<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>National parks and protected areas can contribute significantly to the needs of poor people who live in and around them and depend heavily on forest resources for their subsistence. Especially for the rural poor who have limited economic options, use of national park resources are the main source for their survival, giving them direct benefits from food, medicine and forest products. National parks can contribute to maintaining the ecosystem and biodiversity conservation, along with the economic benefits to the local population. National parks and protected areas can play a significant role in climate change mitigation as well. Nevertheless, benefits from these areas are not well recognized in management especially in developing countries by incorporating them for climate change mitigation. Though usually more priority is given to conservation, improvement of livelihood and climate change mitigation can be achieved by integrating national parks into management and policy, and by consideration of the potential of human resources. Thus the integration can improve the poverty situation of local people and help them to adapt to climatic change mitigation strategies. Therefore, management of national parks and protected areas should ensure the participation of local communities and stakeholders.</p></abstract>

National parks and protected areas can contribute significantly to the needs of poor people who live in and around them and depend heavily on forest resources for their subsistence. Especially for the rural poor who have limited economic options, use of national park resources are the main source for their survival, giving them direct benefits from food, medicine and forest products. National parks can contribute to maintaining the ecosystem and biodiversity conservation, along with the economic benefits to the local population. National parks and protected areas can play a significant role in climate change mitigation as well. Nevertheless, benefits from these areas are not well recognized in management especially in developing countries by incorporating them for climate change mitigation. Though usually more priority is given to conservation, improvement of livelihood and climate change mitigation can be achieved by integrating national parks into management and policy, and by consideration of the potential of human resources. Thus the integration can improve the poverty situation of local people and help them to adapt to climatic change mitigation strategies. Therefore, management of national parks and protected areas should ensure the participation of local communities and stakeholders.

Multi-benefits of national parks and protected areas: an integrative approach for developing countries

Department of Sociology, Shahjalal University of Science and Technology, Sylhet, Bangladesh

Environmental & Socio-economic Studies

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

National parks and protected areas can contribute significantly to the needs of poor people who live in and around them and depend heavily on forest resources...

Multi-benefits of national parks and protected areas: an integrative approach for developing countries

Published Online: Mar 25, 2016

Page range: 1 - 11

Received: Feb 02, 2016

Accepted: Mar 17, 2016

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/environ-2016-0001

Keywords
climate change, food security, health, integrative approach, livelihoods, management, national park

© 2016 Shah Md. Atiqul Hag, published by De Gruyter Open

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Multi-benefits of national parks and protected areas: an integrative approach for developing countries

Published Online: Mar 25, 2016

Page range: 1 - 11

Received: Feb 02, 2016

Accepted: Mar 17, 2016

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/environ-2016-0001

Keywordsclimate change, food security, health, integrative approach, livelihoods, management, national park

© 2016 Shah Md. Atiqul Hag, published by De Gruyter Open

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Keywords
climate change, food security, health, integrative approach, livelihoods, management, national park