Guidelines for Planning and Managing Mountain Protected Areas

Guidelines for Planning and Managing Mountain Protected AreasBecause of their steepness, extreme weather conditions, and the instability of their soils,many mountain areas are marginal for commercial agriculture, though many support excellentsubsistence systems of farming, grazing and agroforestry. Most too are remote and inaccessible,so that mountain communities are far from markets, and the provision of services,such as education and health, for them is expensive. Most of the communities have also, untilrecently, been very self-contained. Globalization, with improved communications and access,may prove a mixed blessing; as well as bringing the benefits of better services and more directaccess to markets, they facilitate emigration and provide greater opportunities for people fromthe lowlands to influence and exploit the resources and cultures of the mountains. Small farmsare disadvantaged as globalization is currently carried out.In many countries, the lowland metropolitan centres have another conception of mountainareas. They are often viewed as supply areas, to be used or exploited for wood, water, wildlife,minerals, or recreational opportunity including mass tourism. Because they frequently forminternational borders, they are important for defence. The people who live there are often proudand independent, and considered unruly and backward by lowlanders. The mountains are oftenendowed with valuable minerals; have forests that can be exploited; they contain preferred sitesfor the impoundment of water for domestic and industrial use, for the generation of electricityand for irrigation. Mountains can be developed for tourism, recreation and for second homes. Infact, they are looked upon both as an economic asset and as a liability or special responsibility.But their very remoteness and difficulty of access often means they are the last bastions of wild,untrammelled nature and unfettered evolutionary processes. This makes them rich treasuries ofnative biological diversity. It also means that they possess some of the last remaining largewilderness areas, for those who crave or need solitude and as much absence of humandisturbance as possible.Since the earliest days of the establishment of protected areas, mountain areas have been afavourite choice. This has not always been for the best reasons. Many, it is true, have beenselected because of their special merits, but others largely because of their remoteness and thefact that they were of limited value for more lucrative economic activity. Moreover, selectionhas mainly been concerned with the protection of pristine landscapes, natural ecosystems andmagnificent scenery. In most instances, the way of life of any people who live in theselandscapes has not been included in the criteria for selection, though this has witnesseddramatic improvement of late.Mountains are indeed special places. Many of them have received legislative recognition bydesignation as parks or reserves of various kinds. It is for the planners and managers of thisestate and any future areas that the guidelines in this booklet are intended. They wereformulated for mountain protected areas (MtPAs) in the widest sense of both terms –“mountain” and “protected areas” (PAs).These are general guidelines or recommendations. Specific guidelines, it is hoped usingthese as a foundation, need to be developed at a national level and then at a PA level. At thislevel they should be much more specific, and should have local community input to meet thespecial needs and circumstances which prevail at any specific site. These guidelines are notpresented in any paternalistic way, but offered as a sharing of experience by 59 scientists andmanagers from 23 countries, assembled at South Africa’s Drakensbergs in a workshop in 2003.2