Columbia International Affairs Online: Policy Briefs

CIAO DATE: 12/2009

Desde declaración hasta protección real. Biodiversidad y participación local en la gestión de cuatro áreas protegidas en nicaragua

Helle Munk Ravnborg

November 2009

Danish Institute for International Studies

Abstract

Conserving biodiversity in protected areas Manage actors, not areas! Genuine protection of declared protected areas depends on an explicit focus on how to manage actors and their mutual relations, i.e. how to regulate their activities, encouraging some and restricting others, rather than on a focus on how to manage an area as a territory. This is one of the conclusions resulting from comparative research undertaken in collaboration between Nicaraguan and Danish researchers on local participation, plant biodiversity and local knowledge on plants in the management of four Nicaragua protected areas. The research project has been financed as part of the Danish environmental sector support programme to Nicaragua and has been coordinated by Helle Munk Ravnborg at DIIS. The DIIS Report “Desde declaración hasta protección real. Biodiversidad y participación local en la gestión de cuatro áreas protegidas en Nicaragua” summarizes the main results of the research. The report will be available in English by the end of November 2009.