Protected areas have become part and parcel of global debates on such issues as security, human rights, genetic resources, foods and medicines, access to land and resources, social and cultural values and human heritage. Yet, while there are growing efforts to secure these areas, protected areas are also experiencing direct and indirect threats to their very survival. What must be done to protect these precious and often unique places has been debated over the past several decades since the earliest World Parks Conference in 1962. In the meantime, however, accelerating forces of change are bringing greater challenges to the protected areas management enterprise at local, national, and global levels. Climate change, rising sea levels, invasive species, changing habitats and expanding human settlements have direct impacts on existing protected areas. Current and proposed sites are facing new policies related to governance, finance and access to resources. Growing populations with increasing demands for water, food, energy and fibre, and with changing food preferences and employment needs, are creating pressures around the periphery of existing sites, resulting in what Norman Myers called “the salami treatment” where small but significant slices of protected areas are removed in favour of agriculture, forestry, mineral extraction and human settlements.
This book brings together the experience and wisdom of the leading thinkers and practitioners of protected area planning and management. The editor, Jeff McNeely, brings together the disparate and often complex literature and debate regarding protected areas, deducing the “lessons learned” by so many researchers, managers, teachers and local communities.
