Use Of Protected Areas Research Articles

Developing ecological indicators of visitor use of protected areas: a new integrated framework from Australia

Developing ecological indicators of visitor use of protected areas: a new integrated framework from Australia

Developing a multimetric index of ecological integrity based on macroinvertebrates of mountain ponds in central Italy

The lack of biological systems for the assessment of ecological quality specific to mountain ponds prevents the effective management of these natural resources. In this article we develop an index based on macroinvertebrates sensitive to the gradient of nutrient enrichment. With this aim, we sampled 31 ponds along a gradient of trophy and with similar geomorphological characteristics and watershed use in protected areas of the central Apennines. A bioassessment protocol was adopted to collect and process benthic samples and key-associated physical, chemical, and biological variables during the summer growth season of 1998. We collected 61 genera of macroinvertebrates belonging to 31 families. We calculated 31 macroinvertebrate metrics based on selected and total taxa richness, richness of some key groups, abundance, functional groups and tolerance to organic pollution. The gradient of trophy was quantified with summer concentrations of chlorophyll a. We followed a stepwise procedure to evaluate the effectiveness of a given metric for use in the multimetric index. Those were the pollution tolerance metric ASPT, three metrics based on taxonomic richness (the richness of macroinvertebrate genera, the richness of chironomid taxa, and the percentage of total richness composed by Ephemeroptera, Odonata, and Trichoptera), two metrics based on FFG attributes (richness of collector gatherer taxa and richness of scraper taxa) and the habit-based metric richness of burrowers. The 95th percentile of each metric distribution among all ponds was trisected for metric scoring. The final Pond Macroinvertebrate Integrity Index ranged from 7 to 35 and had a good correlation (R 2 = 0.71) with the original gradient of environmental degradation.

Biological Monitoring in the Amazon: Recent Progress and Future Needs

RESUMENO monitoramento biológico é uma ferramenta fundamental para o manejo ambiental. Ele permite avaliar o estado do ambiente ao longo do tempo, informando sobre a necessidade e sobre as conseqüências das medidas de manejo. Na Amazônia, o monitoramento é uma atividade particularmente difícil devido à variedade das ameaças ambientais, à vastidão da área, e à enorme riqueza de espécies. Para ser eficiente, um programa de monitoramento precisa ser claramente enraizado em uma ameaça ambiental que se pretende resolver – só assim haverá um critério claro para decidir quais variáveis serão medidas e como planejar essa medição. Numa área tão grande quanto a Amazônia, é particularmente importante que os programas de monitoramento definam a priori a sua escala de atuação. Um desenho amostral que serve para a escala local será deficiente na escala regional, e vice‐versa. A idéia de trabalhar simultaneamente em diferentes escalas espaciais é louvável mas altamente arriscada. Finalmente, quando o monitoramento requer identificação de espécies, a riqueza biológica da Amazônia e a escassez de pessoal qualificado limitam o avanço do trabalho. Para garantir a viabilidade futura das atividades de monitoramento é essencial investir com criatividade e determinação no treinamento de observadores. Este comentário sublinha alguns aspetos de progresso recente em monitoramento biológico da Amazônia e identifica três necessidades para o futuro: 1) Garantir a orientação do monitoramento para ameaças claramente identificadas; 2) Trabalhar em uma escala espacial prioritária, definida antes do lançamento do programa; e 3) Investir no treinamento de observadores.El monitoreo biológico es una herramienta fundamental para la gestión ambiental porque permite evaluar el estado del ambiente al largo del tiempo, informando sobre la necesidad e sobre las consecuencias de acciones de gestión. En Amazonia, el monitoreo es una actividad particularmente difícil gracias à la variedad de amenazas, a la extensión de la área, y a la enorme riqueza de especies. Para ser eficiente, un programa de monitoreo necesita ser claramente enraizado en una amenaza ambiental que se pretende resolver – solo así existirá un criterio claro para decidir lo que medir y como medirlo. En una área tan grande como Amazonia, se hace esencial que los programas de monitoreo establezcan a priori su escala de actuación. Un diseño de muestreo que funciona en la escala local será deficiente en la escala regional y vice‐versa. La idea de trabajar simultáneamente en distintas escalas espaciales es muy arriesgada – hay que priorizar. Finalmente, cuando el monitoreo exige identificación de especies, la riqueza de Amazonia y la escasez de personal calificado limitan el progreso del trabajo. Para garantizar la viabilidad del monitoreo, se hace esencial invertir con creatividad y determinación en el entrenamiento de observadores. Este comentario refiere algunos progresos recientes en el monitoreo biológico de Amazonia y identifica tres necesidades para el futuro: 1) Garantizar que cada programa esté claramente orientado para una amenaza ambiental; 2) Trabajar en una escala espacial prioritária; y 3) Invertir en el entrenamiento de observadores.

Beyond buffer zone protection: A comparative study of park and buffer zone products' importance to villagers living inside Royal Chitwan National Park and to villagers living in its buffer zone

Even after 30 years of strict de jure protection, today's de facto extraction of products from Nepal's Royal Chitwan National Park (RCNP) and their great economic importance to local households suggests that this reality should be explicitly internalised in managing this world heritage park. Several studies have quantified local people's use of protected areas and estimated the value of such areas to them. However, few studies incorporate economic analyses to investigate the effect of management interventions on local communities' resource use and collection behaviour. In Nepal, buffer zones and especially buffer zone community forestry are seen as means to define and demarcate places, where local people may legally extract goods that are either identical to or relevant substitutes for products that are collected in protected areas. The intention is to resolve park-people conflicts over resource use. This article presents the findings of an in-depth study of the importance of natural resources to the livelihoods of 18 households. One village was located inside RCNP with no realistic alternatives to Park resources, while the other is located in the buffer zone with equal distance to the Park, a national forest and their community forest. For each household, the collection of products, allocation of time, and purchase and sale of goods were recorded daily through 12 consecutive months and economic values were calculated on the basis of local market prices and recorded quantities. The study shows that products from RCNP are of great importance to the livelihoods of local people. Furthermore, we find that products collected in the national forest substitute products from the Park, while the substitution effect of the community forest is small. Accordingly, the study illustrates that, irrespective of buffer zone community forestry, there is still a gap between local people's need for supplementing natural resources and their rights to satisfy them on a legal basis, which is likely to be unsustainable in the longer term. This calls for a thorough evaluation of actual park-people relations and how these may be improved through local participation that goes beyond the current form of buffer zone community forestry and the admitted 7–14 annual days of open access grass cutting within the park.

Effects of Forestry Practices on Carabids (Coleoptera: Carabidae) – Implication for Nature Management

Effects of forestry management were studied in the Szatmár-Bereg Landscape Protection Area (NE-Hungary). Carabid assemblages of forest stands managed by different management techniques (stand put under acorn after clearing the herbaceous and shrub layer, the other prepared for seedlings by grubbing and deep loosening) have been compared with that of a non-managed control stand using pitfall traps. The number of carabid individuals and species has been found to be the highest in the non-managed stand, followed by that of the stand which was put under acorn after clearing the herbaceous and shrub layer. The fewest individuals and species were observed in the stand managed by grubbing and deep loosening. There was no significant difference between the species richness of the control stand and the stand managed by clearing the herbs and shrubs and put under acorn, while both values were found to be significantly higher than that of the stand managed by grubbing and loosening. The composition of the carabid assemblage of the non-managed stand and that of the stand cleared and put under acorn were similar to each other, while the carabid assemblage of the stand managed by grubbing and deep loosening was considerably different from the assemblages of the two above stands. The results suggest that the grubbing and deep loosening management practice completely changes the structure and composition of the carabid assemblage, thus it is not recommended to use in protected areas. Clearing the herbaceous and shrub layer followed by putting under acorn, does not substantially change the structure and composition of the carabid assemblage, so it can be used on protected areas for forestry management.

Pricing Policy for Tourism in Protected Areas: Lessons from Komodo National Park, Indonesia

Abstract: Protected areas are under increasing pressure to provide economic justification for their existence, particularly in developing countries where demand for land and natural resources is high. Nature‐based tourism offers a mechanism to generate substantial benefits from protected areas for both governments and local communities, and ecotourism is increasingly promoted as a sustainable use of protected areas. The extent to which ecotourism offsets the costs of a protected area has rarely been examined. We used financial data from Komodo National Park, Indonesia, and a willingness‐to‐pay questionnaire of independent visitors to (1) examine the financial contribution of tourism in offsetting the costs of tourism and wider management and (2) assess the effect of hypothetical fee increases on park revenues, visitation patterns, and local economies. Although only 6.9% of park management costs were recovered, visitors were willing to pay over 10 times the current entrance fee, indicating a substantial potential for increased revenue. The potential negative effect of large fee increases on visitor numbers and the resultant effect on local economic benefits from tourism may limit the extent to which greater financial benefits from Komodo National Park (KNP) can be realized. Our results suggest that a moderate, tiered increase in entrance fees is most appropriate, and that partial revenue retention by KNP would help demonstrate the conservation value of tourism to both visitors and managers and has the potential to increase visitors' willingness to pay.

Socioeconomic and biological causes of management failures in European artisanal fisheries: the case of Galicia (NW Spain)

Coastal ecosystems and artisanal fisheries show a great complexity due to the high number of human factors that influence their functioning and to the number of components involved in the fishing activity. Moreover, a great number of stocks exploited by coastal artisanal fisheries are invertebrates with a strong and persistent spatial structure and a population dynamics that do not fit the finfish models. The present state of the artisanal coastal fisheries in Galicia (NW Spain) is analyzed, presenting different symptoms of a general state of overexploitation derived from the mismatch between management (derived from models designed for industrial finfisheries) and the biological and socioeconomic context. We propose to modify the strategies of research to use inexpensive and rapid methodologies and introduce the fishers’ ecological knowledge. A new management policy is outlined based in the establishment of territorial users’ rights, the involvement of fishers in the assessment and management process, and the use of protected areas and minimum sizes as key regulation tools.

Contingent valuation and biodiversity: measuring the user surplus of Kenyan protected areas

The financial returns to Kenyan tourism demonstrate the importance of the country's tourist potential to its economic development. Protected areas and their inhabitants are the principal focus of the tourist industry, the nations's main foreign exchange earner, and a source of wonder and value for a global population of non-users. It might be expected that such assets would be accorded some degree of security with sufficient funding to safeguard current and potential economic benefits. Yet park use is haphazard, and there is frequently little coincidence between those that benefit and those that pay for the continued existence of such areas. Growing economic and demographic pressures which threaten to swamp protected areas only emphasize the implicit subsidy currently paid by Kenyans to support conservation for the benefit of the world at large. In this climate the case for conservation depends on the measurement and capture of economic benefits. Using a contingent valuation survey of expressed preference this study estimates the consumer surplus attached to current non-consumptive use of protected areas by foreign visitors at some $450 million per annum. This sum alone is more than double the best available estimate of opportunity cost and appears to justify current resource use. The estimate is additional to current financial returns from tourism and makes no allowance for other direct and indirect benefits and potential returns from consumptive uses. Measured consumer surplus contains some margin of willingness to pay that could be captured through the current fee structure. Moreover, park fees represent the most accessible market mechanism to finance revenue sharing and additional park investment before potential recourse to emerging global market institutions.

Socio-economic and ecological prospects for multiple use of protected areas in Africa

Largely triggered by the Bali debate, conservation literature over the last decade has seen increasing realization of man's responsibility in ensuring survival of the world's protected areas. In African terms, there has been an overwhelming number of pilot projects which have the ‘people’ label. Whereas this trend has been ecouraging, the overall conservation picture has not been very bright as the wildlife resources have continued to dwindle under surmounting human pressure. The problem does not seem to be awareness of the necessity for protected areas any more but rather whether it is feasible under the present prevailing circumstances.

The application of spatial‐perceptual wilderness mapping to protected areas management in New Zealand

Abstract The paper examines the application of a spatial‐perceptual approach to the wilderness management issue of preserving natural ecological processes while also permitting appropriate wilderness use in protected areas. An approach to delimit the spatial extent of multiple perceptions of wilderness held by backcountry users is used—the wilderness perception mapping (WPM) methodology. The results obtained from employing the WPM.methodology are considered for the North West Nelson region of New Zealand. The map product provides new and useful information that has applicability to protected areas management. The role of WPM is discussed with reference to wilderness management in North West Nelson and New Zealand, and to protected areas management in general. The study demonstrates how a technology can be combined with a critical and sensible analysis of needs and procedures to give useful results, and highlights the value of applied interdisciplinary research.