Institutions, Governance, and the Economic Performance of Protected Areas in Southern Africa
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INSTITUTIONS, GOVERNANCE, AND THE ECONOMIC PERFORMANCE OF PROTECTED AREAS IN SOUTHERN AFRICA By ALEXANDER CHIDAKEL A DISSERTATION PRESENTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA 2018 © 2018 Alexander Chidakel ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Two classes were instrumental in narrowing the broad ideas I arrived with at UF. Principles of Community Conservation, taught by my adviser Dr. Brian Child, illuminated the depth of science underneath the facile rhetoric of community based natural resource management. Through it, my introduction and re-introduction to theories political, social, and economic imparted essential frameworks for understanding and describing the social-ecological systems at the heart of this research. Protected Area Management, also taught by Brian Child, inspired the philosophical questions at root of the research. Namely, “who are parks for?” and “what is their value?”. My committee co-chair Dr. Grenville Barnes’ course on land tenure and administration was also influential by illuminating the complexities and risk inherent in the formalization of predominantly informal tenure systems. In South Africa, I am grateful for the data and institutional support provided by Louise Swemmer of South African National Parks as well as the Mpumalanga Tourism and Parks Agency. Additionally, much of the preliminary field work was based out of the Southern African Wildlife College in South Africa and there I thank Sandy du Plessis, who provided logistical support and valuable contacts, and Thabisile Sibuye, Collen Mkansi, Freddie Nokeri, Rejoice Ndlovu, and Thomas Ndhlovu who helped with conducting surveys inside Kruger National Park in their role as environmental monitors. Most importantly, the research would not have been possible without the cooperation of the reserve wardens, executive committee chairmen, and lodge owners and managers of the Greater Kruger Area. Given the size of the study area, gaps in the initial dataset were inevitable. Thankfully though, through collaboration with Candice Eb of the Global 3 Environment Facility (GEF), who conducted an extensive survey of reserve managers, many of these gaps were filled. In Zambia, institutional support and critical data were provided by the Department of National Parks and Wildlife. The support of the Luangwa Safari Association, on behalf of the community of tourism operators in the valley, was also invaluable. Additionally, contacts in the Wildlife Producers Association of Zambia contributed important background information and helped to encourage the cooperation of the association’s members. In terms of data collection, significant progress was made during an intense two week GEF-sponsored and Brian Child-organized workshop at Mfuwe in June, 2016, where Usman Iftikhar, Thiago Beraldo, Candice Eb, Grant Simuchimba, and others helped in designing and initiating surveys related to the local economy. Thanks to the dedication of William Mwembela, of Malama, one of these surveys—of local non-tourism businesses—was greatly expanded following the workshop. I also thank the community resource boards of Kakumbi, Malama, Mkhanya, Nsefu, Jumbe, Mwanya, Msoro, Luembe, and Nyalugwe for the opportunity to meet with representatives and their general cooperation. Finally, I thank Dr. Christa Court of the Institute for Food and Agricultural Sciences at UF for reviewing the methodology and technical procedures I employed in the modeling of economic multipliers. This analysis was the most complicated and tedious part of the research. Financial support for field research was provided primarily by the GEF, The Norwegian Programme for Capacity Development in Higher Education and Research for Development (NORHED), and the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at UF. 4 The Center for African Studies at UF also contributed funding, for field research during the preliminary stage, and for two years of campus-based studies. 5 TABLE OF CONTENTS page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .................................................................................................. 3 LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................ 9 LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................................ 11 LIST OF OBJECTS ....................................................................................................... 13 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ........................................................................................... 14 ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................... 16 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................... 18 The Dependent Variables: Value and its Distribution .............................................. 21 Goals ...................................................................................................................... 22 Contributions ........................................................................................................... 22 Structure of the Dissertation ................................................................................... 24 2 LITERATURE REVIEW .......................................................................................... 25 The Comparative Economic Advantage of Wildlife-based Land Uses .................... 25 The Conservation Value of Game Ranching ........................................................... 26 New Institutional Economics and a Theory of Economic Development .................. 32 Institutional Change and Analysis .................................................................... 33 The Formal Institutional Environment: Property Rights and Markets ................ 37 Structures of Governance ................................................................................. 40 The normative logic of structure ....................................................................... 45 The Study Area and the Institutional Context of PAs .............................................. 52 The Economic Value of Wildlife in the Study Region .............................................. 55 3 RESEARCH METHODS ......................................................................................... 62 Study Design .......................................................................................................... 62 Methods .................................................................................................................. 63 Methods Used in Zambia .................................................................................. 66 Methods Used in South Africa .......................................................................... 73 4 A MIXED METHODS APPROACH TO ASSESSING THE SOCIO-ECONOMIC IMPACT OF PROTECTED AREAS: PARKS, COMMUNITIES AND GAME RANCHES IN SOUTH LUANGWA, ZAMBIA. ......................................................... 80 6 Introduction ............................................................................................................. 80 The Formal Institutional Environment for Wildlife and Land in Zambia ............. 80 Protected Areas in the Study Region ............................................................... 83 Results: South Luangwa National Park................................................................... 88 Park Visitation .................................................................................................. 88 Economic Impacts of Tourism .......................................................................... 88 The Local Business Economy .......................................................................... 95 Results: The GMAs and Game Ranches ................................................................ 97 Hunting Activity in the Lower Luangwa Valley .................................................. 97 Hunter Spending Associated with the GMAs and Game Ranches ................... 97 Meat Production ............................................................................................... 98 Direct Impacts of Hunter Spending ................................................................... 99 Government remittances to CRBs and Impacts of CRB Spending ................. 100 Governance of game management areas ...................................................... 102 Discussion ............................................................................................................ 103 Putting the Figures into Context: The Park as an Engine for Economic Development ............................................................................................... 103 The GMA Wildlife Economy ............................................................................ 108 Conclusion ............................................................................................................ 112 5 THE ECONOMIC IMPACT OF KRUGER NATIONAL PARK AND THE SURROUNDING RESERVES .............................................................................. 127 Introduction ........................................................................................................... 127 Study Objectives ................................................................................................... 127 Study Area ...........................................................................................................