Social context and the role of collaborative policy making for private land conservation

Abstract

Recent decades have seen a proliferation of conservation programmes designed to encourage private landholders to protect and enhance biodiversity on their land. This paper reviews research emphasising the role of social context in shaping private land conservation (PLC) outcomes. We examine the potential for a collaborative policy-making process incorporating design and implementation of PLC programmes to reduce conflict between conservation agencies and landholders and increase community consensus around PLC issues. Collaborative partnerships nested at the sub-watershed governance level may represent the most appropriate geographic scale for engaging community interest, whilst linking PLC efforts to higher-level institutional frameworks.

Keywords:

• private land conservation
• social dimensions
• collaboration
• market-based instruments

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge the feedback from three anonymous reviewers who helped to improve an earlier version of this manuscript.