Dissertation Research : "Incorporating Local Communities into the Governance of Southern African Peace Parks"

跨界保护区是跨越国际边界的公园，通常由两个或两个以上毗邻的国家公园组成。在过去的十年里，它们在世界范围内变得越来越受欢迎，现在已经有近200种。它们的受欢迎源于提倡三个关键特征的倡导者：自然资源保护者声称它们的巨大面积有助于保护生物多样性；经济顾问将大型公园、生态旅游和经济发展联系起来；其他倡导者则提出功能主义的论点，即努力实现共同目标有助于促进国家之间的和平。然而，与此同时，当管辖边界与生态边界不匹配时，跨界公园给试图治理的管理者带来了一个有趣的挑战，他们面临着国家公园不面临的交易成本。挑战在于如何建立和加强机构，以有效弥合政治边界造成的差距，最大限度地减少这些交易成本，并协调多层次的治理努力。利用跨界保护区作为检查多层次跨界治理的一种手段，这项研究转向跨界公园运动活跃的南部非洲。仅南非一国就在创建六个不同的跨界公园，与每个邻国合作一个或多个项目。其中两个项目为分析提供了有趣的案例--南非和博茨瓦纳的卡拉加迪跨境公园，以及南非、莫桑比克和津巴布韦的大林波波跨境公园。这两个公园都有许多共同的特点--规模大，历史悠久的国家公园，相似的生态系统，以及同等的国际认可。然而，一个不同之处在于，卡拉加迪公园是由当地公园官员协调边境两侧的努力而产生的，而大林波波公园是由国家部委选择建立一个国际公园而产生的。利用对社会、政治和生态干扰的政策反应，这项研究将考察两个跨界公园之间的国家公园反应和协调的国际努力有何不同。在这个过程中，我希望洞察如何创建更有效的跨境多层次治理机构。

Transboundary protected areas are parks that cross international borders, generally composed of two or more adjoining national parks. Over the past decade they have grown in popularity worldwide with near 200 now in existence. Their popularity stems from advocates promoting three key features: conservationists claim that their large size helps preserve biodiversity; economic advisors draw links between large parks, ecotourism, and economic development; and, other advocates make a functionalist argument that working towards common goals helps promote peace between nations. At the same time, however, transboundary parks create an interesting challenge to managers attempting to govern when jurisdictional boundaries do not match ecological boundaries, confronting transaction costs that national parks do not face. The challenge is how to build and strengthen institutions that effectively bridge the gaps created by political borders, minimize these transaction costs, and coordinate multi-level governance efforts. Using transboundary protected areas as a means to examine multi-level, cross-border governance, this study turns to southern Africa where the transboundary park movement is active. South Africa, alone, is creating six different transboundary parks, working with each of its neighbors on one or more projects. Two of these projects provide interesting cases for analysis -- the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park of South Africa and Botswana and the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park of South Africa, Mozambique, and Zimbabwe. Both parks share many traits -- large size, long national park histories, similar ecosystems, and equivalent international recognition. One difference, however, is that the Kgalagadi emerged from the efforts of local park officials coordinating efforts on both sides of the border, while the Great Limpopo arose from national ministries electing to establish an international park. Using policy responses to social, political, and ecological disturbances, this study will look at how national park responses and coordinated international efforts differ between the two transboundary parks. In the process, I hope to gain insight into how to create more effective institutions for multi-level governance across borders.