112 * Technologies To Maintain Biological Diversity 



Table 5-2.— Coverage of Protected Areas 

 by Biogeographic Provinces 



Provinces lacking any protected areas: 



Arctic Archipelago, Arctic Ocean 



Argentinean Pampas, Argentina 



Ascension/St. Helena, South Atlantic Ocean 



Baikha, U.S.S.R. 



Burman Rainforest, Burma 



Greenland Tundra, Greenland 



Laccadive Islands, Laccadive Sea 



Lake Ladoga, U.S.S.R. 



Lake Tanganuika, Africa 



Lake Titicaca, Peru 



Lake Turkana, Kenya 



Maldives/Chagos Archipelago, Indian Ocean 



Pacific Desert 



Revillagigedo Island, Alaska 



South Trinidad 



Provinces with five or fewer protected areas and a total 

 protected area of less than 1,000 km' (247,000 acres): 



Aldabra, Seychelles 



Amirante Isles, Seychelles 



Aral Sea, U.S.S.R. 



Araucania Forest, Chile 



Atlas Saharien Steppe, Algeria-Morocco 



Cayo Coco, Cuba 



Central Polynesia, Pacific Ocean 



Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Christmas Island, Australia 



Comoros, Indian Ocean 



East Melanesia, South Pacific Ocean 



Fernando de Noronha Archipelago, Brazil 



Guerrero, Mexico 



Hindu Kush Highlands, Afghanistan-Pakistan 



Insulantarctica 



Kampuchea 



Lake Malawi, Africa 



Lake Ukerewe (Victoria), Africa 



Malagasy Thorn Forest, Indian Ocean 



Mascarene Islands, Indian Ocean 



Micronesia, North Pacific Ocean 



Patagonia, Argentina 



Planaltina, Brazil 



Ryukyu Islands, Japan 



Sichuan Highlands, China 



Sri Lankan Rainforest, Sri Lanka 



Taiwan, ROC 



Tamaulipas, Mexico 



West Anatolia, Turkey 



SOURCE; J- Harrison. "Status and Trends of Natural Ecosystems Worldwide," 

 OTA connmissioned paper, 1985. 



Man in the Biosphere (MAB) Program. MAB 

 has estabUshed a network of biosphere reserves 

 in a global system of protected areas (see ch. 

 10). The objective is to have a comprehensive 

 system covering all 193 biogeographic prov- 

 inces. The MAB program exists in 66 countries, 

 and approximately 256 biosphere reserves have 

 been designated thus far (61). 



Species Approach 



Natural areas are also selected to conserve 

 the habitats of rare or endangered species or 

 to protect areas with high species endemism. 

 Using species presence as the criteria for pro- 

 tected area location and management is useful 

 for several reasons (62,82): 



• Certain species can be used to indicate the 

 effectiveness of management. If the more 

 conspicuous rare species cannot survive, 

 then the design and management of the re- 

 serve should be changed. 



• Species provide a focal point or objective 

 that people can readily understand. 



• Some species have an appeal that wins 

 sympathy, an important factor in raising 

 funds and public awareness. 



Protection of an area to conserve a rare or 

 endangered species should be based on the best 

 existing evidence on its location and habitat 

 needs. The United States has accumulated a 

 great deal of such information as a result of the 

 Endangered Species Act and the work of The 

 Nature Conservancy. For other regions of the 

 world, information on endangered species 

 ranges from precise (in northwestern Europe) 

 to nonexistent (in the Amazon Basin). At the 

 international level, the lUCN's Conservation 

 Monitoring Center tracks the status of species 

 and publishes its findings in the Red Data Books 

 (10). 



Genetic Resources 



Genetic variation within species needs to be 

 conserved because it enables species to adapt 

 to changing conditions and provides the raw 

 material for domestication of plants and ani- 

 mals and the continued improvement of already 

 domesticated crops and livestock. 



Protected areas designated specifically to pro- 

 tect genetic variability of particular species are 

 often called in-situ genebanks. They may be 

 established as separate areas for particular crop 

 relatives, timber trees, animal species, and so 

 on. Or, the maintenance of genetic diversity of 

 important species may be one of several objec- 

 tives of a protected area (63). 



