[ These 'perspectives' are intended to provoke thought and stimulate debate within UNDP and partner organizations. They do not necessarily represent UNDP's final word on these issues. This website will soon feature a discussion forum in which staff will be able to exchange opinion on these and other biodiversity issues. In the meantime, please send any comments and suggestions to biodiversity@undp.org ]
PEOPLE AND PROTECTED AREAS
Context:
Protected areas are defined by IUCN - The World Conservation Union as “[areas] of land and / or sea especially dedicated to the protection and maintenance of biological diversity, and of natural and associated cultural resources, and managed through legal or other effective means.” To date, over 100,000 such areas, covering some 12 per cent of the Earth’s land surface, have been established. This remarkable network of (relatively) undisturbed nature has its immediate origins in 19th Century America. By the late 1970s, protected areas founded on three central principles – human exclusion, protection legislation and the assumption of state ownership – had come to dominate conservation activities throughout the world.
Perspectives:
>> The importance of protected areas
In recent years, the validity of this ‘standard model’ has increasingly been called into question. Many within the development community have argued that the establishment of protected areas is often achieved at the expense of local people, who are frequently forced to relocate or face loss of livelihoods when parks are established. While it is true that parks strategies have often failed to take adequate account of the needs of the poor, protected areas cannot be written off as anachronistic. In protecting biodiversity, in reducing the impacts of global climate change, and in guarding against the failure of vital ecosystem services, protected areas deliver immense benefits to all humanity, rich and poor alike. While protected areas should aim to mitigate adverse impacts on local communities, this must not compromise their importance in safeguarding humanity's long-term survival on the planet.>> Improving protected areas
If we are to continue to enjoy these benefits, existing protected areas must remain protected. Moreover, the current network must be extended to ensure that the full spectrum of Earth’s major ecosystems is adequately represented. There is a particular need for more and better marine protected areas (at present, less than one per cent of the ocean is protected). Management of existing parks must be strengthened and their ecological resilience enhanced (through, for example, the establishment of biological corridors to allow for such natural processes as the migration of large mammals).>> Parks for people
As parks strategies move forward, greater attention must be paid to the needs of the people who live in and around protected areas, and who would otherwise benefit from the use of the natural resources within their boundaries. Certainly, protected areas must never contribute to or exacerbate poverty. Rather, wherever possible, protected areas should be managed so as to reduce poverty (through, for example, tourism, sustainable harvesting, job opportunities in conservation, etc.) Where such low-impact means are impracticable or insufficient (some important parks may prove unable to ‘pay their way’), resources should be mobilized to compensate poor communities for their stewardship of the biodiversity within parks. In the event that, despite these measures, the establishment of protected areas unavoidably entails negative social, cultural or economic impacts, affected communities must be duly compensated.>> People for parks: building support for protected areas
The long-term future of the protected areas movement will ultimately depend on the extent to which relevant stakeholders can be convinced of its importance. Enhanced communications strategies are needed at the local level to persuade communities that their own self-interest demands the protection of biodiversity. By highlighting the benefits of biodiversity, the importance of conservation within wider development agendas, and the consequent need for protected areas, such communications strategies should help to improve the effectiveness, increase the visibility, and enhance the developmental impact of protected areas, thereby securing their long-term future.>> People for parks: community participation
Another crucial way to build local support for protected areas is to involve communities in the planning and implementation of protected area strategies. This should also help ensure that communities are accorded their fair share of the benefits arising from protected areas. Some have argued that full control over the natural resources within parks should be ceded to local peoples. There is evidence to suggest that such a move can have positive implications for biodiversity. In the early 1980s, for example, the people of Pred Nai village in Thailand successfully restored an extensive mangrove forest that government authorities had previously been unable to protect. The experiment is worth trying in many contexts throughout the world. Certainly ‘community controlled areas’ in which biodiversity is demonstrably protected should be recognized as a legitimate form of conservation, and should be integrated, where appropriate, into wider parks schemes. (To demonstrate how community action can enhance biodiversity conservation within protected areas, the UN Foundation has recently put US$3 billion into a UNDP GEF-SGP Community Management of Protected Areas Conservation (COMPACT) sub-programme). But community management alone is not the answer in every case. Earth’s biological heritage is too valuable a chip to be gambled on any single hand. Communities should rather be seen as key partners – alongside local and national governments, NGOs and the private sector – within integrated ‘co-management’ strategies placed under the overall responsibility of national and national governments.>> “Think outside the boundaries”
Protected areas cannot be seen as islands of conservation, wholly removed from their socioeconomic and ecological settings. The developmental and environmental benefits of protected areas are both enhanced by a more ‘contextual’ approach that incorporates a focus on sustainable development both within and around park boundaries. For just as protected areas can contribute to poverty reduction in surrounding zones, poverty reduction in surrounding zones can help safeguard the core reserves themselves: the best way to reduce the exploitation of natural resources is to reduce the need for such exploitation. Moreover, the ecological viability of protected areas is improved by sound environmental management outside their boundaries. Protected areas cannot therefore be seen as a wholly sufficient conservation strategy in and of themselves: they are most effective if deployed as part of a comprehensive approach that fully recognizes the needs of the surrounding landscape and its peoples.These 'perspectives' are derived from UNDP’s vision of protected areas as a tool for achieving simultaneous conservation and development gains. This vision was widely shared at the Fifth World Parks Congress, held in Durban, South Africa, in September 2003. Indeed, with regard to protected areas, the aims of the development and conservation communities are more closely aligned than ever before. This is good news for people, and good news for biodiversity. The consensus view is embodied in the theme of the WPC as a whole (‘Benefits Beyond Boundaries’) and in its major published outcomes, including the ‘Durban Accord’.
[ These 'perspectives' are intended to provoke thought and stimulate debate within UNDP and partner organizations. They do not necessarily represent UNDP's final word on these issues. This website will soon feature a discussion forum in which staff will be able to exchange opinion on these and other biodiversity issues. In the meantime, please send any comments and suggestions to biodiversity@undp.org ]
Further information:
Protected areas map (by percentage) (PDF) [IUCN]
UNF / UNDP GEF-SGP Community Management of Protected Areas Conservation (COMPACT) [UNDP]
Information on the COMPACT sub-programmeBiodiversity Brief 15: Protected Areas (PDF) [IUCN / DFID / EC]
Online resources:
UNEP-WCMC's protected areas database
Contains detailed information on the location and extent of earth's protected areas
World Commission on Protected Areas homepageIUCN's Fifth World Parks Congress website
Contains the major published outcomes of the Congress, including the Durban Accord
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