Next, we used these models to estimate visit rates to all but the smallest of the world’s terrestrial PAs. We compiled data on visit rates to over 500 PAs and built region-specific models, which predicted variation in visitation in relation to the properties of PAs and to local socioeconomic conditions. We tackled this shortfall in our understanding of a major ecosystem service by focusing on terrestrial PAs, which cover one-eighth of the land and are a major focus of nature-based recreation and tourism. But with almost all the world’s governments committed (through the Aichi Biodiversity Targets ) to integrating biodiversity into national accounts, policymakers require such gaps in our knowledge of natural capital to be filled. Until now, these problems have prevented data-driven analysis of the worldwide scale of nature-based recreation and tourism. Likewise, estimates of the value of visits vary greatly-geographically, among methods, and depending on the component of value being measured. Information on visit rates is limited, widely scattered, and confounded by variation in methods. Large-scale assessments have been restricted to regional or biome-specific investigations (but see ).
International Union for Conservation of Nature GLM,Įnjoyment of nature, much of it in protected areas (PAs), is recognised as the most prominent cultural ecosystem service, yet we still lack even a rough understanding of its global magnitude and economic significance. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.Ĭompeting interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are creditedįunding: This study was supported by The Natural Capital Project ( ). PLoS Biol 13(2):Ĭopyright: © 2015 Balmford et al. (2015) Walk on the Wild Side: Estimating the Global Magnitude of Visits to Protected Areas. Thus, even without considering the many other ecosystem services that PAs provide to people, our findings underscore calls for greatly increased investment in their conservation.Ĭitation: Balmford A, Green JMH, Anderson M, Beresford J, Huang C, Naidoo R, et al. These figures dwarf current, typically inadequate spending on conserving PAs. Linking our region-specific visit estimates to valuation studies indicates that these visits generate approximately US $600 billion/y in direct in-country expenditure and US $250 billion/y in consumer surplus. Applying these models to all but the very smallest of the world’s terrestrial PAs suggests that together they receive roughly 8 billion (8 x 109) visits/y-of which more than 80% are in Europe and North America. To address this, we compiled a globally-representative database of visits to PAs and built region-specific models predicting visit rates from PA size, local population size, remoteness, natural attractiveness, and national income. Winckler, Hongmei Yang, Vycke Yunivita, Katja Taxis, Jasper Stevens, Jan-Willem C.How often do people visit the world’s protected areas (PAs)? Despite PAs covering one-eighth of the land and being a major focus of nature-based recreation and tourism, we don’t know. Touw, Anna Turkova, Thirumurthy Velpandian, Lilly M. Svensson, Soumya Swaminathan, Urmila Thatte, Stephanie Thee, Tania A. Peloquin, Thomas Pouplin, Geetha Ramachandran, Jaya Ranjalkar, Vandana Roy, Rovina Ruslami, Ira Shah, Yatish Singh, Marieke G. Mathew, Vidya Mave, Estomih Mduma, Rachel Mlotha-Mitole, Stellah G. Hemanth Kumar, Awewura Kwara, Rakesh Lodha, Cecile Magis-Escurra, Nilza Martinez, Binu S. Day, Rajeshwar Dayal, Paolo Denti, Peter R. Bell, Chishala Chabala, Louise Choo, Geraint R. Marais, Dipti Agarwal, Sampson Antwi, Nguyen D.
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