September 2005, id21 insights #57

People and protected areas

New agendas for conservation

For many threatened plants and animals, protected areas are a vital refuge in the face of declining natural habitats. However, across the world they face increasing pressures. Some conservation policies are also disadvantageous for local people. What does the future hold for protected areas?

Other articles in this issue:

Making waves

Protecting marine and coastal areas involves many similar issues to terrestrial protected areas, including balancing conservation and development needs and managing tradeoffs between multiple users. However, they also present unique challenges: they often cross international boundaries and the high mobility or migration of many marine species makes protection beyond boundaries difficult.

Is forced displacement acceptable in conservation projects?

Over ten million people have been displaced from protected areas by conservation projects. Forced displacement in developing countries is a major obstacle to reducing poverty. It should no longer be considered a mainstream strategy for conservation and only applied in extreme cases following international standards.

Learning to learn

Societies place a high value on addressing two of the world's most pressing problems - alleviating poverty and protecting the world's biological diversity. A lot of money has been spent on these two objectives, international treaties have been signed and countless organisations have devoted time to implementing funds in projects.

Protecting nature, culture and people

Indigenous peoples' traditional ownership and use of land and resources has often been eroded by protected areas. Their consent has rarely been sought for establishing protected areas on their lands, nor have they received adequate compensation. But are conservation organisations and government protected area agencies beginning to recognise the important role these peoples can play?

Agriculture vs protected areas

Agriculturalists strive to increase crop production to provide poor communities with incomes and a secure food supply whilst environmentalists want to expand protected areas and reduce the intensity of farming.

Tourism in Nepal

Tourism in the Greater Himalaya supports the local economy with foreign exchange and by creating opportunities for local employment. Mass and unregulated tourism, however, can cause environmental damage, particularly in ecologically fragile areas. Is ecotourism - responsible travel that aims to conserve the environment and improve local people's welfare - an effective compromise?

Governance of protected areas

The 2003 World Parks Congress and 2004 Programme of Work on Protected Areas of the Convention on Biological Diversity brought unprecedented attention to the concept of governance of protected areas, with crucial implications for conservation worldwide.

Useful web links

Further web resources.

PDF version

Download this issue in PDF format.

Views expressed on these pages are not necessarily those of DFID, IDS, id21 or other contributing institutions. Copyright remains with the original authors but (unless stated otherwise) any article may be copied or quoted without restriction, provided both source (id21, insights) and authors are properly acknowledged and informed. Copyright © 2004 id21. All rights reserved.