Adaptive management in transboundary protected areas: The Bialowieza National Park and Biosphere Reserve as a case study

Transboundary protected areas (PAs) currently represent nearly 10% of the w orld's network of PAs. The protection of their biological wealth poses spec ial challenges because of the need for cooperation among sovereign states. Adaptive management strategies offer hope for a more accurate assessment of ecological conditions within PAs, and have the potential for furthering on e of the major objectives of these PAs, namely enhancing environmental coop eration between countries across whose boundaries the protected area comple x is situated. This paper examines the implications of adaptive management for transboundary PAs by using the Polish/Belarusian Bialowieza PAs as a ca se study. Managers of PAs have conventionally aimed at accurate predictions and short-term system equilibrium through 'top-down' policies of control a nd exclusion. In the case of PAs, these objectives have meant limiting use and employing models of linear growth. Adaptive management strategies rely instead on long-term experience, assessment of experimental interventions, and collection of greater amounts of information to assess future outcomes. They aim at the satisfaction of objectives that may include equilibrium ch anges. These features of adaptive management imply attention over time to t he interactions between different key species, greater involvement of local populations in the collection of information about the resources, and expe rimenting with different levels of use to infer the most suitable protectio n strategies.