The Environmental Policy Research Unit (EPRU) is working closely with local protected areas authorities, SANParks, in tackling the main difficulties in achieving a sustainable system of NPA.
South Africa has a policy of creating national protected areas (NPA) as a way to achieve on-site conservation of key landscapes, ecosystems and/or species. The NPA conservation movement in South Africa now subscribes to the bioregions conservation approach. The ecological side of bioregions is clearly defined, and maps of desired future configurations are clearly outlined and supported by legislation. Precise boundaries of bioregions in South Africa are now being carved. To achieve conservation goals in bioregions it is necessary that the social and economic arrangements in society support this. For instance, it will be easier to achieve these goals if people can see a way in which a well-functioning bioregion means increased welfare for them. Therefore ensuring the attainment of conservation goals requires the crafting of favorable social and economic arrangements in society. This task requires research inputs from a diverse number of disciplines, most notably economics and ecology. With that background, the EPRU and SANParks have organized a collaborative research program which focuses on several important questions. The answers will form an important input into the crafting of well-functioning bioregions. The questions in the South African program currently focus on (i) the welfare effects of different land-use configurations, (ii) the nature of incentive schemes for use in navigating a bioregion to economic sustainability, (iii) the cost-benefit analyses of different ecological plans, e.g. choice among different conservation corridors, (iv) the stance to take on devolution of powers (concerning resource use and regulation), (v) the valuation of and payments for ecosystem services in bioregions, and (vi) the determination of optimal park entrance fees.