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Published on: July 24, 2016
Identifying key risks to the performance of privately protected areas (PPAs) through theory of change (ToC)
Francois P Retief1, Reece C Alberts1, Claudine Roos1
1Unit for Environmental Sciences and Management, North West University (Potchefstroom Campus), Private Bag X6001, Potchefstroom, 2520, South Africa.
Abstract:
Privately protected areas (PPAs) are internationally considered to be important policy implementation instruments to augment and strengthen protected area networks. However, there has been limited reflection on the performance of PPAs over time. This paper aims to identify key risks to the performance of PPAs as policy implementation instruments through the application of Theory of Change (ToC). Identifying and understanding these risks are important to allow for the evaluation and monitoring of PPA performance. The ToC method was applied to a specific PPA policy instrument namely, private nature reserves (PNRs) in the South African context. The research results produced 29 key assumptions translated into 29 key risks. These risk are critically discussed against existing South African and international literature. To test and refine the risks further it is recommended that they be applied to PPA case studies in different contexts.
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