Conservation in the Real World

Abstract

R ecent correspondence in Science has centered on whether conservation of biodiversity should focus on protected areas, where humans are excluded, or on sustainable development in areas where people live, a strategy referred to as community-based conservation.[*][1] The debate raises some important issues. First, protected areas and community areas are not alternatives. Rather, they are complementary strategies, and neither is self-sustaining. Protected areas are essential for the conservation of some species, but for practical purposes they can only represent a small fraction of the world's biota. Second, most biodiversity (such as insects and microbes) lies in regions where local communities cannot use it for self-sustaining commercial enterprise. Integrated Conservation and Development Projects (ICDPs) provide a form of compromise, in which conservation agencies supply aid in return for local stewardship of the biota. However, there are many undeclared problems with such schemes. For example, there is often a lack of compliance by local communities once aid projects are completed, and both central governments and commercial interests often override local authorities. Recognition of these problems is a first step toward finding solutions to them. One lesson from past ICDPs is that we cannot assume that a legislated protected area will automatically save biodiversity. All such areas are suffering attrition in terms of loss of area, habitats, and species. They become degraded…