IUCN, Chief Scientist's Office

Poverty has become the central concern for development agencies, and because many of the areas that are most important for conserving biodiversity are occupied by poor people, or have poor people living around them, the relationship between poverty and protected areas can no longer be ignored. It is a complex one, but this book presents a balanced perspective on how protected areas relate to poverty, in both positive and negative ways.

The Vth IUCN World Parks Congress held in 2003 in Durban, South Africa was host to a stream of workshops dedicated to the broad topic of building support for protected areas. As a means of providing a more coherent picture, a separate set of workshops was held on communicating the benefits of protected areas. The collection of papers contained within this publication brings together the experience and wisdom of the leading thinkers and practitioners of protected area planning and management.

Poverty has become the central concern for development agencies, and because many of the areas that are most important for conserving biodiversity are occupied by poor people, or have poor people living around them, the relationship between poverty and protected areas can no longer be ignored. The relationship between poverty and protected areas is a complex one, but this book presents a balanced perspective on how protected areas relate to poverty, in both positive and negative ways.