Ch. 11— Biological Diversity and Development Assistance • 301 



ects, they can be important vehicles for present- 

 ing the case for maintaining biological diver- 

 sity (evidenced by the NCS for Zambia) (44). 



The lack of management plans for specific 

 protected areas has been identified as a major 

 problem in almost all developing countries. 

 Without them, most areas suffer from inap- 

 propriate development, sporadic and inconsist- 

 ent management, and lack of clearly defined 

 management objectives. Ways to develop such 

 plans have been proposed and are being applied 

 to six major protected areas: Amboseli, Kenya; 

 Simen Mountains, Ethiopia; Sapo, Liberia; 

 Khao, Thailand; Sinharaja, Sri Lanka; and Am- 

 boro, Bolivia (44). A country may also analyze 

 its existing parks and protected areas to develop 

 plans for an orderly allocation of natural areas 

 (44). Although few examples of such plans ex- 

 ist, methods for doing this analysis have also 

 been developed. Systems are currently in place 

 in Brazil, Indonesia, and Dominica (44). 



In situ genebanks have received some atten- 

 tion as a way to conserve gene pools of wild 

 economic plants (see ch. 5). The strategy has 

 particular relevance for developing countries, 

 where most of the ancestral stock of current 

 economic species occurs. General guidelines 

 for managing such units have been developed 

 (34). Sri Lanka (for wild medicinal plants), In- 

 dia (for citrus and sugarcane), and Mexico (for 

 teosinte) have either prepared or are develop- 

 ing plans for in situ genebanks. Efforts are un- 

 der way to expand this strategy to tropical South 

 America (35). 



Maintaining diversity through traditional 

 parks and protected areas is becoming difficult 

 for some nations for economic and political rea- 

 sons, and it is likely to become less common 

 in the future. Setting aside land for a single use 

 can often be an economic impossibility. Some 

 nations, particularly small countries and is- 

 lands, do not have the large, undisturbed tracts 

 of land. The trend is toward integrating reserves 

 as part of overall development plans, rather 

 than adding them later as areas separate from 

 development. 



Few approaches, however, have considered 

 the role of human activities in ecological proc- 



esses affecting protected areas (see ch. 5 for fur- 

 ther discussion). Strategies for conserving 

 diversity are starting to consider this. Conser- 

 vationists are beginning to promote strategies 

 that surround protected areas with zones of 

 compatible land use (such as the UNESCO bio- 

 sphere reserve program) and to encourage the 

 use of regional plans to manage resources (such 

 as the Organization of American States' in- 

 tegrated regional development planning). 



The potential of botanic gardens and zoolog- 

 ical gardens as a management tool in develop- 

 ing countries is unclear, but it could be en- 

 hanced through links with other institutions 

 and with existing international networks (see 

 ch. 10) (24). These institutions occupy a unique 

 position because of their links between onsite 

 and offsite efforts. One example proving suc- 

 cessful is the Rio de Janeiro Primate Center that 

 is involved with the captive breeding and rein- 

 troduction of the golden lion tamarin (69). 



Concern over loss of agriculturally important 

 resources suggests a need to devote more at- 

 tention to better management of germplasm col- 

 lection, storage, and use in developing coun- 

 tries. Preliminary studies have been conducted 

 on the feasibility of enhancing national pro- 

 grams in animal germplasm maintenance. A 

 number of obstacles have been identified: tech- 

 nical constraints, problems of isolation of 

 breeds, disease control, funding sources for 

 long-term facilities, and political concerns, such 

 as where to locate genebanks and who owns 

 them (15). 



As mentioned earlier, several regional insti- 

 tutions have already identified threatened 

 breeds of livestock and maintained data on 

 them. This work is also a starting point for en- 

 hancing regional capacities to develop offsite 

 storage facilities. These institutions, which 

 could benefit from financial or technical sup- 

 port, include the Inter-African Bureau for Ani- 

 mal Resources in Nairobi, Kenya; International 

 Livestock Centre for Africa in Addis Ababa, 

 Ethiopia; Asociacion Latinoamericana de 

 Produccion Animal in Maracay, Venezuela; 

 and the Society for the Advancement of Breed- 

 ing Research in Asia and Oceania in Kuala Lam- 

 pur, Malaysia (39). 



