Biodiversity and Protected Areas

The benefit of biodiversity to mankind is more than its contribution in terms of livelihoods and material benefits. Protected areas are the prime foundations of national and international biodiversity protection and conservation strategies. They serve as shelters for different species and biological processes that cannot endure in intensely managed habitats and ecosystems. Protected areas are places of natural evolution and forthcoming ecological restoration. Given the solid and growing emphasis on the role of biodiversity and its linkage with protected landscapes development and management in many parts of the world, it would end up being a tragedy of survival if the role of protected areas in the conservation of biodiversity is downplayed through lack of attention or interest by the development actors. Therefore, different views and arguments on the subject were reviewed in this article with the major objective of exploring the roles of biodiversity and its development and conservation in the protected area setting.