Context-Dependent Biodiversity Conservation Management Regimes

Worldwide degradation of ecosystems has motivated a search for successful conservation approaches. The perceived failure of state-directed protected areas in the tropics has prompted experimentation with various forms of community management and co-management. Numerous case studies suggest that none of these approaches are effective universally, however, there exists little analytical or empirical work to identify under what conditions one arrangement will be more effective than another. This paper develops a model of optimal conservation design, in terms of locating authority for specific conservation tasks, as a function of prevailing biophysical, economic, and sociopolitical conditions.