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

摘要

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