Public understanding of protected area designation

Protected areas have a central role to play in educating people about biodiversity and nature conservation. However, there is little evidence regarding how effective public education efforts related to protected areas have been. We used on-site questionnaires at Sites of Special Scientific Interest to determine whether visitors to sites were aware of their protected status. Less than one-third of visitors knew the site they were visiting was a SSSI. However, there was substantial variation in understanding across sites (8-43%). When we compared this variation to five possible predictor variables, only membership of conservation organisations was retained in all models in the 95% confidence set, with members of these groups being better informed about protected area designations. However, the predictive power of all models was low. These results represent a challenge for those aiming to reengage people with conservation and the countryside, and to educate them about its value and contribution.     

Will climate change reduce the efficacy of protected areas for amphibian conservation in Italy?

Amphibians are an important and imperiled component of biodiversity. In this study we analyze the efficacy of Italian reserve network for protecting multiple amphibian species in a climate change scenario, considering both nationally designated areas and Natura 2000 sites. Our approach is based on ensemble niche modeling estimate of potential range shift under two carbon emission scenarios (A1FI and B1) and two dispersal assumptions. The predicted distributions were used to perform gap and irreplaceability analyses. Our findings show that the current Italian reserve network incompletely represents current amphibian diversity and its geographic pattern. The combination of the nationally designated protected areas and the Natura 2000 sites improves current representation of amphibians, but conservation targets based on geographic range extent are achieved for only 40% of species. Under the future scenarios, Natura 2000 sites become a crucial component of the protected areas system. Nonetheless, we predict that climate change decreases for many species the amount of suitable range falling into reserves, regardless of our assumptions about dispersal. We identify some currently unprotected areas that have high irreplaceability scores for species conservation and that maintain their importance under all the future scenarios we considered. We recommend designation of new reserves in these areas to help guarantee long-term amphibian conservation.     

Gap analysis of terrestrial vertebrates in Italy: Priorities for conservation planning in a human dominated landscape

In the last 40 years, Italy has seen important changes: human pressure is increasing in flat and coastal areas while internal mountainous areas are being abandoned and naturally reforested. These changes have substantial impacts on the biodiversity of the region but no conservation strategy has ever explicitly considered them, and no systematic assessment of the existing protected areas has been carried out. We used a combination of distribution models and extents of occurrence to perform a gap analysis and an irreplaceability analysis. We evaluated the effectiveness of the protected areas for the conservation of terrestrial vertebrates, and we identified regions, species, and strategies that appear to be priorities for expanding and consolidating the existing network. The existing protected areas cannot be considered fully representative, and this is especially true for Sardinia where many of the gap species are located. The Alps and the Apennines represent the strongholds of species diversity, but most of the species of conservation interest are concentrated in the Mediterranean part of the peninsula, as well as in small areas of the plains, where human pressure is higher. Biodiversity and human presence are functionally linked through traditional agriculture and pasture and the only option for conservation is that of considering human presence and activities as an integral part of the system. In a human dominated landscape, protected areas must be planned and managed in conjunction with the matrix in which they are embedded and in the context of the environmental history of the region.     

Modelling semi-natural habitat area on lowland farms in western Ireland

A significant policy objective is the need for protection of biodiversity not just within designated Natura 2000 sites, but also in areas that occur outside of these sites. However there is a lack of information on existing semi-natural habitat cover on EU farms, making it difficult to assess whether targets for halting the loss of agricultural biodiversity are being met. To achieve these targets, reliable yet easy-to-use methods are needed for accurately identifying priority areas for conservation actions and monitoring biodiversity on a large spatial scale.Remote sensing, farmland statistics and species data have been used in some EU countries to create maps to estimate the extent of semi-natural habitat cover but these are acknowledged as being too broad scale. In this study, we examined a method of fine-scale prediction of the spatial coverage of semi-natural habitats in lowland farms. A generalized additive model (GAM) was used to investigate the relationships between landscape and farm management variables and the lowland farmland habitat biodiversity on 32 farms outside of conservation designations, in a region of western Ireland. Semi-natural habitat cover on lowland farms could be predicted with a model using stocking density, soil diversity and river and stream length. It is proposed that this model could be used to predict the coverage of semi-natural habitats on farms in other regions of Ireland with similar land-use and landscape. A similar modelling approach could be adapted for application in other regions of Ireland and across Europe with different landscapes to predict semi-natural habitat coverage.     

基于InVEST模型和莫兰指数的甘肃省生境质量与退化度评估

生境质量的高低与土地利用/土地覆被类型为生物多样性提供的栖息地适宜性有直接关系,尤其是农业开发活动、城市、道路等严重威胁生境质量,为了评估西北生态脆弱地区生境质量和退化程度,该研究以甘肃省为例,应用INVEST模型和莫兰指数对甘肃省生境质量和生境退化空间特征进行分析,明确其热点区域,并探讨了生境质量与退化度及其热点与各类自然保护地的关系。结果表明：甘肃省生境质量从南到北逐渐下降,而生境退化度从北到南逐渐升高,自然生态条件好的区域这种变化主要取决于人类活动的位置和强度;甘肃省生境质量热点区面积占到全省国土面积的25.59%,高于全省自然保护地面积占比,形成了保护空缺,甘肃省生境退化热点地区面积虽然不高,但多为自然生态条件较好的区域;各类保护地中,国家公园是各类保护地类型中生境退化度最低的类型,保护水平相对较低的其他保护地类型在生境质量和退化程度上表现出相反的结果。研究结果对精准实施生物多样性保护战略和生态系统管理决策具有重要意义。     

Relationship between distributions of threatened plants and protected areas in Britain

The establishment and maintenance of a system of protected areas is central to regional and global strategies for the conservation of biodiversity. The current global trend towards human population growth and widespread environmental degradation means that such areas are becoming increasingly isolated in fragmented habitat islands. In regions in which this process is well advanced a high proportion of species are thus predicted to have become restricted to protected areas. Here using uniquely detailed datasets for Britain, a region with close to the global level of percentage coverage by statutory protected areas, we determine the extent of restriction of Red List vascular plant species of conservation concern to these areas. On the basis of currently known distributions, overall our results strongly support the importance of a dual conservation strategy in Britain, in which protected areas are maintained with particular reference to those biodiversity features (such as many threatened plant species) that are highly dependent on them, and in which components of the wider landscape are also managed in such a way as to promote the abundance and distribution of such features with particular reference to those which are unlikely to persist in protected areas alone.     

Assessing the performance of the existing and proposed network of marine protected areas to conserve marine biodiversity in Chile

The growing concern about the profound influence of human activities on marine ecosystems has been the driving force behind the creation of marine reserves in the last few decades. With almost 4200 km of coastline, Chile has not been the exception to this trend. A set of conservation priority sites has recently been proposed by the Chilean government to expand the current marine reserve network. In this study, we used the most comprehensive information currently available on the distribution of 2513 marine species in Chile to assess the efficiency of the existing system of marine protected areas (MPA) and the conservation priority sites identified by the government. Additionally, we evaluated the vulnerability of the reserve network selected with respect to threatening human activities. Our results show that both the existing protected areas and the proposed priority sites are relatively effective at protecting Chilean marine biodiversity. However, the majority of the species that are not represented within the existing or projected MPA network have very restricted distributions and are, therefore, of high conservation concern. To cover all species requires a network of 35 MPAs (46% of the total number of planning units). Many of the sites identified as irreplaceable present conflict with one or more human activities, particularly in the central region of the country. This study emphasizes the need for a systematic conservation planning approach to maximize the representation of species and prioritize those areas where conflicts between marine biodiversity conservation and human activities may occur.     

Prospects for biodiversity conservation in the Atlantic Forest: Lessons from aging human-modified landscapes

Recent global assessments have shown the limited coverage of protected areas across tropical biotas, fuelling a growing interest in the potential conservation services provided by anthropogenic landscapes. Here we examine the geographic distribution of biological diversity in the Atlantic Forest of South America, synthesize the most conspicuous forest biodiversity responses to human disturbances, propose further conservation initiatives for this biota, and offer a range of general insights into the prospects of forest species persistence in human-modified tropical forest landscapes worldwide. At the biome scale, the most extensive pre-Columbian habitats across the Atlantic Forest ranged across elevations below 800 masl, which still concentrate most areas within the major centers of species endemism. Unfortunately, up to 88% of the original forest habitat has been lost, mainly across these low to intermediate elevations, whereas protected areas are clearly skewed towards high elevations above 1200 masl. At the landscape scale, most remaining Atlantic Forest cover is embedded within dynamic agro-mosaics including elements such as small forest fragments, early-to-late secondary forest patches and exotic tree monocultures. In this sort of aging or long-term modified landscapes, habitat fragmentation appears to effectively drive edge-dominated portions of forest fragments towards an early-successional system, greatly limiting the long-term persistence of forest-obligate and forest-dependent species. However, the extent to which forest habitats approach early-successional systems, thereby threatening the bulk of the Atlantic Forest biodiversity, depends on both past and present landscape configuration. Many elements of human-modified landscapes (e.g. patches of early-secondary forests and tree monocultures) may offer excellent conservation opportunities, but they cannot replace the conservation value of protected areas and hitherto unprotected large patches of old-growth forests. Finally, the biodiversity conservation services provided by anthropogenic landscapes across Atlantic Forest and other tropical forest regions can be significantly augmented by coupling biodiversity corridor initiatives with biota-scale attempts to plug existing gaps in the representativeness of protected areas.     

Conservation planning of vertebrate diversity in a Mediterranean agricultural-dominant landscape

To improve effectiveness of protected areas, selection of priority areas should include consideration of three main components, namely special conservation elements, focal species and representation. We present a three-track approach related to these components for vertebrate conservation planning in Castilla-La Mancha, central Spain. As special conservation elements, we identified Priority Areas for Conservation of species using five criteria: species richness, geographic rarity, species vulnerability, a Combined Index of these three criteria, and a Standardised Biodiversity Index (SBI) that integrate the three criteria and four studied taxa. The Natura 2000 Network was used to include conservation areas for focal species. We evaluated the representation of every landscape type in the existing conservation areas. To delineate the spatial configuration for vertebrate conservation, we combined the identified Priority Areas for Conservation, existing conservation areas and connectivity areas by cost–distance analysis. The Combined Index was the most efficient criterion analyzed to identify Priority Areas for Conservation. The Natura 2000 Network showed a high percentage of coincidence with identified Priority Areas for Conservation, whereas the natural protected areas network had a low percentage of coincidence. Six agricultural landscapes were inadequately represented in the current conservation network. According to our multi-track approach, ∼29% of study area was required to capture 100% of vertebrate species and all landscape types. Our results show that the existing conservation areas are insufficient to guarantee the conservation of biodiversity in the study region. Additional areas with outstanding features of diversity, connectivity areas, and establishment of targets for off-reserve conservation are of fundamental importance for strengthening biodiversity conservation.     

Elephant- and human-induced changes to dung beetle (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) assemblages in the Maputaland Centre of Endemism

High African elephant stocking rates in nature reserves in southern Africa have been shown to have significant impacts on vegetation structure and diversity. However, the direct and indirect effects of elephants on fauna, particularly invertebrates, remain poorly known. The Maputaland Centre of Endemism, an area of southern Mozambique and northern KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa, is undergoing rapid rates of habitat conversion. Sand Forest, the rarest vegetation type in the Centre, is threatened by human disturbance outside of protected areas and by elephant browsing pressure in Tembe Elephant Park, one of the few protected areas for Sand Forest. Here we examine the effects of elephant- and human-induced disturbance to Sand Forest on a functionally important component of invertebrate diversity, i.e. the dung beetle fauna. The dung beetle assemblage associated with elephant-disturbed Sand Forest was transitional between undisturbed Sand Forest and Mixed Woodland, whereas that associated with human disturbance was markedly different to either habitat type. Differences are attributed to a change in habitat structure under both disturbance types, as well as to changes in the quality and distribution of dung under human disturbance. Therefore, grazing impacts by elephant not only affect plant diversity, but also implement changes in invertebrate fauna. The maintenance of the integrity of the Sand Forest–Mixed Woodland matrix is considered critical for biodiversity conservation in the Maputaland Centre of Endemism. Management of elephant populations, as well as the protection of sufficient Sand Forest inside conservation areas must, therefore, necessarily form part of the conservation strategy for the Centre.     

Conserving the genetic resources of crop wild relatives in European Protected Areas

European native plant diversity is currently suffering erosion and extinction and thus, it is crucial to improve conservation strategies to maintain this essential resource. If unchecked, this genetic erosion and species extinction will cause unnecessary and irreversible harm to the economy and social well being of Europe. Much plant biodiversity is undoubtedly found in the existing 9654 European protected areas that cover 1,066,358 km², but clearly targeted and active conservation of priority plant species is required within these protected areas. To help ensure more efficient long-term sustainable conservation, a novel approach to the in situ conservation of European plants, notably crop wild relatives, is suggested. The purpose of this approach is to know what plant genetic resources (PGR) we have, where they are located and to assess whether the current network of protected areas includes a representative sample of European PGR diversity. The generation of in situ conservation and management plans for PGR populations in existing protected areas can significantly improve the present conservation status. Additionally, the identification of gaps of certain PGR in current protected areas can provide the basis for the designation of new complementary PGR in situ reserves.     

Conserving Africa’s rain forests: problems in protected areas and possible solutions

Problems and correlates of success in the conservation of Africa’s rain forests were evaluated for 16 protected areas in 11 countries, representing approximately half of all protected areas in this biome. Data were obtained from questionnaires, published and unpublished accounts, and direct observations. Despite numerous problems, all protected areas conserved indigenous rain forest biodiversity more effectively than did alternative land uses. More than half the protected areas suffered extensive ecological isolation. Effective management of protected areas was seriously compromised by inadequate funding and government support. Dense human populations, often resulting from immigration, constituted major threats to protected areas. Perceived conservation success was greatest for large protected areas surrounded by similar habitat with strong public support, effective law enforcement, low human population densities, and substantial support from international donors. Contrary to expectations, protected area success was not directly correlated with employment benefits for the neighboring community, conservation education, conservation clubs, or with the presence and extent of integrated conservation and development programs. Studies are needed to better understand what shapes positive pubic attitude towards protected areas because none of the conventional public outreach programs were correlated with public attitude. We also identify apparent deficiencies in foreign assistance to these protected areas. The single most important short-term strategy was considered to be the improvement of law enforcement effectiveness through greater technical and financial support. Nine medium-term strategies are identified, including provision of adequate and secure long-term funding, establishing research and monitoring programs, and developing more appropriate conservation and development programs. Long-term strategies deal with two ultimate causal factors, mainly attitudes and value systems, and stabilizing human populations. Future success of Africa’s protected areas is contingent upon long-term international assistance including contingencies mandating realistic performance standards.     

基于生物多样性保护的土地利用结构预测

土地利用结构预测是土地利用与管理的核心问题,基于生物多样性保护的土地利用结构预测对生态环境良好、物种丰富的地区尤其重要。该文应用元胞自动机-马尔科夫模型(CA-Markov)模型建立了基于生物多样性保护的乐东县土地利用结构预测模型,获得了2020年土地利用结构。结果表明:2020年土地利用结构预测结果较2009年更合理,其中建设用地布局更加集中,北部生物多样性极为丰富区内建设用地大部分转变为林地,滨海地区在发展旅游建设的同时海岸带生态资源得到保护;耕地元胞单元增加,且增加部分主要分布在西部生物多样性丰富度一般区。预测结果突出了对生物多样性的保护,对乐东县土地可持续利用具有重要的现实意义。     

The implications of current and future urbanization for global protected areas and biodiversity conservation

Due to human population growth and migration, there will be nearly 2 billion new urban residents by 2030, yet the consequences of both current and future urbanization for biodiversity conservation are poorly known. Here we show that urban growth will have impacts on ecoregions, rare species, and protected areas that are localized but cumulatively significant. Currently, 29 of the world’s 825 ecoregions have over one-third of their area urbanized, and these 29 ecoregions are the only home of 213 endemic terrestrial vertebrate species. Our analyses suggest that 8% of terrestrial vertebrate species on the IUCN Red List are imperiled largely because of urban development. By 2030, 15 additional ecoregions are expected to lose more than 5% of their remaining undeveloped area, and they contain 118 vertebrate species found nowhere else. Of the 779 rare species with only one known population globally, 24 are expected to be impacted by urban growth. In addition, the distance between protected areas and cities is predicted to shrink dramatically in some regions: for example, the median distance from a protected area to a city in Eastern Asia is predicted to fall from 43 km to 23 km by 2030. Most protected areas likely to be impacted by new urban growth (88%) are in countries of low to moderate income, potentially limiting institutional capacity to adapt to new anthropogenic stresses on protected areas. In short, trends in global ecoregions, rare species, and protected areas suggest localized but significant biodiversity degradation associated with current and upcoming urbanization.     

Patterns of protection and threats along productivity gradients in Canada

Productivity is an important driver of broad-scale diversity gradients and community composition. Surprisingly, it is rarely used as a biodiversity proxy in protected area network assessments. In this research, we evaluate if biases exist in the locations of Canada’s protected areas with respect to productivity and assess the distribution of anthropogenic threats to protection along productivity and topographic axes. Productivity was expressed as the annual minimum and integrated fraction of absorbed photosynthetically active radiation (fPAR) and related seasonality (defined as variation in fPAR over a year), as acquired by remote sensing. Results indicate that, overall, protected areas are slightly biased to lower productivities (higher seasonalities), but are relatively unbiased along elevation. Sites at high elevations, high seasonalities, or low productivities are extremely well represented, but they account for a very small proportion of Canada’s area overall and under protection. However, the productivity characteristics of protected areas are heterogeneous across reserve characteristics and space; biases are greater and more variable when considering individual International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) categories, protected area size classes, or ecozones.The spatial and environmental correlates of anthropogenic pressures (proximity of roads and settlements in the greater park ecosystem) to protected areas in the forested ecozones were evaluated with partial linear regression models. Threats were strongly spatially structured. Reserve characteristics (productivity, elevation, size, IUCN category) shared about half of this spatial structure, explaining ∼25% of the variation in threat distributions. Small and productive protected areas tended to occur closer to human populations and roads, respectively, and are thus expected to face greater threats to biodiversity. High-elevation protected areas generally occurred farther from both roads and settlements.Systematic patterns between productivity, reserve size and management goals, and anthropogenic disturbances suggest that the most productive, biodiverse areas may not yet be sufficiently protected. These analyses highlight considerations for the management of existing parks and the expansion of Canada’s protected area network.     

Expanding protected areas beyond their terrestrial comfort zone: Identifying spatial options for river conservation

There has been very little consideration of freshwater ecosystems in identifying and designing protected areas. Recent studies suggest that protected areas hold enormous potential to conserve freshwater biodiversity if augmented with appropriate planning and management strategies. Recognizing this need, South Africa’s relevant government authority commissioned a spatial assessment to inform their national protected area expansion strategy. This study presents the freshwater component of the spatial assessment, aimed at identifying focus areas for expanding the national protected area system for the benefit of river biodiversity. Conservation objectives to guide the assessment aimed to improve representation of river biodiversity pattern and processes in both new and existing protected areas. Data to address these objectives were collated in a Geographic Information System (GIS) and a conservation planning algorithm was used as a means of integrating the multiple objectives in a spatially efficient manner. Representation of biodiversity pattern was based on achieving conservation targets for 222 river types and 47 freshwater fish endemic to South Africa. Options were also identified for representing coarse-scale biodiversity processes associated with free-flowing rivers and catchment-estuarine linkages. River reaches that, with only minor expansion of existing protected area boundaries, could be fully incorporated into the national protected area system were also identified. Based on this study, generic recommendations are made on how to locate, design and manage protected areas for river biodiversity: use appropriate planning units, incorporate both biodiversity pattern and process, improve planning and management of individual protected areas, incorporate a mixture of protection strategies, and embed planning into an ongoing research and implementation process.     

Prioritizing avian conservation areas for the Yellowstone to Yukon Region of North America

Prioritizing new areas for conservation in the Rocky Mountains of North America is important because the current intensity and scale of human development poses an immediate threat to biodiversity. We identified priority areas for avian biodiversity within a 3200-km corridor from Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming, US to the Yukon in Canada (the Y2Y region). We applied the conservation planning tool, MARXAN, to summarize 21 avian values. MARXAN minimizes the area delineated, while simultaneously incorporating multiple criteria (species richness representation, spatial clustering) and biodiversity targets into a single mappable solution. We prioritized avian biodiversity ‘hotspots’ at continental and ecoprovincial scales based on: (1) avian species richness; and (2) habitat associations of 20 focal species. At the continental scale, the single best solution represented 19% of the Y2Y region; 29% of this solution overlapped with existing protected areas. In northern Y2Y, large contiguous areas with high avian value were concentrated on the western edge of the continental divide. In southern Y2Y, contiguous areas were smaller and more numerous than in the north. In contrast to the majority of studies prioritizing conservation areas, we explored the effect of varying the extent of the target region by analyzing data at the scale of the entire Y2Y region and for eight ecoprovinces separately. We found that (1) large contiguous patches characterized only three ecoprovinces, while for the remaining ecoprovinces, numerous single scattered habitat patches of varying sizes were required to meet conservation goals; and (2) generally, only a small percentage of sites was already protected within the existing protected areas network. Our results are important for conservation planners and resource managers in the Y2Y region for incorporating areas of high conservation value for birds at regional and ecoprovincial scales during conservation project design and adaptive planning.     

稻作梯田农业文化遗产系统保护研究综述

梯田是人类依山势就地利挖掘而成的山地农业生产系统,许多梯田至今仍发挥着生产功能,展现了人类适应与利用自然的智慧,其包含的生产技术、农业管理经验和传统农业知识,对农业的可持续发展具有重要的启示和借鉴意义,既是典型的山地生态农业模式,也是杰出的生态与文化景观,更是弥足珍贵的农业文化遗产。其中,稻作梯田为其极具代表性的重要类型。在工业化和城市化快速发展的背景下,由于无法使用机械化作业,稻作梯田劳动强度大、生产效率低的劣势愈加突出。一些地方还因为旅游业的不合理发展,引发了梯田农业系统生态环境和社会文化等方面的诸多问题,甚至因改种旱作或抛荒造成了梯田的垮塌。稻作梯田保护和可持续发展问题,引起了不同学科学者越来越多的关注。本文在系统收集国内外稻作梯田保护研究文献的基础上,从保护对象、保护措施、主要问题及原因等角度进行了分析。研究表明,1)稻作梯田的保护对象包括梯田景观、梯田生态和梯田文化3个部分。其中,梯田景观包括梯田结构、水源涵养林、农田灌溉系统和村落;梯田生态包括传统作物品种、生物多样性、农田环境质量和传统小农复合经营模式;梯田文化则包括居民服饰、建筑物等物质文化,以及歌舞、节庆等精神文化和水资源管理、森林管理等制度文化构成的非物质文化。2)造成稻作梯田景观破坏、环境污染和生物多样性减少、传统文化面临失传等问题的主要原因在于,现代科技的冲击、市场需求的驱动、传统农业比较效益低和替代性产业发展不合理等。3)稻作梯田的主要保护措施包括：适度的产业发展、构建和完善保护管理制度和机制、加强科学研究等。未来稻作梯田保护研究,应在强调多学科综合研究的基础上,重点放在梯田系统退化的内在与外在因素、长期监测与动态评估、适宜的产业发展模式与途径和典型案例跟踪及评估等方面。     

Factors affecting land reconversion plans following a payment for ecosystem service program

Humans have altered much of the natural land cover, resulting in ecosystem degradation and biodiversity loss worldwide. Many countries have implemented conservation payment programs for agricultural land conversion to counter this trend. However, the sustainability of ecosystem services from these programs is unknown due to uncertainty about land uses when payments cease. We studied post-program land use plans for China’s Grain-to-Green Program (GTGP), one of the world’s largest ecosystem service payment programs, in Wolong Nature Reserve for giant pandas. Although farmers in the reserve planned to reconvert only 22.6% of the land that was enrolled in the GTGP to agriculture after payments cease, these GTGP plots are distributed across the landscape and may be important for many ecosystem services. Along with regional differences, the amount of GTGP land households planned to reconvert was significantly reduced by the respondent’s age and off-farm household income and was significantly increased by the number of household laborers and total amount of land the household had enrolled in the GTGP. Thus, regional, demographic and economic factors should be considered to more efficiently sustain conservation benefits from payment for ecosystem service programs.     

Status of the protected areas of the Central African Republic

The Central African Republic (CAR) has made an impressive commitment to biodiversity conservation, with a total of 15 protected areas covering about 10.9% of the country. This study critically examines the status of these protected areas in light of their potential for long-term protection of biodiversity. First of all, the protected area system does not protect a representative sample of the ecoregions of the CAR. Even more important is the fact that only 32% of the protected areas are adequately managed. Law-enforcement is inadequate, and poaching poses the largest threat to biodiversity conservation. Given the dim economic prospects, the CAR will need continued financial as well as technical assistance to deal with protected area management. Experiences have shown that such intervention can make a difference. However more attention needs to be given to capacity building, long-term funding mechanisms, regional collaboration and political commitment to make such interventions sustainable in the long-term.