|
| Denmark has committed itself to the European
2010 target to halt the loss of biodiversity. Currently,
Denmark is in the process of designating larger areas as
national parks, and 7 areas (of a possible 32 larger nature
areas) have been selected for pilot projects to test the
feasibility of establishing national parks. In this article, we
first evaluate the effectiveness of the a priori network of
national parks proposed through expert and political consensus
versus a network chosen specifically for biodiversity
through quantitative analysis. Second, we analyze the
potential synergy between preserving biodiversity in terms
of species representation and recreational values in
selecting a network of national parks. We use the actual
distribution of 973 species within these 32 areas and 4
quantitative measures of recreational value. Our results
show that the 7 pilot project areas are not significantly
more effective in representing species than expected by
chance and that considerably more efficient networks can
be selected. Moreover, it is possible to select more-effective
networks of areas that combine high representation of
species with high ranking in terms of recreational values.
Therefore, our findings suggest possible synergies between
outdoor recreation and biodiversity conservation when
selecting networks of national parks. Overall, this Danish
case illustrates that data-driven analysis can not only provide
valuable information to guide the decision-making
process of designating national parks, but it can also be a
means to identify solutions that simultaneously fulfill
several goals (biodiversity preservation and recreational
values) | |
|