title: Why socio-political borders and boundaries matter in conservation.
abstract: Acting to demarcate the spatial limits of decision-making processes, socio-political boundaries are an inevitable part of a human-dominated world. Rarely coincident with ecological boundaries, and thus having no ecological functional role by themselves, they nevertheless impose substantial costs on biodiversity and ecosystem conservation by fragmenting ownership, governance, and management. Where boundaries are in place, a lack of coordination on either side of a boundary affects the efficiency and efficacy of ecosystem management. We suggest four research pathways which will enhance our ability to address the adverse effects of socio-political borders on conservation: (i) scale-matching, (ii) quantification of the mutual economic benefits of conservation across boundaries, (iii) determining transboundary societal values, and (iv) acknowledging the importance of stakeholder behaviour and incentives.
authors: Sustainability Research Institute, School of Earth and Environment, University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT, UK. Electronic address: m.dallimer@leeds.ac.uk.
authors: Martin
authors: M
authors: Dallimer
authors: Department of Food and Resource Economics and Center for Macroecology, Evolution and Climate, University of Copenhagen, Rolighedsvej 23, 1958 Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors: Niels
authors: N
authors: Strange
mesh_terms: D044822:Biodiversity; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources / Q000191:economics* / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D017753:Ecosystem; D006801:Humans; D007391:International Cooperation; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors
keywords: biodiversity; ecosystem services; socio-ecological systems; transnational cooperation