Who is Writing the Science behind the Management of Protected Areas

While protected areas are one of the most important strategies for the conservation of nature, their management is challenging, because they form part of a complex socio-ecological system. One constraining factor for their effective management is incomplete knowledge of the dynamics of the protected areas’ systems. The lack of knowledge is not universal, but site specific. Our research shows that while male scholars affiliated to highly developed countries in the temperate and sub-tropical zones produced most of the scientific work related to protected areas, most of the biodiversity exists within the tropics and in less developed countries. We propose that, to improve the effectiveness of protected areas, it is essential to better distribute research efforts so that the knowledge that supports management of protected areas is rooted in the contexts of the more bio diverse environments.

Keywords: science, protected areas, bias, knowledge.