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Issues such as these were debated at length at a regional conference on protected area management organised from April 22-25, 2007 in Kathmandu. Hosted by the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation, the conference was organised by the National Trust for Nature Conservation as the main organizer followed by IUCN Nepal, International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development and WWF Nepal as co-organizers. The conference was organised around the theme of "Managing Protected Areas: Shifting Paradigm" acknowledging that protected areas do not exist in vacuums and therefore, incorporated issues that looked outside of traditional boundaries and paradigm shifts. Within the context of these overarching issues, the participants examined not only how external forces and global change affect protected areas, but also how protected area management is dependent on governance regime, and how they are relevant to address livelihood and conservation issues through connectivity and cooperation in South Asia region today. The 4-day conference extensively deliberated on the role of protected areas in conservation, sustainable development and regional integration processes amongst the South Asian countries. Thirty different papers were presented from various countries on 3 thematic areas, viz., ecosystem management, governance in protected area management and economic tools for biodiversity conservation. Jeff McNeely, IUCN's Chief Scientist, delivered a key note speech advocating the need to include both firm governmental action and alliances with other stakeholders at all levels in order to achieve sustainable development for national protected area systems. "Far more needs to be done to build support from local communities for protected areas in Asia. This will require a challenging combination of incentives and disincentives, economic benefits and law enforcement, education and awareness, employment in the protected area and employment opportunities outside, enhanced land tenure and control of new immigration (especially where the buffer zones around protected areas are targeted for special development assistance)," McNeely said during the inaugural ceremony and added that the key is to find the right balance among the competing demands. The conference, inaugurated by Nepal's Honorable Minister for Forests and Soil Conservation Mr. Matrika Prasad Yadav, was chaired by secretary Mr. Tirtha Raj Sharma. The objectives of the conference were to share regional experiences and knowledge in protected area management; learn from best practices in protected area management in the region; and strengthen protected area networks in the region. Protected area managers, conservationists, scientists from 13 South Asian countries participated in the conference. For more information, please contact:
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There is contradictory evidence as to the management effectiveness of protected areas as a means to conserving biodiversity. While the land under protected area cover has shown an increasing trend, the continuing decline of biodiversity has remained a cause for greater concern to the conservation community in South Asia. Moreover, while many protected areas have generated significant benefits they have not been without their costs, a disproportionate amount of which have been borne by local people.| Print |