IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA)

Conventional approaches to managing protected areas have often seen people and nature as separate entities. They preclude human communities from using natural resources and assume that their concerns are incompatible with conservation. Protected area approaches and models that see conservation as compatible with human communities are explored. The main themes are co-managed protected areas and community conserved areas.

This publication, which contains 23 papers selected from several regional and national meetings, including the 2003 Regional Preparatory Meeting held in Dhaka, tries to capture many pioneering works in participatory conservation in the region and also tries to identify gaps in ecosystem representation in South Asia. It brings out many contemporary issues related to conservation while pooling national experiences in managing protected areas.

Mountain areas cover 24% of the Earth's land and 26% of the global population lives in or around these areas. At the global scale, perhaps their greatest value is as 'water towers', providing water for over half of humankind. As global centres of biological and cultural diversity, they are among the world's major tourist destinations.

Mountains are special places. For many they are sacred; to most they bring an uplifting of the spirit and refreshment; to all they bring water, and rich biodiversity. Many of them have received legislative recognition by designation as parks or reserves of various kinds, and it is for the planners and managers of this estate that this book has been written.

There is increasing recognition of the value that local, indigenous and mobile communities can bring to the process of conserving biodiversity, and of the need for a range of conservation types from strict protection to multiple sustainable use. Such a paradigm shift is reflected in the outcomes of two recent global events: the Vth IUCN World Parks Congress (Durban, September 2003) and the 7th Conference of Parties of the Convention of Biological Diversity (Kuala Lumpur, February 2004).

Mountains are special places. For many they are sacred; to most they bring an uplifting of the spirit and refreshment; to all they bring water, and rich biodiversity. Many of them have received legislative recognition by designation as parks or reserves of various kinds, and it is for the planners and managers of this estate that this book has been written.

Australia's rich and distinct biodiversity is under multiple threats including loss of habitat to human settlement, agriculture and grazing, introduction and spread of alien invasives, pollution, altered fire regimes and landclearing. The landclearing rate of c. 500,000 hectares p.a. is comparable to the worst African, South American and Asian de-forestation rates, much occurring on private lands.

Protected areas are conservation instruments created to protect a country’s natural resources. But, protected areas also constitute important tools for equity development among the populations settled within and around protected areas. This publication provides tools, techniques and recommendations to facilitate protected areas planning, management and administration to seek greater social equity, particularly among women and men. Also available on a CD-ROM : IUCN-CD-016