102 • Technologies To Maintain Biological Diversity 



CLASSIFYING AND DESIGNING PROTECTED AREAS 



Maintenance of biological diversity per se has 

 often not been the primary objective of pro- 

 tected natural areas. Instead, many such areas 

 have been set aside and managed for other con- 

 servation values, such as preservation of scenic 

 landscapes or protection of watersheds (11). 

 More recently, however, the U.S. Congress and 

 other policymakers have begun to authorize ac- 

 tions to address the maintenance of biological 

 diversity directly. With this new mandate, biol- 

 ogists, agricultural scientists, and conservation 

 program managers have started to develop new 

 ways to apply science to the problem of main- 

 taining biological diversity onsite. 



The development of techniques for onsite 

 maintenance of biological diversity has so far 

 focused mainly on protected areas. This sec- 

 tion is concerned, therefore, largely with where 

 these protected areas should be established and 

 how biological principles can be used in the 

 design and management of protected areas. The 

 technologies appear to be scientifically sound, 

 yet too little implementation has occurred thus 

 far for a conclusive assessment of effect. 



Even if the biological techniques are demon- 

 strated to be correct, the actual location, de- 

 sign, and management objectives for protected 

 areas will be determined mainly by social (in- 

 cluding economic and political) factors. For ex- 

 ample, costs will usually be a stronger consid- 

 eration than biological criteria in choosing 

 whether to have one large reserve or several 

 small ones. Boundaries usually reflect what 

 area has been made available rather than what 

 would provide the best habitat for flora and 

 fauna. 



Development activities other than conserva- 

 tion may also take precedence in decisions to 

 change the boundaries of protected areas. In 

 tropical countries, where diversity is most 

 threatened, many natural areas are occupied 

 by farmers, hunters, gatherers, and fishermen 

 (see ch. 11). Strategies to safeguard biological 

 diversity must recognize that development of 

 natural resources is imperative and must incor- 

 porate socioeconomic and political considera- 



tions. However, conservationists and resource 

 developers should also view conservation as 

 a necessary component of economic devel- 

 opment. 



In spite of the powerful influence of social 

 factors, social sciences are applied less often 

 than natural sciences in efforts to maintain bio- 

 logical diversity. Development planning tech- 

 niques that do use social science data and prin- 

 ciples have been proposed, however, and used 

 occasionally to integrate natural resource con- 

 servation with other forms of economic, cul- 

 tural, and social development. Resource devel- 

 opment planning is discussed in some detail 

 in the OTA report. Technologies To Sustain 

 Tropical Forest Resources (83). A variation of 

 resource development planning, integrated de- 

 velopment planning, is described briefly later 

 in this chapter. 



Classification Systems for 

 Protected Areas 



Strategies to develop a system of protected 

 areas typically begin by classifying and map- 

 ping types of ecosystems using data on plant 

 and animal distributions and on climate and 

 soil parameters. This information is compared 

 with the locations of already-protected areas 

 to approximate priorities for allocating the re- 

 sources available for site protection. 



Descriptions of threatened ecosystems are 

 now adequate in every country to undertake 

 effective programs for conserving biological 

 diversity. In nearly all regions, however, con- 

 tinued improvements in ecosystem classifica- 

 tion and assessment would facilitate better de- 

 cisions on where protection is most needed. 

 Preservation priorities need to be based on 

 knowledge of which ecosystems: 



• have high diversity, 



• have high endemism (a high proportion of 

 the species having a limited natural range), 



• are threatened by resource development 

 or degradation patterns, 



