A guide for planners and managers - IUCN

Photo by R. Salm.
PART I
The Roles of Protected Areas
reefs under protection, larger, attractive fish appear to be less frightened of fish
watchers and do not flee so quickly when approached (Figure I-15).
Large yellowtail snapper at Roatan Reef, Honduras.
1.9 Education and Research
FIGURE I-15.
Natural areas are used for both education and formal training, as well as research.
Public education is usually organized around on-site interpretive programmes in
the protected areas. Such programmes may take the form of guided or self-guided
trails, for example: boardwalks through coastal wetlands (Figure I-16), underwater
trails like those through the reefs at Buck Island National Monument in the U.S. Virgin
Islands (Figure I-17), and underwater viewing chambers like those found at Green
Island on the Great Barrier Reef (Australia) and in several marine parks in Japan.
Off-site interpretive programmes involve publications, lectures, and film or slide
shows provided at visitor centers,
FIGURE I-16.
schools, and other institutions, or
through television.
Boardwalks facilitate educational visits to coastal protected areas
(Umhlanga Nature Reserve, South Africa).
FIGURE I-17.
Underwater signs inform visitors of the
marine organisms in the Buck Island
National Monument, U.S. Virgin Islands.
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Photo by Kaf Smith.
Photo by John Clark.