Improving social impact assessment of protected areas: A review of the literature and directions for future research

Journal Article · Mon May 15 04:00:00 EDT 2017 · Environmental Impact Assessment Review

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/J.EIAR.2016.12.007· OSTI ID:22687998

Jones, Nikoleta ^[1]; McGinlay, James ^[2]

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1. Global Sustainability Institute, Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge (United Kingdom)
2. School of Water, Energy & Environment, Cranfield University, Cranfield (United Kingdom)

Protected areas are the most widely applied policy tool for biodiversity conservation. However, effective management of protected areas is often obstructed by conflicts mainly associated with the social impacts imposed on local communities and other users by their establishment. Despite the importance of these social impacts they remain significantly under-researched. There is now an increasing need to incorporate social impacts in decision making processes by providing accurate estimations and develop ways to forecast their change in the future. Considering the increase of studies identifying this need, the present paper aims to indicate three main directions that will assist in designing effective tools for measuring and most importantly understanding social impacts: a) perceptions on social impacts of individuals who are directly affected by protected areas need to be incorporated in management evaluation techniques in a meaningful and accurate way and be combined with objective measurements of impact; b) understanding the factors determining the actual and perceived levels of social impacts is a key step for the design of effective management frameworks of protected areas and c) social impacts should not be seen as static concepts but should be seen as a dynamic and long-term factor which needs to be incorporated in decision-making processes.

• OSTI ID: 22687998
• Journal Information: Environmental Impact Assessment Review, Journal Name: Environmental Impact Assessment Review Vol. 64; ISSN 0195-9255; ISSN EIARDK
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
DECISION MAKING
DESIGN
MANAGEMENT
NATURE RESERVES
SOCIAL IMPACT
SPECIES DIVERSITY