Protected for ever? : Factors shaping the future of protected areas policy

Protected areas - such as national parks and nature reserves - are a well-established tool of conservation policy. At least 24 separate types of protected areas exist in the UK, and more may be added. While protected areas must remain a central feature of international, national and local conservation effort, there are pressures for change and for reviewing the system of protected areas which we have inherited from the past. Any review should take into account some new thinking about the nature of protected area systems. There are five aspects in particular: new proposals for categorizing protected areas by the objectives of their management; the development of the concept of ‘networks’ of protected areas; the elaboration of a geographical hierarchy of protected areas; the converging policy objectives of different kinds of protected areas; and the broad objective of integrated management of human activities along substantial lines.