Guidelines for Planning and Managing Mountain Protected Areas

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Guidelines for Planning and Managing Mountain Protected AreasBoth geological and physiographical features are also richly represented in mountain areas –different rock types, folding, volcanism, degrees of metamorphism, glacial features etc. Theseshould be preserved in their own right.The steep environmental gradients and close proximity of different altitudinal zones have inthe past allowed the migration of biota in response to climatic change. Protected areas inmountains have therefore a particular importance for the conservation of biodiversity in viewof the high probability of future climatic changes involving temperature or changes in airquality.Peoples living in the mountains have developed many cultivars which are well adapted tolocal conditions and have special knowledge of the uses of local plants and animals in food andmedicine. It is important that the cultivars should be preserved and that the knowledgepossessed by local people should not be lost.The preservation of the full range of biodiversity and of physical features is an essentialelement in the selection of mountain protected areas. As an integral part of planning, provisionshould be made for the protection of large examples of natural ecosystems and of populationsof plant and animal species, together with sites illustrating the principal geological andphysiographic features and the processes at work in the landscape. These should be supplementedby the protection of a larger number of small areas representing the full localvariety of species and ecosystems, including intra-specific genotypic variation.Market at Dali, Yunnan, China where mountain tribal peoples brought 550 different species of plant andanimal products harvested from the mountains. Photo: S. Pei14
III. Preservation of mountain biodiversity and physiographic featuresGuidelinesDesign/planning1. Areas should be selected for protection and established as protected areas, which will, asfar as possible, ensure the maintenance of all genotypes, species, communities andecosystems. Protected areas should be designed to encompass the full range of variation –altitude, aspect, rock and soil types (topodiversity), aquatic type – and viability to ensurefunctional integrity, including ecological processes.2. Particular emphasis should be placed on conservation of endemic and restricted range andthreatened species. Protected areas should be designed to capture the full range of habitatsacross the altitudinal gradient, including the lowland habitats and the transition zonesbetween upland and lowland systems.3. The size and characteristics of protected areas should be related to the needs of the plantand animal communities they are intended to protect (conservation targets) as well as thefunctional integrity of the ecosystem. They should be as large and intact as possible, tominimize fragmentation and to accommodate natural or human disturbance. Consultprinciples of conservation biology on “reserve design” dealing with size, shape, bufferingand connectivity.4. Wherever possible, areas set aside to safeguard samples of natural ecosystems should besurrounded by buffer zones, taking advantage of physiographic and other protectivefeatures and nature-friendly land stewardship promoted within the zone (as in BiosphereReserves).PA management5. Mountain protected areas should have clear and explicit conservation objectives and bemanaged according to those objectives. Zoning within the PA should be determinedaccording to biodiversity and conservation objectives, including establishment of coreand wilderness zones, zones for recreational and other uses and buffer or peripheral zoneswhere appropriate production uses might be carried out (such as harvesting of medicinalplants by locals).6. Those areas with species or ecosystems that are extremely sensitive to human interferenceor use (e.g. Tibetan chiru, Afro-montane cloud forests) merit special protection statussuch as zones of Strict Nature Reserve or Wilderness (Category I).7. The general policy in PAs should be to favour natural processes. Management practicessuch as grazing, fire, or other types of habitat management should only be considered asrelevant if they are an integral part of the natural functioning of the system.8. There should be no introduction of alien species and any recently introduced speciesshould be eliminated as soon as possible. The interest is in native biodiversity, not totalnumber of species. If any alien species are well established, their effects on biodiversityshould be assessed and eradication or control concentrated on those whose effects aresignificant, or on areas of particular importance for their biodiversity or ecologicalcharacteristics e.g. fencing and hunting of wild pigs in Hawai’i Volcanoes NP.9. Mountain PAs should be managed as part of a landscape context to maintain migrationcorridors for wide-ranging and low density species (metapopulations) and to maintain15
Page 1 and 2: IUCN WorldCommissionon ProtectedAre
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Page 5 and 6: The designation of geographical ent
Page 9 and 10: PrefaceThis publication is directed
Page 11 and 12: Prefacecriteria for selection, thou
Page 17 and 18: I. Mountain protected areas: to pro
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Page 21 and 22: II. General criteria for the select
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XI. Issues associated with climate
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Guidelines for Planning and Managin
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Appendix 2Participants in September
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Appendix 3Drakensberg Workshop reco
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Awilderness area surrounds MountAss
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Guidelines for Planning and Managing Mountain Protected Areas

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