The Protected Landscape Approach - Centre for Mediterranean ...

The Protected Landscape Approach: Linking Nature, Culture and Community
Lino and Britto de Moraes write that these designations are complementary, working in
harmony with each other and with other kinds of protected areas, such as Category II National
Parks, to manage natural resources in the coastal zone while involving local communities.
Also drawing on the Brazilian experience, Claudio Maretti writes about the role of Category
VI extractive reserves in protecting landscapes. The Chico Mendes extractive reserve
(Brazilian Amazon) and the coastal Mandira extractive reserve (south-eastern Brazil) are
examples of landscapes created by and belonging to local communities, he argues. Reflecting
on the courage of these communities when in response to threats to these places they created
extractive reserves, Maretti stresses that local communities and their activities related to natural
resources present an opportunity, rather than a problem, in developing an overall nature
conservation strategy.
Giles Romulus explores the applicability of the various protected area management cate -
gories to the situation of Small Island Developing States in the Caribbean. This chapter presents
two cases from Saint Lucia: the Praslin Protected Landscape and the Soufriere Marine
Management Area. Romulus argues that Categories V and VI are most appropriate to the needs
of Small Island Developing States, and that effective management of natural and cultural
resources should be based on the principles of equity, participation and sustainability. Also in
that chapter, a box by Wil Maheia on the Maya Mountain Marine Corridor/Port Honduras
Marine Reserve illustrates the role of an NGO working with local communities to create a
protected area.
North American experience with protected landscapes is described in the chapter by Nora
Mitchell, Jacquelyn Tuxill, Guy Swinnerton, Susan Buggey and Jessica Brown. The authors
observe a growing appreciation of the conservation values of lived-in landscapes in the United
States and Canada, and a broadening of protected area systems in both countries to include a
greater diversity of sites, and an array of management partnerships. Their chapter presents
examples from diverse settings in the United States and Canada, and documents a growing
appreciation of the importance of partnerships, community engagement and participatory
governance models. They observe that the term “protected landscapes” refers not only to
particular sites, but to a process that guides and accommodates change, and this represents a
fundamental shift in thought and practice in the two countries.
In the United Kingdom, with its long history of human settlement and dense population, and
with almost all land and water in some form of multiple use, conservation effort has always
focused on lived-in landscapes. In this book Adrian Phillips and Richard Partington review the
UK’s half-century of experience with Category V protected areas, which include National
Parks, Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONBs), Regional Parks and National Scenic
Areas. England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland are adopting different strategies,
illustrating a varied approach to pursuing social, economic and environmental aims within their
protected landscapes. Phillips and Partington write that in the UK it is recognised that protected
areas will not survive, nor achieve their aims, without local support – all the more necessary
given that many people live in these Category V protected areas and play an active role in their
management and protection.
Case studies from Central Europe of two Czech Protected Landscapes – the Bílé Karpaty
(southern Moravia) and the Jizersky hory (northern Bohemia) – demonstrate the contributions
of the stewardship approach to rural economic development, community revitalization and
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