29
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
M. C. Tobias, J. G. Morrison, On the Nature of Ecological Paradox,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-64526-7_4
Chapter 4
Protected Area Dilemmas
4.1 The Paradox of Ecological Comparisons
Russian scientists, going back to the 1960s, were among the first, and most
outspoken, to bluntly summarize the acceleration of extinctions, under-represented
groups within protected area networks, and current and future challenges to halting
the irreversible damage being occasioned in the largest country in the world. By
situating that nation’s vast biodiversity and range of biomes within a global human
context of (seemingly) irreconcilable altruisms, waning sustainability options, and
the essentialities of science and policy prioritizations, Pavlov and Shatunovsky
made the frustrating expanse of human contradictions to overcome painfully clear.
1
Such fickle biological fates at the mercy of countries and transboundary conservation urgencies and abnegating partners are exacerbated by realizations of counterintuitive scale, as well as a great variance in measurement modalities and scales of
ranked importance. No one is likely to prioritize research or protected areas in those
countries with the most freckled or green-eyed individuals; but fruit fly diversity
may be another thing entirely. Botswana ranks number 1 out of 152 countries on the
Megafaunal Conservation Index.
2
Elsewhere in Africa, abnegated wildlife has long
represented a life-affirming and/or systemic cultural failure. Poachers, principally,
have undermined every political advantage sought by both one and multiparty constitutional rule; whether during the single-party power of conservationist leader
1 See “Biodiversity Conservation in Russia,” by D. S. Pavlov and M. I. Shatunovsky, Area StudiesRussia (Regional Sustainable Development Review) – Vol. 1, in Nicolay Pavlovich Laverov, (editor), Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems, EOLSS/UNESCO, Oxford, UK, 2009, pp.159-165,
https://www.eolss.net/Sample-Chapters/C16/E1-56-08.pdf
2 See “The countries that are best at conservation are the ones that depend on wildlife tourism,” by
Neha Thirani Bagri, Quartz, May 9, 2017, https://qz.com/979450/the-countries-that-are-best-atconservation-are-the-ones-that-depend-on-wildlife-tourism/Accessed February 22, 2020.
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
M. C. Tobias, J. G. Morrison, On the Nature of Ecological Paradox,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-64526-7_4
Chapter 4
Protected Area Dilemmas
4.1 The Paradox of Ecological Comparisons
Russian scientists, going back to the 1960s, were among the first, and most
outspoken, to bluntly summarize the acceleration of extinctions, under-represented
groups within protected area networks, and current and future challenges to halting
the irreversible damage being occasioned in the largest country in the world. By
situating that nation’s vast biodiversity and range of biomes within a global human
context of (seemingly) irreconcilable altruisms, waning sustainability options, and
the essentialities of science and policy prioritizations, Pavlov and Shatunovsky
made the frustrating expanse of human contradictions to overcome painfully clear.
1
Such fickle biological fates at the mercy of countries and transboundary conservation urgencies and abnegating partners are exacerbated by realizations of counterintuitive scale, as well as a great variance in measurement modalities and scales of
ranked importance. No one is likely to prioritize research or protected areas in those
countries with the most freckled or green-eyed individuals; but fruit fly diversity
may be another thing entirely. Botswana ranks number 1 out of 152 countries on the
Megafaunal Conservation Index.
2
Elsewhere in Africa, abnegated wildlife has long
represented a life-affirming and/or systemic cultural failure. Poachers, principally,
have undermined every political advantage sought by both one and multiparty constitutional rule; whether during the single-party power of conservationist leader
1 See “Biodiversity Conservation in Russia,” by D. S. Pavlov and M. I. Shatunovsky, Area StudiesRussia (Regional Sustainable Development Review) – Vol. 1, in Nicolay Pavlovich Laverov, (editor), Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems, EOLSS/UNESCO, Oxford, UK, 2009, pp.159-165,
https://www.eolss.net/Sample-Chapters/C16/E1-56-08.pdf
2 See “The countries that are best at conservation are the ones that depend on wildlife tourism,” by
Neha Thirani Bagri, Quartz, May 9, 2017, https://qz.com/979450/the-countries-that-are-best-atconservation-are-the-ones-that-depend-on-wildlife-tourism/Accessed February 22, 2020.