Sustainability of protected areas: Vulnerabilities and opportunities as revealed by COVID-19 in a national park management agency

COVID‐19 lockdown frees wildlife to roam but increases poaching threats in Nepal

“…(2021) also reported an increase in wildlife crime in India, reporting 117 pangolin seizures between January 2018 and August 2020 from 319 states across India. The pandemic emphasized the interconnectedness of people and ecosystems, and the multidimensional interdependencies between the sustainability principles (Smith et al., 2021). In our study, two PAs, CNP, and SNNP witnessed a large increase in incidents.…”

The relative importance of COVID‐19 pandemic impacts on biodiversity conservation globally

“…This has had a dramatic impact on the operation of protected areas that rely heavily on tourism for funding (Hockings et al 2020;Lindsey et al 2020). In South Africa's National Parks, which are about 85% funded by tourism-related spending (Lindsey et al 2020), tourism revenue dropped by 90% in April-June 2020 (Smith et al 2021), while in the Galapagos at least half the expected 2020 tourism revenue was predicted to be lost (Diaz-Sanchez & Obaco 2020). Wildlife tourism employees and communities will suffer financial hardship and may lose their livelihoods or be lost from the conservation sector.…”

Envisioning a resilient future for biodiversity conservation in the wake of the COVID‐19 pandemic

“…Reductions in human activity allowed wildlife to exploit new habitats or move back into areas that were previously abandoned (Waithaka et al, 2021, CS1, CS3, Table 1), leading to increased species richness in some areas, at least temporarily (Manenti et al, 2020). Some protected areas also reported fewer disturbances of animals due to lower visitation rates, and fewer incidences of road kill (Smith et al, 2021). However, enhanced illegal trafficking of wildlife was reported in some regions as livelihoods collapsed or enforcement efforts were reduced (Cherkaoui et al, 2020; CS1, Table 1).…”

“…We identified five cross-cutting conservation issues that were being caused, or were likely to be exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic (Table 2; Figure 2). These were: (a) reduced funding and/or income resulting from lowered visitation/memberships that directly contributed towards conservation activities (Lindsey et al, 2020;Smith et al, 2021;CS1, CS2, CS3, CS5 and CS6) or which provided income and livelihoods to local communities (CS2 and CS6), and concerns that international funds would be reduced or redirected elsewhere (Cheval et al, 2020;Corlett et al, 2020;CS1-6); (b) a reduction in or lack of monitoring data caused, or exacerbated, by closures and social distancing restrictions (Cheval et al, 2020;Sugai, 2020 (Corlett et al, 2020;Evans et al, 2020;Harrison et al, 2020;Laffoley et al, 2020;Lu et al, 2021;MacFarlane & Rocha, 2020). Rangers working within the Cantanhez National Park, Guinea-Bissau, were trained in how to reduce inter-species disease transmission and risk (CS2).…”