Monoscapes - Agri-culture: Reconnecting People, Land and Nature - page 44

Over the past century, parks and nature reserves have become the
primary means of conserving nature, both for wildlife and for whole
landscapes. According to the United Nations List of Protected Areas , there were
12,754 official protected areas worldwide in 2001, covering an area of
13 million square kilometres, an area larger than Brazil, China or the US. 39
Until the end of the 1950s, United Nations (UN) listed sites were
designated at a rate of 300-400 per decade; this rose during the 1960s
to more than 1000; to 2500 during the 1970s; to 3800 during the 1980s;
back to 1800 during the 1990s. The World Conservation Monitoring
Centre records an additional 17,600 protected areas on its database that
are smaller than the UN's 1000-hectare minimum criterion, adding
another 28,500 square kilometres to the total. All 30,000 protected areas
now account for 8.83 per cent of the world's land area. Of the 191
countries with protected areas, 36 contain 10-20 per cent of their
territory as protected areas, and a further 24 have more than 20 per cent. 40
Protected areas are divided into six types along a spectrum from strict
protection, to sustainable management and use of resources. One third
of all protected areas, numbering 10,700 and covering 7 million square
kilometres, are in categories 1-3, permitting no local use of natural
resources. Of the 7322 protected areas in developing countries, where
many local people still require wild resources for some or all of their
livelihoods, 25 per cent are strictly protected in Asia and the Pacific, 28
per cent in Africa, and 40 per cent in Latin America. Of the 13 million
square kilometres in protected areas, 7 million are strictly protected - 46
per cent of which are in Africa, Asia and Latin America (see Table 2.1). 41
This is a huge area of land from which people are actively excluded. The
problem, as Nancy Lee Peluso has put it, is that 'managed biodiversity is hardly
discussed in the current fervour of concern over losses of biodiversity, even in habitats (such
as mangroves) that have clearly been occupied by humans for decades or centuries' . 42
The concept underlying the designation of protected areas is the
conservation of a 'natural' state untouched by people. 43 As Arturo Gómez-
Pompa and Andrea Kaus put it, these areas are seen as 'pristine environments
similar to those that existed before human interference, delicately balanced ecosystems
that need to be preserved for our enjoyment and use' . This is not to say that they do
not work. A recent study of 93 national parks of 5000 hectares or more
in size in 22 tropical countries has found that formal designations
do protect biodiversity. All the studied parks were more than five years
old and were subject to human pressure, with seven out of ten having
people living within their boundaries. One half had residents who
contested the government's ownership of some part of the park. Yet
more than eight out of ten of the parks had as much vegetation cover as
when they were established. Parks suffered less degradation than the