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Protected Areas Are Necessary for Conservation

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Protecting the Wild

Abstract

THE WORLD’S FEW REMAINING protected ecosystems are becoming progressively threatened from human exploitation. They are also under threat from a new polemic, namely that protected areas have failed to adequately safeguard native ecologies and biota and are unlikely to do any better in the future. In contrast, it is argued that ecosystems in human-dominated landscapes are stable and have been for a long time; it is there that we must concentrate future conservation efforts even at the expense of protected areas. A recent debate in conservation biology urges society to move away from the protected area paradigm and to focus on altered landscapes outside parks, which are being taken over and modified by humans. While we recognize that new approaches to conservation are needed in a world of burgeoning human numbers, this does not mean that protected areas have no crucial function. The debate surrounding protected areas begs three important questions: First, do protected areas play a role in conservation that is not achieved in human ecosystems? Second, and if so, why are protected areas not achieving their goals and how can this be rectified? And third, how can human-dominated ecosystems contribute to conservation objectives; in particular, can protected areas and human-dominated areas support each other?

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Notes

  1. 1.

    M. Shellenberger and T. Nordhaus, “Introduction” in Love Your Monsters: Post-environmentalism and the Anthropocene, ed. M. Shellenberger and T. Nordhaus (Washington, D.C.: Breakthrough Institute, 2011), pp. 5–7; see as well P. Kareiva, R. Lalasz, and M. Marvier, “Conservation in the Anthropocene: Beyond Solitude and Fragility” in Love Your Monsters: Post-environmentalism and the Anthropocene, pp. 26–36.

  2. 2.

    The IUCN categories of protection are given in Wright, R. G., and Mattson, D. J. 1996. The origin and purpose of National Parks and Protected Areas. National Parks and Protected Areas: Their Role in Environmental Protection, ed. R. G. Wright (Oxford: Blackwell Science), pp. 3–14; A. R. E. Sinclair, “Integrating Conservation in Human and Natural Ecosystems” in Serengeti III: Human Impacts on Ecosystem Dynamics, ed. A. R. E. Sinclair, C. Packer, S. A. R. Mduma, and J. M. Fryxell (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2008), 471–95.

  3. 3.

    Origin of Yellowstone National Park, D. Houston, personal communication; also S. T. Olliff, P. Schullery, G. E. Plumb, and L. H. Whittlesey, “Understanding the Past: The History of Wildlife and Resource Management in the Greater Yellowstone Area” in Yellowstone’s Wildlife in Transition, ed. P. J. White, R. A. Garrott, and G. E. Plumb (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2013), pp. 10–28.

  4. 4.

    Origin of Kruger National Park, N. Owen-Smith, personal communication; also J. Carruthers, The Kruger National Park: A Social and Political History (Pietermaritzburg, South Africa: University of Natal Press, 1995).

  5. 5.

    The case for protected areas is given in National Parks and Protected Areas: Their Role in Environmental Protection, ed. R. G. Wright (Oxford: Blackwell Science, 1996); J. G. Nelson and R. Serafin, eds., National Parks and Protected Areas: Keystones to Conservation and Sustainable Development (New York: Springer-Verlag, 1997); J. Terborgh, C. V. Schaik, L. Davenport, and M. Rao, eds., Making Parks Work: Strategies for Preserving Tropical Nature (Washington, D.C.: Island Press, 2002); S. Stolton and N. Dudley, eds., Arguments for Protected Areas: Multiple Benefits for Conservation and Use (Washington, D.C.: Earthscan, 2010).

  6. 6.

    L. Cantú-Salazar and K. J. Gaston, “Very Large Protected Areas and Their Contribution to Terrestrial Biological Conservation,” BioScience 60 (2010): 808–18.

  7. 7.

    How Serengeti National Park provides protection is given in A. R. E. Sinclair, K. Metzger, J. M. Fryxell, and S. A. R. Mduma, eds., Serengeti IV: Sustaining Biodiversity in a Coupled Human-Natural System (Chicago: Chicago University Press, 2014).

  8. 8.

    J. G. C. Hopcraft, R. M. Holdo, E. Mwangomo, et al., “Why Are Wildebeest the Most Abundant Herbivore in the Serengeti Ecosystem?” in A. R. E. Sinclair, K. Metzger, J. M. Fryxell, and S. A. R. Mduma, eds., Serengeti IV: Sustaining Biodiversity in a Coupled Human-Natural System (Chicago: Chicago University Press, 2014).

  9. 9.

    K. L. Metzger, A. R. E. Sinclair, S. Macfarlane, M. B. Coughenour, and J. Ding, “Scales of Change in the Greater Serengeti Ecosystem” in Serengeti IV: Sustaining Biodiversity in a Coupled Human-Natural System, ed. A. R. E. Sinclair, K. Metzger, J. M. Fryxell, and S. A. R. Mduma (Chicago: Chicago University Press, 2014).

  10. 10.

    A. E. Byrom, W. A. Ruscoe, A. K. Nkwabi, et al., “Small Mammal Diversity and Population Dynamics in the Greater Serengeti Ecosystem” in Serengeti IV: Sustaining Biodiversity in a Coupled Human-Natural System, ed. A. R. E. Sinclair, K. Metzger, J. M. Fryxell, and S. A. R. Mduma (Chicago: Chicago University Press, 2014).

  11. 11.

    Serengeti IV: Sustaining Biodiversity in a Coupled Human-Natural System, ed. A. R. E. Sinclair, K. Metzger, J. M. Fryxell, and S. A. R. Mduma (Chicago: Chicago University Press, 2014)

  12. 12.

    M. E. Craft, K. Hampson, J. O. Ogutu, and S. M. Durant, “Carnivore Communities in the Greater Serengeti Ecosystem” in Serengeti IV: Sustaining Biodiversity in a Coupled Human-Natural System, ed. A. R. E. Sinclair, K. Metzger, J. M. Fryxell, and S. A. R. Mduma (Chicago: Chicago University Press, 2014).

  13. 13.

    Ibid.

  14. 14.

    H. G. Tingvold, R. Fyumagwa, C. Bech, L. F. Baardsen, H. Rosenlund, and E. Røskaft, “Determining Adrenocortical Activity as a Measure of Stress in African Elephants (Loxodonta africana) in Relation to Human Activities in Serengeti Ecosystem,” African Journal of Ecology (2013), doi:10.1111/aje.12069.

  15. 15.

    A. R. E. Sinclair, “Integrating Conservation in Human and Natural Systems” in Serengeti III: Human Impacts on Ecosystem Dynamics, ed. A. R. E. Sinclair, C. Packer, S. A. R. Mduma, and J. M. Fryxell (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2008), pp. 471–95.

  16. 16.

    A. R. E. Sinclair, D. S. Hik, O. J. Schmitz, G. G. E. Scudder, D. H. Turpin, and N. C. Larter, “Biodiversity and the Need for Habitat Renewal,” Ecological Applications 5 (1995): 579–87.

  17. 17.

    D. Craigie et al., “Large Mammal Population Declines in Africa’s Protected Areas,” Biological Conservation 143 (2010): 2221–28.

  18. 18.

    Loss of species from protected areas, and from African parks in particular, has been documented in W. D. Newmark, “Isolation of African Protected Areas,” Frontiers in Ecology and Environment 6 (2008): 321–28; W. D. Newmark, “Insularization of Tanzanian Parks and the Local Extinction of Large Mammals,” Conservation Biology 10 (1996): 1549–56; “Extinction of Mammal Populations in Western North American National Parks,” Conservation Biology 9 (1995): 512– 26; W. D. Newmark, “The Role and Design of Wildlife Corridors with Examples from Tanzania,” Ambio 12 (1993): 500, 504; W. D. Newmark, “A Land Bridge Island Perspective on Mammalian Extinctions in Western North American Parks,” Nature 325 (1987): 430, 432.

  19. 19.

    W. F. Laurance and 215 other authors, “Averting Biodiversity Collapse in Tropical Forest Protected Areas,” Nature 489 (2012): 290–94.

  20. 20.

    D. H. Janzen, “No Park Is an Island: Increase in Interference from Outside as Park Size Decreases,” Oikos 41 (1983): 402–10; D. Lindenmayer, B. J. F. Franklin, and J. Fischer, “General Management Principles and a Checklist of Strategies to Guide Forest Biodiversity Conservation,” Biological Conservation 131 (2006): 433–45.

  21. 21.

    C. R. Peters et al., “Paleoecology of the Serengeti-Mara Ecosystem” in Serengeti III: Human Impacts on Ecosystem Dynamics, ed. A. R. E. Sinclair, C. Packer, S. A. R. Mduma, and J. M. Fryxell (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2008), pp. 47–94.

  22. 22.

    A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) is deemed to be one of England’s most important for wildlife or geology. SSSIs represent amongst others areas of wetland, chalkland rivers, meadows high in flowering plant diversity, and peat bogs as examples. There are over 4,100 SSSIs in England, covering around 8 percent of the country’s land area. Some 70 percent of these sites (by area) are internationally important for their wildlife and designated as Special Areas of Conservation (SACs), Special Protection Areas (SPAs) or Ramsar sites. More information can be found at www.naturalengland.org.uk/ourwork/conservation/designations/sssi/default.aspx.

  23. 23.

    Problems with the implementation of community-based conservation are illustrated by C. A. Harvey plus 11 other authors “Integrating Agricultural Landscapes with Biodiversity Conservation in the Mesoamerican Hotspot,” Conservation Biology 22 (2008): 8–15; S. A. Bhagwat, K. J. Willis, H. J. B. Birks, and R. J. Whittaker, “Agroforestry: A Refuge for Tropical Biodiversity?” Trends in Ecology and Evolution 23 (2008): 261–67; R. L. Chazdon plus 10 other authors, “Beyond Reserves: A Research Agenda for Conserving Biodiversity in Human-Modified Tropical Landscapes,” Biotropica 41 (2009): 142–53.

  24. 24.

    Ibid.

  25. 25.

    M. P. Wells and T. O. McShane, “Integrating Protected Area Management with Local Needs and Aspirations,” Ambio 33 (2004): 513–19; C. A. Garcia et al., “Biodiversity Conservation in Agricultural Landscapes: Challenges and Opportunities of Coffee Agroforests in the Western Ghats, India,” Conservation Biology 24 (2009): 479–88.

  26. 26.

    T. Lybbert and C. B. Barrett, “Does Resource Commercialization Induce Local Conservation? A Cautionary Tale from Southwestern Morocco,” Society and Natural Resources 17 (2004): 413–30; T. O. McShane and M. Wells, eds., Getting Biodiversity Projects to Work: Towards More Effective Conservation and Development (New York: Columbia University Press, 2004).

  27. 27.

    J. Murombedzi, “Devolving the Expropriation of Nature: The ‘Devolution’ of Wildlife Management in Southern Africa” in Decolonizing Nature, ed. W. M. Adams and M. Mulligan (London: Earthscan, 2003), 135–51.

  28. 28.

    Examples of community-based conservation in Africa: D. Hulme, and M. Murphree, eds., African Wildlife and Livelihoods (Oxford: James Currey, 2001): B. Child, ed., Parks in Transition (London: Earthscan, 2004).

  29. 29.

    E. J. Milner-Gulland et al., “Dramatic Decline in Saiga Antelope Populations,” Oryx 35 (2001): 340–45.

  30. 30.

    T. Lybbert and C. B. Barrett, “Does Resource Commercialization Induce Local Conservation? A Cautionary Tale from Southwestern Morocco,” Society and Natural Resources 17 (2004): 413–30; T. O. McShane and M. Wells, eds., Getting Biodiversity Projects to Work: Towards More Effective Conservation and Development (New York: Columbia University Press, 2004); T. Holmern, E. Roskaft, J. Mbaruka, S. Y. Mkama, and J. Muya, “Uneconomical Game Cropping in a Community-based Conservation Project Outside the Serengeti National Park, Tanzania,” Oryx 36 (2002): 364–72.

  31. 31.

    L. Emerton, “The Nature of Benefits and the Benefits of Nature” in African Wildlife and Livelihoods, ed. D. Hulme and M. Murphree (Oxford: James Currey, 2001); I. Bond, “CAMPFIRE and the Incentives for Institutional Change,” also in African Wildlife and Livelihoods, pp. 227–43.

  32. 32.

    P. F. Donald, R. E. Green, and M. F. Heath, “Agricultural Intensification and the Collapse of Europe’s Farmland Bird Populations,” Proceedings of the Royal Society, B. 268 (2001): 25–29; R. D. Gregory, D. G. Noble, and J. Custance, “The State of Play of Farmland Birds: Population Trends and Conservation Status of Lowland Farmland Birds in the United Kingdom,” Ibis 146, Supp. 2 (2004): 1–13.

  33. 33.

    See citations for W. D. Newmark in endnote 18; P. Scholte, “Immigration, a Potential Time-Bomb under the Integration of Conservation and Development,” Ambio 32 (2003): 58–64; P. Scholte and W. T. De Groot, “From Debate to Insight: Three Models of Immigration to Protected Areas,” Conservation Biology 24 (2009): 630–32.

  34. 34.

    M. Shellenberger and T. Nordhaus, “Introduction” in Love Your Monsters: Post-environmentalism and the Anthropocene, ed. M. Shellenberger and T. Nordhaus (Washington, D.C.: Breakthrough Institute, 2011), pp. 5–7; see as well P. Kareiva, R. Lalasz, and M. Marvier, “Conservation in the Anthropocene: Beyond Solitude and Fragility” in Love Your Monsters: Post-environmentalism and the Anthropocene, pp. 26–36; M. Rosenzweig, Win-Win Ecology: How Earth’s Species Can Survive in the Midst of Human Enterprise (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003) ; P. Kareiva and M. Marvier, “What Is Conservation Science?” BioScience 62 (2012): 962–69.

  35. 35.

    M. Shellenberger and T. Nordhaus, “Introduction” in Love Your Monsters: Post-environmentalism and the Anthropocene, ed. M. Shellenberger and T. Nordhaus (Washington, D.C.: Breakthrough Institute, 2011), pp. 5–7; see as well P. Kareiva, R. Lalasz, and M. Marvier, “Conservation in the Anthropocene: Beyond Solitude and Fragility” in Love Your Monsters: Post-environmentalism and the Anthropocene, pp. 26–36; see chapters by E. Ellis, “The Planet of No Return: Human Resilience on an Artificial Earth” and M. Sagoff, “The Rise and Fall of Ecological Economics: A Cautionary Tale” in Love Your Monsters: Post-environmentalism and the Anthropocene, ed. M. Shellenberger and T. Nordhaus (Washington, D.C.: Breakthrough Institute, 2011), pp. 37–65.

  36. 36.

    M. Shellenberger and T. Nordhaus, “Introduction” in Love Your Monsters: Post-environmentalism and the Anthropocene, ed. M. Shellenberger and T. Nordhaus (Washington, D.C.: Breakthrough Institute, 2011), pp. 5–7; see as well P. Kareiva, R. Lalasz, and M. Marvier, “Conservation in the Anthropocene: Beyond Solitude and Fragility” in Love Your Monsters: Post-environmentalism and the Anthropocene, pp. 26–36.

  37. 37.

    M. Rosenzweig, Win-Win Ecology: How Earth’s Species Can Survive in the Midst of Human Enterprise (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003).

  38. 38.

    P. F. Donald, R. E. Green, and M. F. Heath, “Agricultural Intensification and the Collapse of Europe’s Farmland Bird Populations,” Proceedings of the Royal Society, B. 268 (2001): 25–29; R. D. Gregory, D. G. Noble, and J. Custance, “The State of Play of Farmland Birds: Population Trends and Conservation Status of Lowland Farmland Birds in the United Kingdom,” Ibis 146, Supp. 2 (2004): 1–13; For declines in ecosystem processes see J. C. Biesmeijer et al., “Parallel Declines in Pollinators and Insect-pollinated Plants in Britain and the Netherlands,” Science 313 (2006): 351–54; K. J. Gaston and R. A. Fuller, “Commonness, Population Depletion and Conservation Biology,” Trends in Ecology and Evolution 25 (2008): 372–80; B. J. Cardinale et al., “Biodiversity Loss and Its Impact on Humanity,” Nature 486 (2012): 59–67; K. J. Gaston, “Valuing Common Species,” Science 327 (2010): 154–55.

  39. 39.

    Salinization of Australia: A. M. Grieve, “Salinity and Waterlogging in the Murray-Darling Basin,” Search 18 (1987): 72–74; D. J. McFarlane, R. J. George, and P. Farrington, “Changes in the Hydrologic Cycle” in Reintegrating Fragmented Landscapes, ed. R. J. Hobbs and D. A. Saunders (New York: Springer-Verlag, 1993), pp. 147–86.

  40. 40.

    B. Smith, “Creating a Buzz in India: Enhancing the Relationship between People and Pollinators in Eastern India,” DEFRA Darwin Initiative Project (No. 019-24), Gamewise (Autumn/Winter 2012), 20–21.

  41. 41.

    T. H. Ricketts et al., “Landscape Effects on Crop Pollination Services: Are There General Patterns?” Ecology Letters 11 (2008): 499–515.

  42. 42.

    S. Thirgood, R. Woodroffe, and A. Rabinowitz, “The Impact of Human-Wildlife Conflict on Human Lives and Livelihoods” in People and Wildlife: Conflict or Coexistence? ed. R. Woodroffe, S. Thirgood, and A. Rabinowitz (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005), pp. 49–71.

  43. 43.

    S. Thirgood, R. Woodroffe, and A. Rabinowitz, “The Impact of Human-Wildlife Conflict on Human Lives and Livelihoods” in People and Wildlife: Conflict or Coexistence? ed. R. Woodroffe, S. Thirgood, and A. Rabinowitz (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2005), pp. 49–71; A. R. E. Sinclair, D. Ludwig, and C. Clark, “Conservation in the Real World,” Science 289 (2000): 1875; A. Balmford and T. Whitten, “Who Should Pay for Tropical Conservation, and How Should the Costs Be Met? Oryx 37 (2003): 238–50; P. J. Nyhus, S. A. Osofsky, P. Ferraro, F. Madden, and H. Fischer, “Bearing the Costs of Human-Wildlife Conflict: The Challenges of Compensation Schemes” in People and Wildlife: Conflict or Coexistence? ed. R. Woodroffe, S. Thirgood, and A. Rabinowitz (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2005), pp. 107–21; R. Woodroffe, S. Thirgood, and A. Rabinowitz, “The Future of Co-existence: Resolving Human-Wildlife Conflicts in a Changing World” in People and Wildlife: Conflict or Coexistence? ed. R. Woodroffe, S. Thirgood, and A. Rabinowitz (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2005) pp. 388–405.

  44. 44.

    M. Shellenberger and T. Nordhaus, “Introduction” in Love Your Monsters: Post-environmentalism and the Anthropocene, ed. M. Shellenberger and T. Nordhaus (Washington, D.C.: Breakthrough Institute, 2011), pp. 5–7; see as well P. Kareiva, R. Lalasz, and M. Marvier, “Conservation in the Anthropocene: Beyond Solitude and Fragility” in Love Your Monsters: Post-environmentalism and the Anthropocene, pp. 26–36.

  45. 45.

    W. M. Adams, “When Nature Won’t Stay Still: Conservation, Equilibrium and Control” in Decolonizing Nature: Strategies for Conservation in a Post-colonial Era, ed. W. M. Adams and M. Mulligan (London: Earthscan, 2003), pp. 221–46.

  46. 46.

    Wright, R.G., and Mattson, D.J. 1996. “The Origin and Purpose of National Parks and Protected Areas” in National Parks and Protected Areas: Their Role in Environmental Protection, ed. R. G. Wright (Oxford: Blackwell Science, 1996), pp. 3–14; K. L. Jope and J. C. Dunstan, “Ecosystem-Based Management: Natural Processes and Systems Theory” in National Parks and Protected Areas: Their Role in Environmental Protection, ed. R. G. Wright (Oxford: Blackwell Science, 1996), pp. 45–62.

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  1. Anthony R. E. Sinclair
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  1. Foundation for Deep Ecology, 5Th St 306, 59047, Livingston, Montana, USA

    George Wuerthner

  2. Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia, USA

    Eileen Crist

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Sinclair, A.R.E. (2015). Protected Areas Are Necessary for Conservation. In: Wuerthner, G., Crist, E., Butler, T. (eds) Protecting the Wild. Island Press, Washington, DC. https://doi.org/10.5822/978-1-61091-551-9_9

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