Protected areas: How will they contribute to third millennium challenges?

Biodiversity is valued for its intrinsic worth and for its role in generating ecosystem services, such as soil fertility, clean air, renewable bio-resources, and water quality and availability. While biodiversity outcomes are generally pursued by nations for land in various types of ownership, this article focuses on protected areas on publicly owned lands. Currently, the internationally agreed protected area classification used by the United Nation’s Convention on Biological Diversity differentiates them in terms of nature conservation objectives and ‘compatible’ human uses. Drawing on an overview of protected area evolution and key contemporary challenges faced, this article argues that the idea of compatibility with specific human uses gives a false sense of security. Human activities occur in protected areas of most types. The expected exponential increase in population growth compounds the challenges surrounding their use. The complex biogeochemical processes generated by harmful human interventions reverberate beyond local level. They exert an impact on regional biosphere processes, contributing to negative global environmental changes