Transfrontier Conservation Area

A transboundary protected area (TBPA) is a protected area that spans boundaries of more than one country or sub-national entity, where the political border sections that are enclosed within its area are abolished. This includes removing all human-made physical boundaries, such as fences, allowing animals and humans to move freely within the area. A boundary around the area may, however, be maintained to prevent unauthorised border crossing. Such areas are also known by terms such as transfrontier conservation areas (TFCAs) or peace parks. The Global Transbounday Protected Areas Network cites five different types of TBPAs as follows:

The preservation of traditional animal migration patterns, ensuring sufficient food and water sources for population growth, is the primary reason for the creation of peace parks. However, peace parks also encourage tourism, economic development and goodwill between neighbouring countries, as well as making it easier for indigenous inhabitants of the area to travel around.

On 1 February 1997, Anton Rupert, together with Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands and Nelson Mandela, founded the Peace Parks Foundation as a Nonprofit organisation to facilitate the establishment of transfrontier conservation areas (TFCAs), also called peace parks.

A 2001 study by the World Conservation Union found "there were 166 existing transboundary protected area complexes worldwide comprising 666 individual conservation zones."

In 2007, the Global Transboundary Conservation Network published a global inventory of transboundary protected areas identifying 227 transboundary protected areas.

Of the world's twenty transboundary UNESCO biosphere reserves, twelve are in Europe. Spain, Portugal, Poland, and Ukraine each contribute to three reserves.

TBPA advocates have identified additional sites for protection. Professor Saleem Ali of the University of Vermont notes that "numerous ecologically sensitive areas remain unprotected" and cites a 2006 "geographic information systems (GIS) study" that "found 104 transboundary wild areas involving 61 countries that are not formally part of any conservation park." Specific sites for proposed TBPAs include:

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