"We must make every effort to preserve, conserve, and manage biodiversity. Protected areas, from large wilderness reserves to small sites for particular species, and reserves for controlled uses, will all be part of this process. Such systems of protected areas must be managed to take account of a range of ecological and human-induced changes. This is no small task; yet humans must be equal to this challenge, or risk becoming irrelevant."

Protected areas -- legally established sites managed for conservation objectives -- are an essential means for saving biodiversity. Worldwide, 8,163 protected areas cover over 750 million hectares of marine and terrestrial ecosystems, amounting to 1.5 percent of Earth's surface or 5.1 percent of national land area. These areas are managed for objectives ranging from strict nature preservation to controlled resource harvesting.

All protected areas already contribute to conserving biodiversity, but modifying the management and selection of protected areas will enhance their contribution. Explicit biodiversity conservation objectives need to be established for each protected area, and in most cases they need to be better integrated into the fabric of social, environmental, and economic welfare. Though many governments and non-governmental organizations throughout the world would like to expand protected areas and enhance their role in conserving biodiversity, serious obstacles must be overcome.

First, the establishment or existence of a protected area often creates conflicts with local people. When an area is protected, people living near or within it must generally restrict their use of its resources; in some cases, they must leave their homes. Too often, society at large reaps the benefits of protected areas while local people bear the costs. In extreme cases, open conflict may erupt between hunters, gatherers, loggers, miners, fishermen, or tourism operators and protected area staff or environmental advocates.

Second, protected areas are often institutionally unstable since the agencies administering them are vulnerable to changing policies and budget cuts. The battle for conservation is perpetual, while the fight for exploitation need be won only once. Mining, forestry, or fisheries interests may lobby for "opening" protected areas; transportation departments may want to chart a road through a protected area's "free" land; tourism departments may drum up more visitors than a protected area can support; and industrial development policies may stimulate encroachment, trans-boundary pollution, and even climate change.

Third, many protected areas are insufficiently or ineffectively managed. Rarely can a protected area be managed well in a "hands-off" fashion. Most need intensive management to meet the needs or respond to the impacts of those who use the protected area or to mitigate impacts of development on surrounding lands, the pollution of air and water, and changing climatic conditions. Unfortunately, the trained personnel and ecological knowledge needed for such intensive management are in short supply.

Fourth, funding for most protected areas in either scanty or insecure. Most such funds come from national budgets, which are declining in real terms in most countries. Often, protected areas bear the brunt of budget cuts even when they are highly profitable. Moreover, economic benefits from protected areas are rarely channeled into protected area maintenance or community development on nearby lands.

Finally, most people take a narrow view of protected areas, so public support is comparatively weak. Protected areas are often seen only as exotic vacation spots or remote wilderness, not as essential elements of sustainable development. In fact, protected areas contribute to society in many ways and a broader constituency is both necessary and justified.

Objective: Identify national and international priorities for strengthening protected areas and enhancing their role in biodiversity conservation

Since professional and financial resources are limited, priorities must be determined in ways that reflect both scientific criteria and local, national, and international needs.

• Action 52. Conduct national reviews of protected area systems.

• Action 53. Propose immediate and long-term action to establish and strengthen protected areas.

• Action 54. Undertake an international assessment of present and future protected area needs.

• Action 55. Provide incentives for establishing private protected areas.

• Action 56. Promote international cooperation on protected area management.

Objective: Ensure the sustainability of protected areas and their contribution to biodiversity conservation

How viable a protected area is over the long term depends on how well it is ecologically, socially, and economically integrated into the surrounding region. For protected areas to be sustainable, they must move beyond both the appearance and practice of "fortress parks." As David Hales notes, "Because we believed that our walls would protect our parks, we are now at risk of finding them to be prisons rather than fortresses." To change the situation, increased economic benefits must flow from protected areas to local communities. At the same time, resource management on surrounding lands must be meshed with the needs of the protected area through buffer zones and habitat corridors.

• Action 57. Broaden participation in the design of protected area management plans and expand the range of issues addressed by those plans.

• Action 58. Expand the management objectives of protected areas to include the full scope of biodiversity conservation.

• Action 59. Enhance the ecological and social value of protected areas through land purchase and zoning outside the protected area and by providing financial incentives for conservation on adjacent private lands.

• Action 60. Enhance the ecological and social value of protected areas by increasing the benefits to people in and around them.

• Action 61. Restore degraded lands within protected areas and in adjacent lands and corridors.