World heritage forests: the world heritage convention as a mechanisms for conserving tropical forest biodiversity
1999
The existing 33 World Heritage tropical forest sites make a significant contribution to the conservation of tropical forest biodiversity. This contribution has been estimated for birds and could be better documented for other groups. Assessment and monitoring are distinct activities; each contributes to better biodiversity conservation outcomes at listed World Heritage sites. Assessment identifies an area's natural World Heritage values and their past, present, and desired future conditions. It occurs principally prior to site nomination when it must evaluate the natural World Heritage values of a proposed site in the context of other existing or proposed sites. After listing, assessment continues when required in support of unanticipated management and threat-abatement needs. Once an area is nominally 'protected', monitoring focuses on the prompt and direct observation of activities that threaten the area's natural World Heritage values-to ensure that site managers know whether the values are, in fact, being protected. Consequently, monitoring is an indispensable component of site management and should be easy and cheap to apply. Monitoring and assessment, when done well, is a vital and integrated component of good protected area management. Yet, some biodiversity studies detract from, rather than contribute to, the attainment of good management. Scientists and donors have to be much more aware of the limited resources and capacities that exist in many protected areas, and ensure that priority activities (such as patrolling) are given adequate resources. Scientific studies should support and be integrated with management and should not be seen as an alternative to the core site maintenance activities of protected area personnel.
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