low level of funding and significant human pressures (Bruner et al. 2001), more
parks and more effective parks are necessary. Management in and around parks
is critical to their success. In one study, approximately 70 percent of 93 pro-
tected areas in 22 tropical countries contained humans residing within park
boundaries (Bruner et al. 2001). Protected areas are not the final objective for
conservation; the land surrounding strict reserves plays vital roles in maintain-
ing diversity and ecosystem function. Tailoring the landscape surrounding
reserves to increase conservation utility will also improve the medium- and
long-term benefits from human land use. By taking advantage of natural
processes, areas devoted to agriculture and agroforestry can improve productiv-
ity while providing conservation gains (see Parts IV and V, this volume).
The purpose of landscape corridors is to reconcile conservation actions,
such as enhancing dispersal of plant and animal populations, with inevitable
economic development. Landscape corridors provide a way to subdivide large
areas into biologically and ecologically relevant subregional spaces that allow
conservation planning and implementation. Planners can appropriate the sub-
divisions within landscape corridors so that biodiversity and economic goals
are met. For instance, planners may place critical biodiversity areas under strict
protection, allocate important areas to economic development, and allow
other areas with mixed goals to be used accordingly. Therefore, a landscape
corridor comprises an integrated and physically connected network of parks,
reserves, and other areas of less intensive use whose management is integrated
into the landscape matrix. In this way, landscape corridors maximize survival
of existing biodiversity without conflicting with urgent economic develop-
ment needs (Fonseca et al. in preparation).
Landscape-scale conservation allows the optimal allocation of resources to
conserve biodiversity at the least economic cost to society. This cannot be
accomplished through planning at the scale of individual parks and buffer
zones. Long-term trends and changes in ecological and economic dynamics
are more adequately addressed at the landscape scale. Finally, landscape-scale
conservation allows the designation of patch-scale mosaics that occur in the
landscape. These mosaic patches can be defined such that they are mutually
beneficial to both conservation and development goals, such as protected areas
to conserve watersheds and tourism resources and compatible development to
promote species movement between protected areas or to provide important
buffers (Fonseca et al. in preparation).
Landscape Management
Human-dominated landscapes can be managed in a manner that benefits con-
servation. Scientific knowledge accumulated in the last several decades must
be incorporated into management of agricultural areas, including areas
devoted to agroforestry.
28 I. Conservation Biology and Landscape Ecology in the Tropics