A study estimates funding needs for African protected areas (PAs) with lions. PAs are fundamental to international biodiversity conservation efforts. In Africa, where more than half the range of lions falls within PAs, funding shortfalls might undermine the effectiveness of PAs. Peter A. Lindsey, Jennifer Miller, Lisanne Petracca, and colleagues collected 2015 funding data for 282 African PAs with lions in 23 countries. Lions face threats that affect many other species in Africa, making lions a useful proxy for the conservation status of wildlife. The PAs with lions received $381 million in total annual funding, with a median of $200/km2. Using three independent measures--the average annual spending on PAs managed by the African Parks Network, an empirical model developed by the authors, and a previously published estimate of lion management costs--the authors estimated the minimum funding required for effective lion conservation to be approximately $1,000-$2,000/km2 on average, or $1.2-2.4 billion total annual funding. Thus, the total annual funding deficit for all assessed PAs was $0.9-2.1 billion, with 88-94% of individual PAs with lions being underfunded. The results suggest that increased investment in African PAs is needed to prevent continued declines in lion populations, according to the authors.
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Article #18-05048: "More than $1 billion needed annually to secure Africa's protected areas with lions," by Peter A. Lindsey et al .
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Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences