ABSTRACT
The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) has marked a significant shift in the perception of protected areas by governments. It has linked protected areas to larger issues of public concern, such as sustainable development, traditional knowledge, access to genetic resources, national sovereignty, equitable sharing of benefits and intellectual property rights. Protected area managers are now sharing a larger and more important political stage with agricultural scientists, NGOs, anthropologists, ethnobiologists, lawyers, economists, pharmaceutical firms, farmers, foresters, tourism agencies, the oil industry, indigenous peoples, and many others. These competing groups claim resources, powers and privileges through a political decision-making process in which biologists, local communities (including indigenous peoples), the private sector and conservationists have become inextricably embroiled (McNeely and Guruswamy, 1998). The challenge is to find ways for the various stake-holders to work together most effectively in order to achieve the conservation and development objectives of modern society.
