Representation of biotic communities in protected areas: A Malawian case study

Abstract

This paper reports an analysis of biotic community representation in Malawi's system of national parks and game reserves. This analysis is used as a basis for discussing methods of allocating conservation priority to different areas. The conclusion is that quantitative representation of biotic communities alone is an inadequate guide to conservation priority: first, because of the subjective nature of biotic community classification, and, secondly, because this measure is insufficiently selective in terms of rare and threatened species, landscape aesthetics and other points of interest. We propose that emphasis be placed on selecting examples of biotic communities with these values in mind, and that the system of allocating conservation priority developed at the 1981 IUCN/WWF meeting at Wankie, Zimbabwe (Cumming, 1984), provides the best available guide to such selections. Use of the Wamkie system for Malawi indicates that evergreen forests rare highest conservation priority.