Human Activity, Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services in Protected Areas

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xxii

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2. Overview on the Impact of Human Activity on Protected Areas

   • Molla Mekonnen Alemu

   Pages 1-20

3. Examining/Interrogating the Literature on the Impact of Human Activity on Protected Areas and the Pathway for a New Conceptual Framework

   • Molla Mekonnen Alemu

   Pages 21-50

4. Status and Prospects of Biodiversity in Nech Sar National Park

   • Molla Mekonnen Alemu

   Pages 51-93

5. Impact of Human Activities on the Ecosystem Services of Nech Sar National Park

   • Molla Mekonnen Alemu

   Pages 95-119

6. Protected Areas Governance Impediments and Human Activities

   • Molla Mekonnen Alemu

   Pages 121-142

7. Way forward for the Sustainable Development of Protected Areas: Integrated Strategic Development Approaches

   • Molla Mekonnen Alemu

   Pages 143-159

8. Back Matter

   Pages 161-168

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This book examines the development needs of protected areas with threatened ecological biodiversity to gain deeper understanding of the local perspective of protected area ecosystems. The study focuses on the case of Nech Sar National Park in Ethiopia, a protected area facing many development challenges due to human over-utilization of its resources and threats to wildlife. The conceptual framework developed by this research makes an academic contribution in the protection and sustainable development of national parks' natural capital, since it is designed to provide a systemic analysis of the problem by showing the extent and magnitude of human induced impacts on the natural capital of protected areas. In line with this, the application of the framework produces new and evidence-based findings which will help to improve the governance of protected areas as the research will provide park authorities with a practical tool in addressing the underlying causes of the degradation of national parks before the state of degradation of these resources reach its irreversible juncture. The book will help academicians and researchers to assess the state of biodiversity resources in protected areas using Nech Sar National Park as a representative example of a threatened area common throughout Africa, and will enable development practitioners and policy makers to devise appropriate strategies such as community participation in the governance of protected areas that could help to halt the degradation of resources in protected areas.

• Protected areas
• Threatened species
• Biodiversity
• Nech Sar National Park
• Sustainable development
• Community livelihoods

• Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

  Molla Mekonnen Alemu

Dr. Molla Mekonnen Alemu is a Project Manager in the United Nations based in Sana’a, Yemen.

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