 | 13.76
| 30,678 |

ry
2
3

eae) | ee ee
390,310

! Compiled from returned questionnaires and personal communications.

Source: McNeely et al. (1994).

4. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

The results from this preliminary study demonstrate that, although practices vary from
country to country, the private sector makes an invaluable contribution to biodiversity
conservation. Countries which have had free-market economies for a long time, and in which
the purchase of freehold property is permitted, have attracted private individuals and
corporate bodies to invest in conservation-oriented initiatives. Those countries, such as
Tanzania, which have been more socialist in style and in which freehold land is nor available
have not attracted the private sector.

There is often anecdotal evidence of private initiatives in many other countries of the world,
particularly elsewhere in Africa, throughout the Americas and in Europe. They also feature
to a lesser extent in parts of Asia and Australasia.

Given the significant contribution of the private sector to the world’s protected areas, based
on this pilot study, it is necessary to gain a thorough understanding of the distribution of
private protected areas and the biodiversity which they support. This is important for a
number of reasons. First, it is vital for conservation planning purposes, particularly at
national, regional and even global levels. Identification of gaps in protected areas systems,
for example, could precipitate the selective purchase of sites to meet specific objectives, such
as the conservation of threatened species or centres of diversity or endemism. Secondly,
greater awareness of the contribution of the private sector will help to develop and strengthen
its role in conserving biodiversity, particularly as national protected areas agencies
increasingly explore novel approaches to managing their estate. Thirdly, there is much to
learn from the private sector, particularly with respect to the economics of managing
protecting areas through sustainable use of wildlife resources, ecotourism and other
enterprises.

Based on these preliminary findings, it is recommended that the survey be extended to other
countries in Africa and that a similar study be commissioned for Latin America. The
feasibility of carrying out such a survey in North America and Europe should be assessed,
prior to undertaking a global review of private protected areas.

* OK KK *

REFERENCES

Alderman, C.L. 1992. The Economics and the Role of privately Owned Lands Used for
nature Tourism, Education and Conservation. Paper presented at IVth World Parks Congres
Caracas, February 1992. Environment Division, World Bank, Washington, DC.

IUCN, 1994. Guidelines for Protected Area Management Categories. [UCN Commission on
National Parks with the assistance of the World Conservation Monitoring Centre. IUCN,
Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK.

McNeely, J.A., Harrison, J. and Dingwall, P. (Eds) 1994b. Protecting Nature: Regional
Reviews of Protected Areas. YUCN, Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK.

WCMC, 1993. Assessing the Conservation Status of the World’s Tropical Forest. A
Contribution to the FAO Forest Resources Assessment 1990. Unpublished report. World
Conservation Monitoring Centre, Cambridge, UK.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The study was generously supported by the Dulverton Trust. of St. James Place, London, established in 1949 to
support conservation, youth, education, and general welfare.

Many agencies and individuals contributed their time and effort to this pilot study. We are most grateful for the help
received from Kamau Wakanene of the Centre for Biodiversity at the National Museums of Kenya, Jonathan Barnes
of the Ministry of the Environment and Tourism, Namibia assisted by Immanuel Nghishoongele, Henry Mwima of
the National Parks and Wildlife Service, Zambia and Godfrey Kamukala of the National Environment Management
Council, Tanzania.

We communicated with many organisations and individuals, including Judy Oglethorpe, IUCN Mozambique and
Peter Caroe of Knight Frank, International Estate Agents, who provided material on Mkwaja Ranch in Tanzania.

Within WCMC, we particularly wish to thank James Paine, Alison Barrett, Ronan Smith for technical assistance,
Gillian Bunting for producing the maps, Laura Battlebury and Victoria Freeman for secretarial assistance.

Figure 1 The extent of private protected areas in East and Southern Africa, expressed
as a percentage of the total area of each country.