THREATS TO PROTECTED AREAS SQUANDERING PARADISE? The importance and vulnerability of the world’s protected areas By Christine Carey, Nigel Dudley and Sue Stolton Published May 2000 By WWF-World Wide Fund For Nature (Formerly World Wildlife Fund) International, Gland, Switzerland Any reproduction in full or in part of this publication must mention the title and credit the above- mentioned publisher as the copyright owner. © 2000, WWF - World Wide Fund For Nature (Formerly World Wildlife Fund) ® WWF Registered Trademark WWF's mission is to stop the degradation of the planet's natural environment and to build a future in which humans live in harmony with nature, by: · conserving the world's biological diversity · ensuring that the use of renewable natural resources is sustainable · promoting the reduction of pollution and wasteful consumption Front cover photograph © Edward Parker, UK The photograph is of fire damage to a forest in the National Park near Andapa in Madagascar Cover design Helen Miller, HMD, UK 1 THREATS TO PROTECTED AREAS Preface It would seem to be stating the obvious to say that protected areas are supposed to protect. When we hear about the establishment of a new national park or nature reserve we conservationists breathe a sigh of relief and assume that the biological and cultural values of another area are now secured. Unfortunately, this is not necessarily true. Protected areas that appear in government statistics and on maps are not always put in place on the ground. Many of those that do exist face a disheartening array of threats, ranging from the immediate impacts of poaching or illegal logging to subtle effects of air pollution or climate change. Far from safeguarding the world’s biological diversity, many protected areas are badly in need of protection themselves. Yet in most countries protected areas are the corner stone of conservation; if they are degraded then there can be little hope for the survival of many threatened species. Such changes also directly threaten the many indigenous people that maintain their traditional lifestyles inside protected areas. Until recently, our knowledge about threats to protected areas was mainly gleaned from scattered reports and word of mouth accounts. Today, recognition of the seriousness of what can justifiably be called a crisis is stimulating efforts to identify threats and assess performance. The current report, which WWF Netherlands is pleased to have funded, is the most detailed assessment of threats to protected areas yet attempted on a global basis. It shows what is going wrong, why problems arise, where the crisis points are and what we should be doing about it. The report sometimes makes gloomy reading. But the news is not all black. The research summarised here suggests that, whilst far from perfect, most protected areas are doing a fair job of protecting biodiversity most of the time. In some cases the situation is still deteriorating, while in others things are improving. One of the threats highlighted in a case study originally prepared for this report, on proposals for a major expansion of salt mining in El Vizcaino biosphere reserve in Mexico, has recently been averted and we congratulate the Mexican government on a far-sighted decision. Sadly, such successes are still too rare and for example the bushmeat crisis in the Congo Basin serves as a stark reminder of just how fast wildlife can be lost from protected areas; throughout the region mammals, birds and reptiles are being hunted to feed an apparently ever-growing market for wild meat. A Canadian government report, published in spring 2000 as this report was going to press, reminds us that problems are not confined to the poorer countries. Please read this report. And, much more importantly, please support the work of the governments, conservation organisations and community groups that are struggling to ensure that “protected areas” really do equal “protection”. Hans Wijers Chairman, WWF Netherlands 2 THREATS TO PROTECTED AREAS Contents 2 Preface 3 Contents 5 Acknowledgements 6 Summary 9 Introduction: Why protected areas? 13 Part 1 Protected areas – paradise regained or paradise about to be lost 14 1 The extent of the global protected areas network 18 2 Degrees of threat 25 3 People and protected areas 28 4 Lack of management capacity – the “paper parks” phenomenon 30 5 The underlying causes of threats to protected areas 35 Part 2 The growing threats to the world’s protected areas network 38 6 Major land-use changes 51 7 Resource extraction in protected areas 67 8 External threats that impact on protected areas 86 9 External political threats 106 Part 3 What do we know already? 107 10 Previous surveys of protected areas 138 Part 4 Case Studies 11 Case Studies 141 Kakadu National Park, Australia 144 Preah Sihanouk (Ream) National Park, Cambodia 147 Banff National Park, Canada 150 Algonquin Provincial Park, Canada 153 Parc National de Monovo-Gounda St Floris , Central African Republic 156 Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve, Costa Rica 159 Mount Nimba Strict Nature Reserve, Cote d’Ivoire 162 North East Greenland, Denmark 165 Okapi Faunal Reserve, Democratic Republic of Congo 168 Sangay National Park, Ecuador 3 THREATS TO PROTECTED AREAS 171 Podocarpus National Park, Ecuador 174 Simen Mountain National Park, Ethiopia 177 Negil Environment Protection Area and Marine Park, Jamaica 180 Calakmul Biological Reserve, Mexico 183 Monarch Butterfly Special Biosphere Reserve, Mexico 185 Skeleton Coast Park, Namibia 188 Annapurna Conservation Area, Nepal 191 Sagamatha National Park, Nepal 194 Tongariro National Park, New Zealand 197 Te Wahipounamu (South West NZ World Heritage Area), New Zealand 200 Khunjerab National Park, Pakistan 203 Donana National Park, Spain 206 Ichkeul National Park, Tunisia 209 Snowdonia National Park, UK 212 Everglades National Park. USA 215 Glacier Bay National Park, USA 218 Part 5 Rethinking protection 219 12 Rethinking protection Appendix 227 WWF contact numbers 227 A note on the tables Where protected areas are listed in tables in the text, wherever possible their IUCN category and area in hectares are included after their name. 4 THREATS TO PROTECTED AREAS Acknowledgements This report could not have been put together without an enormous amount of help, encouragement and information from many people around the world. In particular, we would like to thank (with apologies for anyone left off the list): ‘Wale Adeleke, WWF Africa Regional Forest Office; Soenartono Adisoemarto, WWF Indonesia; Iftikhar Ahmad, WWF Pakistan; Ashiq Ahmed, WWF Pakistan; Mark Aldrich, WWF International; Rahimatsah Amat, Malaysia; Edgardo Arevelo, Monteverde Conservation League, Costa Rica; Javier Beltran, World Conservation Monitoring Centre; Ger Bergkamp, IUCN, Switerland; Nora Berrahmouni, UNDP, Algeria; Debora Bigio, FUDENA, Venezuela; Jo Breese, WWF New Zealand; Chris Brown, Namibia Nature Foundation, Windhoek, Namibia; Julio César Calvo, Centro Científico Tropical, Costa Rica; Christine Carey, Switzerland; Guillermo Castilleja, WWF Mexico; Mauricio Castro Schmitz, WWF Colombia Programme Office; Eric Coull, WWF IndoChina Programme Office, Vietnam; David Cumming, WWF-Southern Africa; Dominick DellaSala, WWF-US; Mary Edwards, World Conservation Monitoring Centre; Bill Eichbaum, WWF-US; Chris Elliot, WWF International, Switzerland; Tom Erdmann, WWF-Madagascar; Shannon Estenoz, WWF-US; Lincoln Fishpool, BirdLife International; Dr Hans Friederich, IUCN, Thailand; Francisco Padron Gil, WWF Mexico; Aimee Gonzales, WWF International, Switzerland; Steve Grady, World Conservation Monitoring Centre; Tim Gray, Wildlands League, Canada; Biksham Gujja, WWF International; Chandra Prasad Gurung, WWF Nepal Programme Office; Arlin Hackman, WWF Canada; Elie Hakizamwami, Cameroon; Jim Harkness, WWF China; Jenny Heap, WWF International; Marc Hockings, University of Queensland; Andrew Ingles, IUCN, Thailand; Bill Jackson, IUCN HQ, Switzerland, Jim Jarvie, IUCN Indonesia; Jean-Paul Jeanrenaud, WWF International; Val Kapos, World Conservation Monitoring Centre; Harri Karajalainen, WWF International; Ashish Kothari, India; Olivier Langrand, WWF Gabon; Fiona Leverington, Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service, Australia; Rob Little, WWF South Africa; Fausto Lopez, Fundacioin Arcoiris (FAI), Ecuador; Donna Luckman, WWF Australia; Robert Mather, WWF Thailand Programme Office; Don Masterson, WWF-US; Erica McShane-Caluzi, WWF International; Tom McShane, WWF International; Raman Mehta, Idia; Julian Mellor, UK; Erza Millstein, WWF-US; Monica Missrie, WWF Mexico Programme Office; Peter Moore, IUCN and WWF Project Firefight Asia, Australia; Jennifer Morgan, WWF-US; Gezahegn Negussie, WWF UK; Mercedes Otegui, WWF Mexico Programme Office; Gonzalo Oviedo, WWF International, Switzerland; Lisa Padfield, WWF South Africa; Aristotelis Papageorgiou, WWF Greece; Morgan Parry, WWF-UK; Mireille Perrin, WWF International; Adrian Phillips, IUCN, UK; J Alan Pounds, University of Miami; George Powell; Peter Prokosch, Arctic Programme WWF International; Michael Rae, WWF Australia; Devendra Rana, WWF International; Dr M K Ranjitsinh, WWF-India; Corinna Ravilious, World Conservation Monitoring Centre; Pedro Regato, WWF Mediterrean Programme Office; Simon Rietbergen, Switzerland; Isabel Ripa-Juliá, Spain; Jorge Rivas, Sangay Project, Ecuador; Pedro Rosabal, IUCN HQ, Switzerland; Ruth Elena Ruiz, Fondacion Natura, Rosa M. Lemos de Sá, WWF-Brazil; Sissi Samec, WWF Austria; Ecuador; Christopher Sharpe, Fauna and Flora International, Venezuela; Mingma