The Protected Landscape Approach - Centre for Mediterranean ...

The Protected Landscape Approach: Linking Nature, Culture and Community
local processing, and marketing of fruit products. The products are marketed under the
“Traditions of the White Carpathians” label that helps market high-quality products by
associating them with the region and, at the same time, promotes the region as a whole. In the
USA, an Atlas of People, Places and Hand-made Products is being produced to celebrate
stories of stewardship and explores the idea of consumer awareness through marketing
products associated with place to support sustainable economies.
Romulus cites intangible benefits from the participatory planning process that include
“greater awareness of impacts on the environment, increased knowledge of natural and cultural
heritage of the area, a growing sense of community pride, the discovery of community power in
negotiating with the government, and the realization that with the appropriate mechanisms they
could have a greater say in designing their future.” Kundrata and Hukov conclude that
participatory approaches to conservation have been critical in fostering civil society and
reforming new democracies in Central Europe. Collectively, this range of benefits is compel -
ling evidence of the effectiveness of the protected landscape approach as a positive force for
protection of natural and cultural heritage but also for community-building, social change and
democracy.
Challenges remaining
Although this set of case studies demonstrates much success, challenges remain. Threats facing
these places and their stewards are many, and highlight their vulner ability and a sense of
urgency. In many parts of the world, changing economies and land uses, poverty as well as
rapid growth from development and recreation, put these places and the inter relation ships
between the environment and people at risk. According to Phillips and Partington, one of the
largest challenges ahead is to integrate conservation fully with all aspects of social and
economic endeavours.
The need to change perceptions of conservation also presents a challenge. Beresford writes
that “the main challenges lie with creating or reinforcing a positive social perception of
protected areas as positive assets for communities and building a broad constituency which
includes local people, politicians, land owners and the business community.” Budhathoki
agrees and cites the challenge of engaging local communities in Nepal, given the widespread
suspicion among rural people towards conservation which appears to be another way to control
their resource use.
These observations are mirrored in perceptions and in many cases, misperceptions of
conservationists toward local communities and their stewardship. Many conservation profes -
sionals resist the idea of community-based management and are distrustful of the possibility of
creating sustainable economies compatible with conservation objectives. Maretti notes how
important it is, in developing an overall nature conservation strategy, to view local com -
munities and their activities related to natural resources and sustainable development as an
opportunity rather than a problem. In the past, this suspicion of local stewardship has some -
times resulted in overlooking the conservation value of existing cultural traditions and under -
mining the social systems that were providing biodiversity protection. Clearly there is a need
for a new image of conservation among diverse constituencies for the protected landscape
approach to succeed.
The effectiveness of the protected landscape approach is directly linked to its complexity.
According to Hughes, “never before has protected area management been so complex, em -
bracing a wide range of disciplines, requiring multiple skills, involving many different interest
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