Public use, biodiversity, and national park management in Brazil and the United States

Fontoura, Leandro; Adams, Lowell

We conducted a comparative analysis of the effectiveness of national park management in the National Capital Region of the National Park Service of the United States and the Chico Mendes Institute of BioDiversity Conservation (ICMBio) Administrative Region CR-8 of Brazil consisting of all national parks in the state of Rio de Janeiro. Our objectives were to measure, from the perspective of park managers, management strategies in national parks under different levels of management intensity and public use, and the effect of public use on biodiversity conservation in national parks of the two regions. The RAPP AM (Rapid Assessment and Prioritization of Protected Area Management) survey instrument was administered between 12 March and 26 June 2013. Unique to the current study was development ofa set of IO queries designed to investigate the relationship between public use and biodiversity conservation in national parks. Strong points of park management in both regions included management objectives, park site design, and biological importance of park assets, among others. The biggest differences between the two regions dealt with park vulnerability, legal security of parkland, and infrastructure. Other differences dealt with tourism importance, communication and information, and research. Managers of U.S. parks, with double the number of annual visitors compared with Brazilian parks, indicated that biodiversity was still being conserved. Tourism did not figure among the main pressures and threats of sampled parks in either the U.S. or Brazil.