Abstract
The need for participation of local communities in the management of protected
areas (PAs) is widely acknowledged, and its implementation is viewed as an indicator of sustainable
practice. Such participation is increasingly mentioned in the recent European
Union (EU) policy and legislation, yet little statutory guidance and few minimum requirements
are available. Italy, as an EUMember State, has committed itself to incorporate participation
in PA management. However, to date, there has been no assessment of how
participation has materialized in practice. This paper presents the results of an investigation
of participatory practices focusing specifically on local community involvement in
Italian National Park management. The investigation is based on a review of the stateof-
the-art theory on participation in PA management, specifically addressing the following
questions: what levels of participation are preferable, what methods should be utilized in
order to enable effective PA management and who should participate? The results show a
discrepancy between best practice theory and practice for the case of Italy. More importantly,
the results indicate the need for the development of practical guidance and a
common participation framework for PA management in Europe
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 189-208 |
Journal | Journal of Environmental Policy and Planning |
Volume | 14 |
Issue number | 2 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2012 |
Keywords
- protected area management
- citizen participation
- public-participation
- nature conservation
- stakeholder theory
- decision-support
- risk-assessment
- network
- implementation
- perceptions