Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan are a vital part of the Mediterranean hotspot for biodiversity, which combined hosts 22,500 unique plant species – more than four times that of the rest of Europe. They also fall in the major flyway of millions of migratory birds. But much of the region’s plant and animal life is under threat, making the effective management of protected areas an urgent issue, according to Brandon Anthony, associate professor in the Department of Environmental Sciences and Policy, and PhD student Diane Matar.
As part of a broader research agenda investigating the effectiveness of protected areas across a number of regions, Anthony and Matar surveyed the management of the three countries’ designated protected areas in research published in the book “Topics in Conservation Biology,” and presented at the 3rd European Congress for Conservation Biology. Despite growing numbers and spatial coverage of protected areas worldwide, biodiversity loss continues, partly because of ineffective management of these areas.
The topic is a hot one globally this year, with three major meetings addressing this and related issues, including the Rio +20 Earth Summit on Sustainable Development, the World Conservation Congress, and the Convention on Biological Diversity's 11th Conference of the Parties.
Matar and Anthony’s research, based on responses to a survey by those closely involved with management of the protected areas, showed that the Levant region is doing better than the global average. Within the region, Jordan performed significantly better than Syria, whose results were affected by the political conflict in that country, leading to a low response rate, and better than Lebanon, which showed wider variability of performance results.
“It was a positive surprise that scores for the region were higher than the global average,” said Matar. “Jordan’s performance could reflect the positive impact of political stability compared to Lebanon, or the fact that they already conducted a formal evaluation four years ago, so they had more chance to improve. That highlights the need to track protected area management performance on a regular basis.”
Matar and Anthony’s research also included policy implications and recommendations, including streamlining monitoring strategies and tools, and increasing collaboration among countries.
“The three countries suffered from the same problem, that there was no centralized monitoring strategy,” Matar said. “In addition, regional cooperation is low, and the tendency is to bring outside experts.”
Matar is working with Anthony on her PhD dissertation, which focuses on the management effectiveness of biosphere reserves in West Asia and North Africa. Biosphere Reserves are UNESCO-designated areas where conservation is combined with sustainable development to ensure that people living in areas with high conservation value develop an interest in and an economic benefit from being part of such a community. For example, she has personal experience in Lebanon assisting with a program to help women make marketable products from local produce.
“The aim is to find a balance between people and nature,” said Matar.
Matar and Anthony are currently cooperating with the Hungarian Ministry of Rural Development to co-host a conference at CEU Nov. 15 that will feature Julia Marton-Lefevre, director general of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Marton-Lefevre, who is of Hungarian origin, is a major figure in the field of global environmental protection, and experts from across the field are expected to attend.
