Towards understanding drivers of wildlife population trends in terrestrial protected areas

International conservation efforts rely heavily on protected areas, which are commonly considered the most important tool available to maintain habitat integrity and species diversity in the face of increasing anthropogenic threats worldwide. Improved understanding of drivers would lead to management and policy that are more likely to maximise species outcomes in protected areas, and this would yield tangible conservation benefits in the short and long term. This chapter presents findings from evaluations of recent and historical literature and examines three new lines of evidence that illuminate possible drivers of wildlife population outcomes in terrestrial protected areas. First, it examines emergent factors as identified in the literature, examines the findings of the global study on management effectiveness and presents two contrasting quantitative case studies from Canada and Africa. The chapter also highlights key synergies and differences between the findings of these studies