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Faced with the generalized idea that protected natural areas were and are created to protect a unique, biodiverse or threatened nature, this article explores other reasons, which often go unnoticed, but which are perhaps more powerful and influential in promoting the protection of certain territories. From the point of view of environmental history and social geography, using historiographical and qualitative techniques, the discourses, socio-political situations and the representations and interests of the actors involved in the conservationist objectives of Tablas de Daimiel National Park and Doñana as a backdrop, are analysed here with the aim of understanding many of the realities experienced - conflictual or not - in the protected areas. The paper relates the representation of nature with the knowledge and power that the expert naturalist possesses over it and applies to its management and conservation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyses the creation and implementation of two protected natural areas (PNA) in the city of Rio de Janeiro. It shows how this at once reveals both the social disparities in the urban evolution process and the potential for constructing the right to the city and the environment as a common good. The results of this process are conditional on balancing the main (often conflicting) goals of protected areas: nature conservation, public use and the land rights of local communities. Starting with a review of the literature on the relationship between the city and nature, the dichotomies and complementarities are presented between those two terms and the classification and designation criteria, which have given rise to a range of social representations, technical mechanisms and political effects in relation to the urban PNA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article analyzes how managers of Catalonia's protected natural areas responded to extraordinary increases in the numbers of visitors during the post-lockdown stage and easing of restrictions implemented due to the COVID-19 pandemic, as reported by the digital media. A systematic review of 105 news published between May and December 2020 was conducted. The results suggest that actions have been mainly focused on responding to the immediacy of the situation were implemented; these involved short-term solutions linked to the management of carrying capacity and entry to natural protected areas. Actions taken related to information and environmental education were delayed, and actions for managing visitors flows within natural protected areas were scarcely reported by the media. Our study is a first step for the identification and characterization of the strategies implemented by the entities managing protected natural areas and their ability to address the avalanche of visitors. Additionally, it reduces the existing research gap in studies of the impact of COVID-19 on the management of protected natural areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Critical analysis of public policies on environmental conservation, management, and tourism development in the protected natural areas of Ecuador to detect their dysfunctions, contradictions, and problems of applicability. A predominantly exploratory research methodology with a descriptive-analytical approach is used when studying and systematizing the different regulations, actions and guidelines existing and implemented by international and national organizations with competencies in environmental conservation and sustainable development. These are systematized and analyzed through the main documents of interest that include principles, strategic guidelines, and specific rules of application. Through primary and secondary sources, and internal documentation of various Administrations we have identified the most visible effects and impacts that these policies have generated in the protection and/or valorization of the natural heritage, as well as in the tourist development compatible with the conservation of these spaces, the generation of complementary income and economic diversification for local communities. We concluded that Ecuadorian regulations on the conservation of protected areas present notable points of collision and lack of coherence or coordination with tourism policies. This is the consequence of two main factors: the lack of a broad strategic vision and comprehensive territorial planning of these territories as sustainable tourist destinations and the lack of a framework for management, planning and collaborative planning between the different local agencies and agents that affect these spaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Protected natural areas seem to be the preferred space for tourist's activities. With concepts of sustainability, they try to improve the living conditions of rural and indigenous communities, promoting development and protecting nature. However, in reality it proves that the objective has not been fulfilled in the expected way, maintaining and increasing social and environmental degradation. This article's objective is to show the critical perspectives regarding the study of tourism in said spaces, analyzing articles and book chapters published during 2015-2021. The main results shows that the current crises are the result of maintaining the capitalist system, seeing as protected areas and tourist activities are promoted in mercantilist terms under the idea of neoliberal conservation. All facilitated by policies configuration that allows arrival and formation of capital in the rural-natural environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental modifications generate interface environments in which Leptospira spp. transmission may be affected. In order to identify and analyze eco-environmental variables associated with potential reservoirs of Leptospira spp. in the Reserva Ecológica Costanera Sur (RECS) (Buenos Aires, Argentina) and adjacent urbanized areas, a stratified and proportionate transect line convenience sampling was carried out. A total of 170 mammals of 11 species were captured and analyzed for the presence of Leptospira spp. by serology, culture and PCR. In conserved areas, Didelphis albiventris and Deltamys kempi were mostly recorded, while Oligoryzomys flavescens was also found in degraded areas, and Rattus norvegicus was only found in degraded areas. Leptospira spp. were not detected in wild mammals. One dog without a responsible keeper tested positive by serology. The environmental conditions of the RECS suggest a poor ecosystem for Rattus, demonstrating the importance of the conservation of natural areas in urban environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work is in accordance with new tourist trends in mature sun and beach tourism destinations where demand is increasing and requiring alternative products and experiences. These new tourist products are framed, in many occasions, in the heritage exploitation of protected areas. In this sense, geoheritage is conformed as a resource of heritage value, since to natural value are linked and use and management values as well. This research proposes to obtain the geomorphological heritage of forty-three natural protected areas (NPA) from Tenerife island and asses its potential as a geotourist resource that diversifies and enriches the tourist offer on the island. The methodology used is based on the combination of intrinsic or scientific, added and use and management values of the NPA from Tenerife. In general, the studied sites show the volcanic geodiversity of Tenerife and the mean geoheritage values, follow of low and high scores. From the inventory and diagnosis of geoheritage of the forty-three NPA of Tenerife, it can be defined some proposals to improve their management, through recreational activities as geotourism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, we report the amphibian fauna composition of a natural protected area located near Esperanza city, Province of Santa Fe, Argentina. It opened to the public in 2015, with yet no baseline inventory of amphibian species. Additionally, we evaluated the presence of the amphibian parasitic fungus Batruchochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd). We carried out eleven samplings from October 2015 to March 2016 in three environmental units: native forest, exotic forest, and floodplain grasslands. The sampling methods we used were live pit-fall traps with drift fences, auditory encounters, and visual encounters. Sixteen species belonging to 9 genera and 4 families were recorded. October was the month with the highest specific richness. Bd-specific real-time Taqman qPCR made on skin swabs made on 11 species were all negative. Even small, the amphibian species identified in the protected area represent ca. 30% of the anurans already reported for Santa Fe, and 9% of the Argentinean batracofauna. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A paper published in 2019 in the journal Science concludes that Peru starred in 61 events to reduce the level of protection and size as well as to eliminate protected areas (events known by the acronym PADDD). That would place the country among those that most mistreat their protected areas. But, in Peru only one case is known. When reviewing the study methodology, it is confirmed that the authors misinterpreted the information, especially referring to national forests that in Peru have never been considered protected areas. It's seems the authors exaggerated the arguments to demonstrate the significance of PADDD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Water Footprint was used as an indicator of the environmental sustainability of an avocado crop cv. Hass (Persea Americana Mill.) Located in the southern area of the nature reserve called Barbas Bremen, under the category of Soil Conservation District, in the jurisdiction of the department of Quindío. The above allowed a general description of the crop to be made, as well as to determine the components of the green water footprint from precipitation (3630 m³/ton), the blue water footprint captured from natural current sources (0,0 m³/ton), and finally the gray water footprint corresponding to water pollution (1315 m³/ton); thus estimating a total water footprint of 4945 m³/ton corresponding to two cycles of fruit production in one year, between April 2019 and 2020 according to the phenological behavior of the crop. Likewise, some recommendations were formulated to promote better management of the water resource in the crop, contributing to the environmentally sustainable development of the conservation area from the study unit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The global trend is the concentration of populations in urbanized cities, where there are greater challenges to solve urban, environmental and governance problems, caused by increasing urbanization. An example is the municipality of Acapulco de Juarez, recognized as the first international tourist destination in Mexico, which in 1900 had 16,990 inhabitants and according to the last census in 2015, population growth is 810 669 inhabitants, that is, the territory has more than 793 679 inhabitants. The tourist destination Acapulco suffers from various economic and socio-environmental problems such as: irregular human settlements that lead to environmental deterioration due to the overexploitation of natural resources, as well as various environmental impacts due to the inadequate management of urban solid waste. The social, economic and environmental problem extends throughout the territory, reaching the Protected Natural Area, with the category of the Veladero National Park, which geographically surrounds a large part of the urban area of Acapulco, recognized as the natural lung of the tourist destination. The objective was to determine the generation and characterization of Urban Solid Waste (MSW) deposited by visitors to generate strategies for their management, control and use, achieving environmental awareness to the local population to conserve the environment. The methodology is dictated by the Official Mexican Standards: NMX-AA, -61-1985, NMX-AA-15-198, NMX-AA-19-1985 and NMX-AA-22-1985 allowing the determination of the quantity, composition, by-product characterization and determination of volumetric weight of the MSW, the sites identified with the greatest amount of waste were georeferenced, key actors interviews were applied and finally, with the support in the information obtained, a participatory workshop was designed and applied to the local population, where the current environmental problem was diagnosed, allowing the community to recognize alternatives for the use and mitigation of environmental problems. As a finding, the average daily volumetric weight was 205.7 Kg/m³, during the Holy Week holiday season of 2019, identifying 5 open-air dumps, finally, based on the results proposals were generated to reduce the causes and effects of degradation of natural resources, generating alternatives for environmental awareness and solid waste management aimed at the local population to minimize the impacts of waste in the national park. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports on the Spanish Ministry for Ecological Transition (MITECO) announcing on October 23,2019, to set up 9 new marine protected areas (MPAs) before 2024. This process of declaration of new spaces is part of one of the actions of the Life IP Intemares project, the largest project for the conservation of the marine environment in Europe.

In Mexico, State Natural Protected Areas are frequently undervalued and rarely studied. The objective of this work was to analyze the process of decree and governance features of Chicamole Ecological Preservation Zone, which protects a cloud forest. An actor map was generated to understand the organization scheme, the external sector involved and their relationships. Semi structured Interviews were conducted both with governmental institutions and local inhabitants to analyze the decree. In spite of the obtained differences in perception, it can be noted that major conservation resulted from legislation. In addition, the presence of well-defined community norms regarding the use of natural resources (especially firewood and water) has encouraged forest conservation. This study shows the importance of a small area in the context of the protected areas in Mexico. The challenges of Chicamole Ecological Preservation Zone include increasing the interaction between sectors, achieving local recognition of the protected zone, and strengthening the social organization and the sustainable use of natural resources through stakeholder inclusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to guarantee the protection, conservation, restoration and use of natural resources (water, soil, forest and biodiversity) of an anthropised sector belonging to a protected natural area of the State of Mexico, a management proposal based on a detailed field survey, which allowed to diagnose the main environmental problems is made. After extensive community work, awareness and discussion of best wishes for caring and conservation of the property, a management plan agreed with the community was established, where strategies and action strategies are established according to priority levels. Communal management is maintained as an inseparable element of the process. The project is an example of conjugating the professional area and the citizen involvement in environmental matters in order to preserve the environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A participative Action Research was carried out over the protected natural area in the Toluca Snow-Capped Peak in Mexico. It consisted in the development of tourism products in ten communities with communal land [ejido] located within the said area. The aim was to pin down the elements, both objective and subjective, that combined in its construction and to identify the sociocultural meanings typical to these particular regional spaces. It is concluded that the progress in the construction of a tourism product in each communal land relies not only on its potential and social capital, but also in the notions and practices of the actors involved and their synergy with the regional space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tropical dry forest (TDF) is important due to its biodiversity. In the Isthmus-Coastal region of the state of Oaxaca, in Southeast Mexico, there are many areas of TDF with varying categories of legal protection (1) Protected Natural Areas (PNA), (2) Voluntarily Designated Conservation Areas (VDCA) and (3) Areas of Common Use (ACU). In each of these, tree vegetation structure was analysed, recording plants with a DBH = 2.5 cm and sampling 15 plots of 100 m². Observed richness was 90 species, belonging to 36 families and corresponding to 80% (Jackknife) and 85% (ICE) of expected richness. A cluster analysis identified two groups with 90% dissimilitude: the first (G1) included all the sampled plots in the PNA; and the second (G2), grouped together those from the VDCA and the ACU. The Shannon, Simpson dominance and Jost true diversity indices for G1 were H'= 2.43, D= 0.21 and qD= 11 and for G2, H'= 2.76, D= 0.28 and qD= 15 respectively, with no differences between groups (P < 0.05). The species that presented the highest relative importance value (RIV) in both groups, corresponded to secondary vegetation. Species density of G1 was 1 829 ind/ha and 2 370 ind/ha for G2. Mean height (6.8 m) and basal area (19.7 m²/ha) of G1 did not vary significantly (P < 0.05) when compared to G2 (7.9 m y 22.1 m2/ha). The VDCA and ACU presented similar composition and structure, differing from the PNA. Continual monitoring of the TDF is suggested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The evaluation of the performance of the management is essential to fulfill the objectives in a Marine Protected Area (MPA). Therefore, Robert Pomeroy in 2004 presents a manual to evaluate the development of the marine protected areas through time, by using of indicators which measure the biophysical state, socioeconomic state and governance. The present work adopts the use of those indicators to evaluate the performance of the management in the Marine Reserve Chañaral Island, Atacama region. The results of the evaluation show a partial level of protection objectives fulfillment, suggesting the lack of efficient management of the reserve to ensure its suitable development. This work also presented a descriptive model, that interprets the behavior that area would facein front of two opposed scenarios, and the expected due to inefficient management of the area and otherwise an adaptive management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Mexico and in other parts of Latin America, a large overlap can be observed between indigenous territories and regions of high biological value. In this paper, we ask if the same overlap can be observed in the state of Jalisco, in western Mexico. To answer this question, we start with a succinct analysis of the two main indigenous regions in rural Jalisco: the Huichol Sierra in the northern part of the state and the Sierra of Manantlán, in the southern part. Then, we extend our analysis to the state in its entirety in order to measure the overlap between indigenous territories that have been "desindianized" and regions of high biological value. This is done by comparing the municipalities that contain agrarian centers designated as "indigenous communities" and the municipalities that areas officially recognized for their ecological importance. A high correlation between these two variables is observed, leading to the question "why". A series of hypotheses is developed and these are contrasted with empirical evidence through a case study of the ejido of Ayotitlán, in the Sierra of Manantlán. Although different forms of environmental degradation can be observed in Ayotitlán, it continues to be one of the best conserved territories in the state of Jalisco, with high levels of biodiversity. This is due, not only to its isolation, but also to the way in which the indigenous inhabitants have interacted with the environment and because of their activism in defense of their territory and natural resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The establishment of a protected area installs new rules over the use and management of natural resources, modifying how people relate to their environment, as well as the way in which the space is comprehended and constructed. How does this process occur? How does the creation of protected natural areas transform or disrupt territories? The hypothesis that we present in this work is that the creation of protected areas, when it does not include local consensus and negotiation processes, may result in dynamics of deterritorialization, creating what Marc Augé (1993) referred to as non-places. From this perspective, we explain the meagre results both social and environmental of some natural protected areas in Mexico, and propose a vision of conservation focused in places, according to the anthropological connotation of the term. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the last 40 years, all around the plant, a veritable explosion of formally established protected natural areas has occurred. During the 1960s, there were a few more than 1,000 officially protected areas; by 2006, the number reached more than 108,000. In terms of protected surface area, one of the objectives promoted by the World Parks Commission has been surpassed; it had established the need to protect at least 10% of the planet's surface, more than 30 million square kilometers (Dowie, 2006). Protected areas or natural parks have existed in Uruguay since the mid-twentieth century, but their incorporation into a National System of Protected Areas (SNAP-NSPA), managed from the central State, is a novelty dating from beginnings of the twenty-first century. Understood as part of a sustainable development strategy, natural protected areas imply a development model option. This option is valid when the declaration for a protected area is adopted by the environmental authorities, by the communities that live in the territory or around it or even in the definition of the academic or nongovernmental actors applied to the conservation of natural resources. Nevertheless, such an option is not always explicit or obvious to the same degree for all the actors involved. Natural protected areas have social implications; among others, the creation of notions regarding environment and nature, in places where that particular interest has not necessarily existed as such until very recently. On the other hand, social participation, recommended, claimed and assumed, is often seen as an end in itself, as a necessary stage in implementing the protected areas, without questioning the processes, criteria or objectives. The expansion of protected areas in recent years can be understood as part of the globalization process; the environmental question is one of the first necessary, non-local concerns of society, the states and international institutionalism, which has had as a counterpart the identification of biodiversity as one of the first objects of global concern about nature. This advance communication about an on-going research project analyzes the relation between State and the social actors involved in the process of implementing an environmental policy, the creation of a National System of Protected Areas. Focus is on the changes that this process generates in the discourse, representations and practices of the actors regarding a specific territory, the protected area of the Farrapos Estuaries and the Islands of the Uruguay River. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental perceptions are understood as the way in which every individual appreciates and values their environment and influences in an important way on man's decision making concerning the environment that surrounds them. The present paper is a brief review of the Mexican literature on environmental perceptions; analyzing how they influence the decision making concerning environmental management, with an emphasis on Protected Natural Areas (PNA). The paper ends underlining the importance of writing more papers that contribute information about the environmental perceptions of the local populations and the different social actors in PNA, both in rural and urban contexts, in order to make the implementation of the Mexican environmental policies more efficient. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

I studied the nesting biology of Podocnemis unifilis from July to November 1998 in the Mamirauá Sustainable Development Reserve located in the Solimões River near Tefé, mazonas, Brazil. Podocnemis unifilis nested in August and September, with the hatching event occurring in October and November. Nests were excavated in clay soils (67.5%), sand (25%), and leaf litter (7.5%). Hatching success was highest in the sand beach nests and lowest in the clay banks nests. Humans and the tegu lizard (Tupinambis) were the main egg predators. This turtle population can be recuperated only by nesting beaches protection, educational programs for the inhabitants of the Reserve, participation of the community in the conservation and management program, and permanent guarding of the nesting beaches by the Instituto Brasilero de los Recursos Naturales y del Medio Ambiente personnel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]