Land-use planning and regulation in and around protected areas: a study of best practices and capacity building needs in Mexico and Central America’. Natureza y Conservacao

Intensifying land uses around protected areas (PAs) often threaten their ecological integrity and make PA administration more costly and difficult. In densely populated Mesoamerica, the expansion of agriculture, mining and logging, infrastructure projects, land speculation, and urban, residential and tourism development threaten many protected areas. Likewise, management decisions by PA agencies often have profound effects on nearby landowners, resource users and planning and development in adjacent jurisdictions. Thus, collaborative or cross-boundary land use planning and decision making has become important for diverse stakeholders within and around protected areas and their connective corridors. As governments decentralize, there may never again be such an opportune time to integrate new and more localized land use decision-making processes and improved techniques for land stewardship on adjacent lands with the needs of protected areas and national and international conservation strategies