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IMPROVING PARKS
Expanding both the number of new protected areas (parks) and introducing active management into existing areas where it is lacking are two key actions needed to meet worldwide biodiversity targets. There has been great debate within the conservation community on what management actions need to be taken within and with communities around a given park. Very different categories of parks exist, from strict nature reserves to biosphere reserves that allow human settlement and use. HDP research has shown that parks are effective, and often supported locally, when the management is appropriate to the social context. Understanding this context from park to park, and what it implies for management, is essential since parks within hotspots had an estimated 177 million people within 10 kilometers of their borders in 2002.
HDP staff is working on a variety of projects investigating how to improve the management of protected areas within particular social contexts. | |
| | | A joint CABS Conservation Economics Program-HDP study revealed that the number of park staff is essential for fighting protected area deforestation in the Andes. | | | |  | | | |
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HDP and CABS' Conservation Economics Program (CEP) are jointly studying protected areas in Peru and Ecuador, in the Tropical Andes Hotspot. HDP researchers met with park managers and representatives from non-governmental organizations and used satellite-based data showing changes in forest cover to discuss why certain areas within parks have remained intact while others have not. This research:
- documents efforts to rezone national parks to meet local economic demands,
- estimates the proportions of parks devoted to sustainable use versus strict conservation,
- documents cases where conservation territories have been expanded, and
- reviews the extent to which different management practices have stopped forest conversion.
The findings are helping to define what management approaches work best, and the cost for different categories of protected areas in different social contexts. They form the basis of a new curriculum to train park managers in understanding and addressing appropriately the challenges and opportunities of managing their park. These findings were presented at the 5th World Parks Congress in Durban, South Africa.
RELATED PUBLICATIONS
Brandon, K. 2002. Putting the right parks in the right places. In Terborgh, J., Van Schaik, C., Davenport, L.C., Rao, M. (Eds.), Making Parks Work: Strategies for Preserving Tropical Nature. pp. 468-481. Covelo, CA: Island Press.Gorenflo, L.J. 2002. Evaluating Human Population in Conservation Planning: An Example from the Sonoran Desert Ecoregion. Publications for Capacity Building. Arlington, VA: The Nature Conservancy.Brandon, K. 2001. Conservación de la Biodiversidad en Areas Protegidas: Clarificación de Objetivos y Estrategias. Seminario: El Corredor Biológico Mesoamericano para Conservar la Vida y Promover el Desarrollo. Costa Rica: Organization for Tropical Studies. | |
| |  | | New Presentations on Hydrological Services Available Online: Sampurno Bruijnzeel, tropical hydrology expert, talks about vegetation, reforestation, and hydrological services in two CI-sponsored presentations.
Oct. 16 presentation at the World Bank (8 MB PDF)
Oct. 17 presentation at CI (7.2 MB PDF)New CABS Brochure Now Available: Click here to view the latest CABS brochure. Contact us to order a hard copy. The Environmental Systems Research Institute Awards CABS’ GIS & Mapping Lab: The Institute honored the Lab for the fifth time in six years, awarding it First Place in the Best Cartographic Design - Single Map Product category for the Coppename River AquaRAP by Mark Denil.
View the winning map Hotspots Revisited Available Online. Hotspots Revisited details the state of the earth's biodiversity hotspots. The book identifies 34 regions that cover only 2.3 percent of the Earth's surface but are home to 75 percent of the planet's most threatened species.
View Hotspots Revisited | |
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