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Evaluating the ecological performance of protected areas

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Abstract

While protected areas are a key component of the global conservation strategy, quantitative demonstrations of their positive ecological performance, meaning the extent to which they conserve the biodiversity features they were designated for, is broadly lacking. This commentary presents the emerging field of impact of evaluation of protected areas, with a focus on establishing their ecological performance. It highlights recent advances in protected area evaluations and explores the challenges remaining in developing a more credible evidence base to demonstrate the biodiversity conservation benefits of protected areas.

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Acknowledgments

Kevin Gaston, Steven Chown and Melodie McGeoch are thanked for discussion and comments by Kristi Maciejewski improved the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Bernard W. T. Coetzee.

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Communicated by David Hawksworth.

This article belongs to the Topical Collection: Biodiversity protection and reserves.

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Coetzee, B.W.T. Evaluating the ecological performance of protected areas. Biodivers Conserv 26, 231–236 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-016-1235-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-016-1235-2

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