WE LIVE in interesting times. Life is not easy for protected area professionals. We are bombarded with information, invited to consider new paradigms, asked to construct new partnerships and to think out-of-the-box. Against this, one truth remains unchanged – our protected areas are the most valuable natural assets on the planet. They are the cornerstone of environmental conservation policy. It is equally true that because protected areas are a human idea, they will only survive and flourish in the long-term if they have the support of the majority of humans. This is a major challenge for all of us in the 21st century.
The theme of this issue of Parks is Category V Protected Landscapes/Seascapes – the only one of the six IUCN protected area management categories based on the interaction of people and nature. This doesn’t make Category V any more important than other categories. However it does mean that it has increasing relevance for the management of other categories and, perhaps more importantly, it has direct relevance as an approach for the world’s wider rural areas based on sustainable development.
Protected Landscapes are cultural landscapes, i.e. they have co-evolved with human societies. They are areas where the natural landscape has been transformed by human actions and the landscape qualities have shaped the way of life of the people. All management approaches to these areas must be based on a clear understanding of this, often complex, interrelationship. Category V Protected Landscapes represent both a designation and a conservation approach – a product and a process where “Safeguarding the integrity of this traditional interaction is vital to the protection, maintenance and evolution of such an area.” (IUCN Guidelines for Protected Area Management Categories 1994).
Successful management of Protected Landscapes depends on both effective conservation of the environment and safeguarding the social and economic vitality of the people who live within them. The key challenge lies in the management or resolution of conflicting uses, encouraging and supporting appropriate activities and guiding change.
Let’s be honest, the Protected Landscape idea is not popular with many of our protected area colleagues from a natural science background. Category V is seen as a compromise, a dilution of protection, a dangerous precedent allowing developers to place a foot in the door. We need to demonstrate through case studies and good practice that this is not so. We need to convince others of the need to examine new ways of achieving conservation goals in the 21st century. As Jeff McNeely (now Chief Scientist at IUCN) said some years ago, “...species protection may have worked for Noah, but it is clearly not working for us!”
The following series of articles demonstrate the wide variety of values and approaches of Category V Protected Landscapes around the world.
In the first article Peter Ogden looks at European Protected Landscapes from an agricultural perspective, illustrating how innovative management techniques are being developed to safeguard natural and cultural values and promote sustainable farming.
From East Africa, Bob Wishitemi and Moses Okello look at the future of the wildlife dispersal areas and the pastoral community rangelands of Kenya, outside the traditional Category II National Parks and describe how a Protected Landscape approach is bringing the communities back to the centre of conservation policy through the promotion of resource based enterprises.
From Asia, Prabhu Budhathoki demonstrates how the buffer zone management programme in Nepal has adopted a Protected Landscape approach to safeguard the long-term objectives of the National Parks and meet the needs of the people living in the adjoining areas.
Jessica Brown, Nora Mitchell and Jacquelyn Tuxill’s article from the USA shows how Category V management objectives are providing an important opportunity in the US context as the US National Park Service increasingly looks at ‘non-traditional’ designations such as heritage areas, corridors and long distance routes to broaden the role of the service.
Finally, from South America, Eric Chaurette, Fausto Sarmento and Jack Rodriguez describe the relationship in the tropical Andes between the protected areas and the highly-charged issues of open access and community property rights and argue the need for a Protected Landscape approach citing the Quijos River Valley as a case study.
This issue of Parks is one of three publications by the WCPA Category V – Protected Landscapes Task Force in the run up to the World Parks Congress in Durban. The articles have been written by members of the Task Force.
Protected Landscapes – Protected Areas Where People Live is currently being written by Task Force members Jessica Brown, Nora Mitchell and Michael Beresford and will be available in draft form at the IUCN World Parks Congress for debate, discussion and subsequent publication as an output of the Congress.
Michael Beresford is Co-Chair of Protected Landscapes Task Force and Co-Director of the International Centre for Protected Landscapes. Email: beresford@icpl.freeserve.co.uk
