The Politics and Economics of Park Management examines national protected area systems, in both developed and developing countries, that have made a transformation from "fortress parks" to a sustainable use model. The contributors – park management, academics, and members of nongovernmental organizations – contend that successful institutional change in protected area systems involves not only the adoption of appropriate legal and regulatory regimes covering sustainable use but also the development of an informal culture of sustainable resource use among all of a park's stakeholders. While this latter requirement is often difficult to achieve, the contributors show how these informal attitudes may evolve over time, both within the management structure of a park agency and the community of resource users. The case studies cited represent examples of successful institutional change, demonstrating both financial and conservation benefits to protected area agencies, that should serve as models for managing parks today.
Chapter 1 Introduction: Parks, Politics, and Property Rights
Theoretical Approach
Chapter 2 An Institutional Approach to Protected Area Management Performance
Applications: Successful Park Institutions
Chapter 3 The National Parks Board Experience in Southern Africa
Chapter 4 Back to the Future to Save Our Parks
Chapter 5 Sustainable Financing for Protected Areas in Sub-Saharan Africa and the Caribbean
Chapter 6 Preserving Institutional and Ecological Diversity in Argentina's Protected Area System
Opportunities for Institutional Change
Chapter 7 Contracting Out at Parks Canada
Chapter 8 New Management Strategies for Kruger National Park
Chapter 9 A Trust Approach to the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monumnent
Chapter 10 Parks Are for People—But Which People?
Terry L. Anderson is Executive Director of the Political Economy Research Center in Bozeman, Montana. Alexander James is a doctoral research student in the Department of Land Economy at the University of Cambridge.
"The proposition that human beings and nature can be separated anywhere on earth is increasingly seeming a fiction. The management of national parks, accordingly, must be rethought. This book is the place to start. The Politics and Economics of Park Management has more new ideas and interesting case material about national and state parks here in the United States and around the world than any other source I know."
– Robert H. Nelson, School of Public Policy, University of Maryland
"Useful for individuals interested in applying market-based solutions to biodiversity conservation. Upper-division undergraduates through professionals."
– Choice
"This is a thought-provoking book that could help to shake protected-area managers out of any complacence that may remain in this time of increasing social and economic pressure on our planet's remaining bits of nature."
– Environment
"Nine papers provide theoretical insights and international experience relevant to the successful modernization of park management."
– Journal of Economic Literature