Protected areas – protected species?

Wild life: The elusive fosa (Cryptoprocta ferox) is the top predator in the dry deciduous forests of Madagascar, but very little was known about its biology until the 1990s. The presence of volunteer groups studying its role in the forest’s ecology has also helped to protect its habitat. (Photo: Earthwatch/ Luke Dollar.) The world’s latest national park has just been created in the east of Russia, close to its border with China. Combining three smaller protected areas with additional surfaces, Russia designated the ‘Land of the Leopard’ National Park with 262,000 hectares as a reserve for the protection of two large cat species, the Amur tiger and the Far Eastern leopard, as the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) reported in April. The park includes the territories of the Kedrovya Pad Reserve, Barsovy Federal Wildlife Refuge, and Borisovkoe Plateau Regional Wildlife Refuge, along with previously unprotected land. The Amur tiger (also known as the Siberian tiger) is under threat from habitat loss, hunting due to conflict with farmers, and poaching for the production of traditional Chinese medicine. The leopard species is severely threatened and thought to be reduced to around 30 or 40 individuals in the wild, which roam a narrow stretch of Russian forests between the Sea of Japan to the east and China’s Jilin Province to the west, the WCS reports. “The creation of this park greatly increases the amount of land protecting critical populations of two of the world’s big cats, and it will go a long way to securing their future,” said Peter Zahler, WCS Deputy Director for Asia. The WCS has advised the Russian government on conservation of these species since 1993. Given space and resources, it appears to be a straightforward conservation measure to declare an area ‘protected’ and possibly fence it in to save habitats from destruction and keep animals and humans separate. But does it actually protect the species of interest, or is it more of a window dressing serving to placate animal lovers and conservationists? A recent set of Earthwatch lectures held at the Royal Geographic Society in London explored two examples of protected areas, one terrestrial and one marine.