Determining corridor success in Africa

While the success or failure of a wildlife corridor is often measured in terms of ecological benefits, there are other factors at play that can contribute to determining whether the creation and management of a wildlife corridor was successful.  In their article in Ecological Restoration (Issue 16), Sadie Ryan and Joel Hartter argue that to truly determine the success of corridor establishment, it’s important to take a larger perspective and evaluate the corridor in the context of surrounding land use and demographic change.  In other words, don’t forget the human factor.  For example, in western Uganda, a corridor linking Kibale National Park and Queen Elizabeth National Park was established almost 100 years ago.  While ecological measures such as reforestation of previously degraded area sound like a success, these measures do not tell the whole story.  The land surrounding the two parks and the corridor linking them is still highly impacted by human use, including a rapidly expanding human population and continued political and economic instability.  Keeping people out of these protected areas has at times led to greater conflict because it interferes with the economic livelihoods for locals, some of whose families were forcibly evicted from the parks when they were established.  A map of the region shows that buffer zones surrounding the protected areas are still inhabited by humans and suffer from agricultural use and human-wildlife conflict.  While the establishment of the parks and protection of the corridor between them represents a success story by some ecological measures, it’s misleading to evaluate this success without also considering the surrounding landscape.  Corridors can be better evaluated and planned for when these larger scale considerations are taken into account.