Conceptual Framework, Research Methods and Approaches

Abstract

Protected areas are the cornerstones of all national and regional biodiversity conservation strategies (UNEP 2004). Aside from their environmental benefits, they can also generate significant economic resources. As such protected areas are crucial for attaining the objectives of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and meeting the 2010 biodiversity target and the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) (SCBD 2008). The global number and extent of nationally desig-nated protected areas have increased dramatically over the past century (Fig. 2.1) (BIP 2010). According to BIP, by 2008, there were over 120,000 protected areas covering a total of about 21 million square kilometers of land and sea, an area more than twice the size of Canada. While the terrestrial protected areas listed in the World Database on Protected Areas cover 12.2 % of the Earth's land area, marine protected areas currently cover 5.9 % of the Earth's territorial seas and only 0.5 % of the extraterritorial seas. Among nations there is a great deal of variation in protection: only 45 % of the 236 countries and territories assessed had more than 10 % of their terrestrial area protected, and only 14 % had more than 10 % of their marine area protected. In recognition of the importance of protected areas for the CBD's 2010 target to achieve a significant reduction in the rate of loss of biodiversity, the CBD's Program of Work on Protected Areas aims to establish a comprehensive, eco-logically representative and effectively managed network of terrestrial protected areas by 2010 and of marine protected areas by 2012. Increasing the coverage of protected areas can contribute to achieving the 2010 target (BIP 2010). Taking this into consideration, many tropical developing countries, where biodiversity is presumably greatest and where local communities rely on it for sustaining live-lihoods, have also expanded markedly their amount of land under protected areas, an attempt to address growing concerns on conservation (Naughton-Treves et al. 2005). Bangladesh is also of no exception. But experience showed that in many cases, simply setting aside protected areas does not produce the positive conser-vation outcomes expected, due to their purely ecological focus and exclusion (or low recognition) of local rights and practices (Mukul et al. 2010). Therefore, the concept of integrating local stakeholders by their active participation in the overall system of conservation has been evolved as an effective means of protected area management. Baral and Heinen (2007) informed that this idea-quite popular in political science-has become ubiquitous in the lexicon of conservation as well as development fields. They also notified the emergence of various conservation models emphasizing devolution of power to local communities and solicitation of people's participation to manage protected areas after the World Parks Congress in Bali, Indonesia in 1982. The movement gained momentum when the Rio Decla-ration on Environment and Development stated that ''environmental issues are best handled with the participation of all concerned citizens at the relevant level'' (IUCN 1982). Zachrisson (2010) remarked that beyond simply 'consulting' local people, co-management processes are to be set up to jointly develop management plans, rules and corollary agreements; to formalize benefit-sharing arrangements; to develop the capacities of all stakeholders; to help to set up suitable pluralist management organizations; and to formalize the sharing of authority and responsibility in managing the protected area at stake. By recognizing both the mandate of the state and the needs and concerns of local communities, it is expected for collaborative management to reduce destructive conflicts and mobilize state and local knowl-edge, skills, resources and institutions towards mutually agreed goals. Fig. 2.1 Growth in nationally designated protected areas from 1872 to 2008 (Adapted from BIP 2010) (Graph excludes protected areas with unknown year of establishment)