La investigación científica y la conservación de la biodiversidad en parques nacionales de la Argentina. Dónde estamos y hacia dónde podríamos ir

Abstract

Protected areas (PAs) are key to biodiversity conservation, being essential to address their conservation priorities to implement specific management recommendations. In this work we set out: 1) detect to what extent the scientific researches carried out in PAs in Argentina address the conservation priorities for their management, and 2) to investigate the motivations that guide researchers to carry out their studies in these PAs. We checked the overlap between the knowledge needs declared in the management plans of the PAs under the National Parks Administration (APN) with the research permits granted in the National Parks (NPs). In addition, we performed a survey among researchers who had carried out studies in some national park. More than three quarters of the researches carried out in NPs during 2012-2016 were not oriented to answering the research priorities indicated in the respective management plans analyzed, and only half of the conservation goals/values of these PAs were addressed in some study. Moreover, two-thirds of the researchers surveyed carried out their work according to their own lines of research, and only 15% to meet the APN requirements. We observed a mismatch between the scientific knowledge needs for the management of NPs and the researches being carried out there, but we detected a considerable volume of research that could eventually be reoriented, at least partially, and cover gaps in knowledge. Recently, APN joined the Inter-Institutional Council for Science and Technology and convened a scholarship program co-financed with CONICET, which allows to be auspicious with respect to reinforcing the coordination between the scientific community and the management needs of PAs. This work offers a baseline to evaluate the effectiveness of these measures in the medium term.