Research, Conservation, Restoration and Eco-tourism in National Parks: Experience from Hungary

In Central Europe (CE) as well as Hungary, the changes in the political and economic systems are very much affecting the system of protected areas. The responsible management authorities have to face difficult situations and have to give more precise and adequate answers for those people who are within or around different protected areas. International conservation organizations are continuously developing their requirement systems. These demands are pushing the CE countries to develop their conservation systems further. Hungarian nature conservation started to deal with this task at the beginning of the 90s. Programmes were launched basically using domestic funds but also with significant external financial support. Each of the programs was contributed to creating a new systematic approach. The fundamental element was a research program set up according to the IUCN requirements, called: the basic natural status survey. Based on the results, especially in National Parks, a zonation system was developed. Parallel with the zonation system a PHARE project was carried out which made proposals for introduction of ecotourism according to the prescriptions laid down in the zonation system. Related management plans and restoration projects were also set forth. Both of these activities have strong research needs. Also today when the economic aspect of conservation activity seems to be of vital importance, the introduction of ecotourism into national parks systems stimulates research into a field which was not present in the classical conservation methodologies. This field is the socio-economic area and notably the economic valuation of protected areas. If we take into account a basic principle of the conservation, namely the necessity of the participation of local people in conservation activity - especially in densely populated Europe - then ecotourism projects together with their research needs, are a sound tool for enabling parks to give better responses to the pressures upon them.