This substantial book presents 49 papers that formed the basis of a “Mountain Protected Area Field Workshop” organized by the Mountain Biome of the World Commission on Protected Areas of The World Conservation Union (IUCN) in South Africa's uKhahlama-Drak-ensberg World Heritage Site in September 2003. Referring to 28 different mountain areas around the world, a collection of 49 papers is inevitably difficult to organize into a book with consistent threads. However, the editors have made an admirable effort to group the papers into 12 broad themes, serving to highlight some of the key challenges facing mountain areas. The fact that these themes range from conservation corridors to conflict management, from cultural and spiritual values to economic benefits, from wilderness to community partnerships, is a good indication of the diverse challenges discussed.

The potential benefits of protected mountain areas to society are well articulated here and, from most of the papers, the challenges that emerge reflect a need to work across and beyond boundaries. Whether it be physical geographical boundaries, administrational and institutional boundaries, or the boundaries of knowledge, science and tradition, the collective experience in this book offers a number of responses to consider.

A broad perspective from the World Bank by Kathy MacKinnon sets out the diverse links between mountain areas and biodiversity, community development, poverty, and resource management that give rise to many of the challenges discussed, and identifies a clear rationale for society's support of mountain management in an analysis of public benefits that range from bio-diversity conservation to water supply and flood control.

The opportunities of a landscape-scale approach to management are considered in 6 papers under the theme “Initiatives and issues at the landscape level.” These emphasize that protected areas alone cannot deliver our full conservation needs in the long term, but that linkages between and outside protected areas are increasingly important. Looking at regions as diverse as Nepal, the Australian Alps and Alaska, these papers explore the potential in a landscape-scale approach to bring together partnerships of communities, NGOs and government, together with the need for innovation in finding ways to manage biodiversity at a meaningful scale.

The importance of linkages is developed further in papers on the theme of “Corridors of conservation,” which discuss links both in the physical landscape and with political and social institutions. Some of the conservation corridors described here—such as the Great Escarpment of Eastern Australia and the Yellowstone to Yukon initiative—stretch thousands of kilometers, across many administrative and, in some cases, national boundaries. The papers offer insights not only into the scientific basis for developing corridors, but also into the practical challenges in overlaying the boundaries of biodiversity on the boundaries of human administration. The challenges of trans-frontier cooperation are explored further in 4 papers under the theme of “Transboundary issues.”

Perhaps less obvious than the physical linkages is the opportunity discussed in several papers to blur the boundaries of knowledge, particularly those between “traditional knowledge” and “science.” If traditional knowledge is recognized to be not simply old, but rooted in local experience, then potential benefits to planning and management become evident. Examples of the integration of local knowledge with management are discussed in 6 papers under the theme “Partnerships for conservation and community development.” From a basic recognition that public and community support is vital to the long-term success of protected areas, these go on to look at several active ways to involve local communities in management. While Thomas Cobb describes how a public consultation process influences the management plan of the Shawgunks (USA), Hernan Torres and Juan Pablo Contreras describe the recruitment of young indigenous people as rangers in Los Flamencos National Reserve (Chile). Not only does their employment provide tangible benefits to the local community, but the rangers transmit their own understanding and knowledge of the area to their communities, building a wider network of understanding.

Another innovative approach to local involvement is described by John Peine in his paper on “Citizen Scientists.” In the Appalachian Mountains of the USA, volunteers from the community and beyond can contribute to monitoring key aspects of the environment through an internet-based monitoring package. Currently being trialed on bird populations and forest health, this offers a practical way for communities to become involved in ongoing management, and to increase their awareness and understanding of key issues. Although there are many successful outcomes highlighted here, the papers give a realistic view of the challenges in breaking down boundaries with communities, and also record the occasional failure along the way.

Few challenges can be greater than working to maintain protected areas in times of political conflict, and 2 papers under the theme of “Management dealing with conflict” reflect on the impacts. Sean White describes the conflicts in Mount Elgon National Park, Uganda, following two decades of political instability when much of the area was converted to agriculture and the original boundary was no longer recognizable. Similarly, Pralad Yonzon describes the impacts of insurgency and conflict in Nepal, where protected areas are now defended by the armed forces to combat illicit felling and timber smuggling.

Many more papers explore the challenges of biodiversity conservation, cultural and spiritual values, recreation and visitor impacts, wilderness, and the economics of managing mountain protected areas. The book does not, as the title might suggest, draw out of the papers a clear agenda of “challenges and responses for the 21st century,” but to attempt a synthesis is unnecessary. The collective experience of mountain management presented here is a valuable reference of common challenges with a realistic review of some potential responses; it will undoubtedly prompt ideas in those interested and involved in managing mountains and protected areas more widely.

Silvia Benitez and Francisco Cuesta conclude their paper on the Condor Biosphere Reserve in Ecuador by resolving “not to sacrifice conservation activity for the sake of too much conservation planning.” Perhaps this is one of the greatest challenges facing those managing mountain protected areas anywhere.