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Upgrading protected areas to conserve wild biodiversity

Nature volume 546, pages 91–99 (2017)Cite this article

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Abstract

International agreements mandate the expansion of Earth's protected-area network as a bulwark against the continued extinction of wild populations, species, and ecosystems. Yet many protected areas are underfunded, poorly managed, and ecologically damaged; the conundrum is how to increase their coverage and effectiveness simultaneously. Innovative restoration and rewilding programmes in Costa Rica's Área de Conservación Guanacaste and Mozambique's Parque Nacional da Gorongosa highlight how degraded ecosystems can be rehabilitated, expanded, and woven into the cultural fabric of human societies. Worldwide, enormous potential for biodiversity conservation can be realized by upgrading existing nature reserves while harmonizing them with the needs and aspirations of their constituencies.

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Figure 1: Área de Conservación Guanacaste in Costa Rica.
Figure 2: Parque Nacional da Gorongosa in Mozambique.
Figure 3: Biological education in Gorongosa National Park.

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Acknowledgements

Figs 1 and 2 were based on designs created by Terra Communications. D. Janzen, W. Hallwachs, W. Sandoval, M. Mutimucuio, D. Muala, M. Stalmans, G. Carr, J. Daskin, M. Jordan, P. Naskrecki, P. Bouley and C. Tarnita supplied information, graphics, or comments that were crucial to the preparation of this article. I thank the following organizations for support: the US National Science Foundation (DEB-1355122, DEB-1457697), the Princeton Environmental Institute, Princeton's Innovation Fund for New Ideas in the Natural Sciences, and the Gorongosa Project.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, 08544, New Jersey, USA

    Robert M. Pringle

  2. Board of Directors, The Gorongosa Project, Gorongosa National Park, Sofala Province, Mozambique

    Robert M. Pringle

  3. Board of Directors, Guanacaste Dry Forest Conservation Fund, Área de Conservación Guanacaste, Costa Rica

    Robert M. Pringle

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Correspondence to Robert M. Pringle.

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The author's primary institution (Princeton University) has received research funding from the Gorongosa Project, a US-registered charitable non-profit organization that is discussed in this Perspective, to support the author's work on the ecology and conservation of Gorongosa National Park, Mozambique. The author serves on the boards of directors of both the Gorongosa Project and the Guanacaste Dry Forest Conservation Fund (another US-registered non-profit organization discussed in this Perspective) but is not financially compensated for his service in either of these capacities.

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Reviewer Information Nature thanks L. Joppa and the other anonymous reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Pringle, R. Upgrading protected areas to conserve wild biodiversity. Nature 546, 91–99 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature22902

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