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Parachute science and collaboration in protected areas

Organizations that manage protected areas often lack scientists to conduct research and inform management. The resulting involvement of external scientists from international universities, nongovernmental organizations or other research organizations has raised concerns that some protected area research might not reflect local priorities or engage with local researchers — a phenomenon termed parachute science. Writing in the Journal of Applied Ecology, Smit and colleagues assessed the prevalence of parachute science among published research studies conducted in three national parks: Kruger National Park (South Africa), Nahuel Huapi National Park (Argentina) and Kakadu National Park (Australia).

Further findings by Smit et al. revealed potential benefits from collaboration between national and international researchers for research visibility, productivity and funding. However, the authors caution that the high percentage of papers involving national researchers but not representatives of protected-area managing agencies could represent ‘park parachuting’, in which exclusion of agencies limits the ability of research to inform management practices.

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References

Original article

  • Smit, I. P. J. et al. From parachuting to partnership: fostering collaborative research in protected areas. J. Appl. Ecol. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2664.14814 (2024)

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  1. Nature Reviews Biodiversity https://www.nature.com/nrbd/

    Tim Thomas

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Thomas, T. Parachute science and collaboration in protected areas.
Nat. Rev. Biodivers. 1, 12 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44358-024-00010-z

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  • Published: 15 January 2025

  • Issue Date: January 2025

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s44358-024-00010-z

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