Factors affecting buffer zone determination and management in protected areas

Abstract

Protected area policies negatively affect local people whose lives depend on these resources and cause conflicts between park managers and local residents. Buffer zone management is one of the tools developed to solve the problems. For the determination of buffer zones, some social, economic and ecological basic indicators should be defined. However, the most decisive factor is the local people living in the protected area. For this purpose, the data obtained by survey and interview method with experts working in the field and Kovada Lake National Park residents were analyzed with using SPSS 20 statistical package program. Mann-Whitney U test and Kruskal Wallis H tests were used in analyzes for obtained data. In addition, frequency and percentage values were used to explain the subject. According to the results of the study, all factors to be taken into consideration in determining the buffer zone, which consists of 35 factors and evaluated by experts, received a score above 3.5 points on average and were found important by the experts. In these evaluations made by experts, the highest scores were obtained from ecological and biological factors. In the assessments made by the local people, issues related to environmental protection (protection of plants and animals, prevention of poaching) and administrative matters (legal regulations, participation, information provision) were found important. Based on these findings, the determination and management of buffer zone evaluated by experts depended on effective factors and the conditions of the study area, it is thought to be convenient and useful.

Keywords

• protected areas
• buffer zone
• sustainable management
• kovada lake national park
• korunan alanlar
• tampon zon
• göstergeler
• sürdürülebilir yönetim
• kovada gölü milli parkı