National Principles and Mechanisms for Protected Areas in the Arctic Countries

Abstract

The paper is a review of the principles, mechanisms and criteria used by CAFF countries to establish protected areas. It is based on responses to the Russian/CAFF Secretariat questionnaire on the subject from seven of the eight countries, as well as other published sources. Overall, CAFF countries employ a combination of a classical or traditional protected area approach which focuses on land use restrictions inside protected areas, setting areas aside to preserve their natural state, and an approach which focuses on protection of species via restrictions and regulations on users of biological resources (chiefly hunters and fishermen) which also extends beyond protected areas per se. It is the specific combination of these two approaches which differentiates the national systems. While the details as to type, administrative practices and criteria for designating protected areas do differ across the CAFF countries, there is an underlying commonality to them. Thus, in all CAFF countries, habitat, species and ecosystem conservation serve as the primary designation criteria while a variety of other criteria are of secondary importance. This is a good starting basis for the CPAN project.