Evaluating ecological integrity in national parks: Case studies from Canada and South Africa

Many existing parks are currently experiencing difficulties in achieving their conservation aims, yet they remain an important option for maintaining and enhancing the conservation of biological diversity and ecosystem processes. Critics have claimed that many national parks cannot continue to protect the biological resources within their borders, and the sustainability of these areas over the long-term is in question. Ways need to be found to strengthen those that are failing, and to understand and replicate those that are succeeding. This paper presents the empirical results from a systematic evaluation of how effectively six case study national parks and national park reserves in Canada and South Africa have been protecting ecological integrity. Several parks were effective at addressing the priorities for which they had monitoring data, however the effectiveness rating of each park decreased when all indicators, including those identified as priorities but lacking monitoring data, were analysed. This indicates that the parks had generally identified more priority indicators than they were actually able to address (for many reasons, including lack of budget or trained staff, managerial challenges). Overall, a systematic approach to evaluating ecological integrity in national parks is recommended as the managers of protected areas cannot be expected to conserve the biological diversity and ecosystem processes within their borders if they are unaware of the ecological status of the park’s biodiversity. The paper concludes with several practical recommendations for monitoring ecological integrity in national parks.