ManagementBiodiversity ConservationEnvironmental PolicyConservation PolicyEcotourismSustainable DevelopmentBiodiversityConservation GovernanceEnvironmental EthicsEnvironmental ProtectionEnvironmental SustainabilityNatural Resource ConservationConservation JusticeLivelihoods And ConservationNatural Resource ProtectionPark ConservationPolitical Ecology Of ConservationPristine Nature CritiqueStrong InstitutionsTropical Forest Conservation
Conservation strategies such as parks and protected areas face ecological and institutional shortcomings, with pristine environments degrading amid poverty, corruption, and political instability that challenge tropical conservation. Terborgh argues that conservation’s biggest obstacles are social, economic, and political, and that success hinges on integrating sound science with robust institutions to save nature.
In Requiem for Nature, John Terborgh examines current conservation strategies and considers the shortcomings of parks and protected areas both from ecological and institutional perspectives. He explains how seemingly pristine environments can gradually degrade, and describes the difficult social context-a debilitating combination of poverty, corruption, abuses of power, political instability, and a frenzied scramble for quick riches-in which tropical conservation must take place. He considers the significant challenges facing existing parks and examines problems inherent in alternative approaches, such as ecotourism, the exploitation of nontimber forest products, sustainable use, and sustainable development. Throughout, Terborgh argues that the greatest challenges of conservation are not scientific, but are social, economic, and political, and that success will require simultaneous progress on all fronts. He makes a compelling case that nature can be saved, but only if good science and strong institutions can be thoughtfully combined.