At a crossroads or new strategies? - The role of protected areas in the Anthropocene
If you would like to submit an abstract for a presentation at this session or for more details please go to http://conference.rgs.org/Conference/CallForPapers/View.aspx?heading=Y&session=e5393be3-ce5f-4b7d-abc9-fcdd3f8d5e0d or email the organisers as below.
Next year, 2016, marks the 100th anniversary of The US National Park Service Organic Act, which was an act under Federal law to establish a national park system to be managed by The National Park Service (NPS). Under the jurisdiction of the Department of the Interior, the NPS became the government’s ‘guardians’ or ‘caretakers’ of these protected landscapes, with the authority to ensure ‘proper use and management of these parks’ and to, ‘…promote and regulate the use of the Federal areas known as national parks…’
Human-nature relations was an integral part of this policy and resulted in similar management models, which have evolved around the Globe, from the USA to Asia, Africa to Europe. But now, 100 years on, there are new challenges: the public purse strings are tightening; goals on biodiversity, ecosystem services and conservation go beyond the ‘islands’ of protection; and local communities are becoming more actively involved in planning and management aspects, including the role of the corporate (i.e. private enterprises), which may now be as effective a caretaker as any public body.
Some interesting questions therefore arise. For example, is it now true that human-nature interaction and the ‘…forms of public engaged in the contestation of planetary governance…’ are changing, whereby such changes will ‘…herald new demands on our habits of thought…’? If so, for there to be a ‘next 100 years’, is it therefore time for more complex governance, federal domain and protected ‘islands’ to move towards greater liberalism, private enterprise and adaptive co-management programmes?
In other words, has time come to re-think and re-organise the role and idea about protected areas in the Anthropocene?
With these thoughts in mind, the main aim of this session is to progress themes that determine cogency for the future of tourism and recreation management of protected areas around the Globe. This includes exploration and discussion of the challenges and the opportunities that new global fluxes present for the future of protected areas.
Session organisers:
Richard Stones - University of Exeter, UK
Andreas Skriver Hansen - University of Gothenburg, Sweden
Please contact both organisers:
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