Federal protected areas management strategies in Brazil: sustainable financing, staffing, and local development

The leading response to environmental challenges has been the creation of protected areas, yet they constantly are jeopardized by problems of staffing, sustainable finance and local development. Documentation of alternative strategies that could enhance success of protected area management is still at a nascent stage. To evaluate such strategies we built an on-line questionnaire to be answered by all Federal protected areas in Brazil. Just 12.8% confirmed and explained the strategies sought. Partnerships seemed to underpin most strategies cited. We believe that the low percentage of managers seeking alternative strategies is a result of the increasing lack of a strong, coherent and comprehensive policy for protected areas in Brazil, which will only change if a new breakthrough on conservation policy is made.