Expanding protected areas and incorporating human resource use: a study of 15 forest parks in Ecuador and Peru

Abstract

Data from legal records, management plans, and interviews with 63 local experts reveal the substantial expansion of 15 protected areas (PAs) of forest in Ecuador and Peru during the last two decades. Combining results for these PAs, the area under protection increased by over half, from 5,760,814 to 8,972,896 ha, with the Amazonian PAs adding the greatest expanse. Most of this expanded land was legally designated for strict protection; however, in practice, human resource use and settlement are widespread. Hunting is the most common resource use, followed by logging and livestock grazing. Mining and petroleum extraction also occur in four of the 15 PAs. Together these activities on average affect approximately 30% of the area within eight Peruvian PAs and approximately 45% of the area of seven Ecuadorian PAs, far exceeding previous deforestation estimates. By expanding these PAs, Ecuadorian and Peruvian conservationists have significantly improved the coverage of key ecosystems and endangered habitats. However, they now face the daunting task of managing larger, more complex protected areas that de facto include thousands of local people. Conservation agencies in both countries are turning toward land-use zoning within PAs to integrate resource use with biodiversity conservation.

The emergence of land change science for global environmental change and sustainability

“…For example, the development of commercial grain farms in the breeding lands of wildebeest in Kenya affect the number of this keystone species in the Masai-Mara Nature Reserve (69), while exurban development surrounding Yellowstone National Park in the United States triggers a complex suite of biodiversity responses, such as the loss of riparian habitat, elk winter range, and migration corridors (114,115). In many cases, the establishment of reserves affects the subsistence practices of people living within or adjacent to them, with implications for human well-being and reserve ecosystems (116). For example, the collection of wood fuel and expansion of agricultural lands in the Wolong Nature Reserve of China was reducing the area of giant panda habitat and the connectivity of these habitats within and beyond the reserve up to 2001.…”

What Is Behind Land Claims? Downsizing of a Conservation Area in Southeastern Ecuador

“…Downsizing has been reported as an instrument to divide land within protected areas to allow large scale projects of resource use [7,11]; however, this case study shows that the excision of land inside a protective forest was identified as the best technical and legal solution to separate settlements and land under agricultural use from natural vegetation that has to be protected. In this case, downsizing was also perceived as legal and social compensation for an improper PA declaration process.…”

Serendipitous conservation: Impacts of oil pipeline construction in rural northwestern Ecuador

“…In fact, five of the six most critical endangered ecosystems in Ecuador occur along the Pacific coast and are not covered by National Parks (Sierra et al, 2002). Nevertheless, in the last 25 years, the Ecuadorian Government has increased the size of four major protected areas (PA): Reserva Ecológica Cotocachi Cayapas from 204,420 to 234,420 ha, Reserva Forestal Cuyabeno from 254,760 to 603,380 ha, Parque Nacional Sangay from 271,925 to 517,765 ha, and YNP from 679,730 to 982,000 ha (Naughton-Treves et al, 2006). In contrast, most private parks, although well protected, remain less than 2500 ha (Langholz 1996).…”