This article is a rejoinder to the preceding article, 'Conserved to de
ath: are tropical forests being over-protected from people?', by David
Wood. It has three aims: to comment on Wood's paper, to look at curre
nt approaches to park and forest protection, and to review the opportu
nities for and constraints upon resource management by rural communiti
es. The author concludes that, until it is clear what makes people man
age resources effectively over the long term, we cannot abandon park p
rotection as a method of conserving biodiversity.