Low-Danger Zone
Protected areas tend to be located on less vulnerable land
In order to make a difference, protected areas need to be placed in regions that might otherwise be cleared or developed. But a global analysis shows that protected areas are often located on remote and inaccessible land, making them unlikely targets for human interference.
Researchers analyzed protected areas in 147 countries and found that most nations, including the United States, placed protected areas in steeper, higher-elevation regions that were farther from roads and urban centers. Areas classified as highly protected by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature tended to be more inaccessible than areas with lower protection status, the team reports in PLoS ONE.
In other words, protected areas are “biased towards where they can least prevent land conversion,” the authors write. This bias will make it harder to judge conservation success, they say, since lack of activities such as deforestation could simply be due to the difficulty of reaching the land rather than protection efforts. – Roberta Kwok
Source: Joppa, L., & Pfaff, A. (2009). High and Far: Biases in the Location of Protected Areas PLoS ONE, 4 (12) DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0008273
Image © AndrewJohnson, iStockPhoto.com
Case in point, look at what is happening in McKinney, TX at the Heard Natural Science Museum & Wildlife Sanctuary. http://cbs11tv.com/greenlife/Heard.Natural.Science.2.1372291.html