| Scientists and the public have demanded a policy for the in situ conservation of biological diversity. The scientific and institutional basis for the habitat conservation for maintenance of local biological diversity is outlined. Contemporary approaches to reserve planning are critiqued and a method based on minimum requirements of focal species, within biotic districts, is proposed. The types of focal species which were employed include: those which are representative of particular communities and food webs; those which are vulnerable either to any form of disturbance or only to certain land use-induced change; and those which are exploited, traditionally or commercially, or which have some potential providing genetic resources.;Eight generic types of scenarios, for the in situ conservation of local biological diversity, are identified. These consist of alternative programmes of habitat protection measures as based on three sets of postulated trade-offs: the area/regulation postulate; the area/site quality postulate; and the management/mitigation postulate.;A strategic setting for environmental planning--marine islands with large tracts of primary rainforest and with pressures for both commercial logging and habitat conservation--is explored. The planning procedure is then applied to 3 case studies: Burnaby Island, Queen Charlotte Islands, British Columbia (temperate Nearctic, low diversity, endemics associated with glacial refugia, affluent country with developed administrative capacities); Siberut, Sumatera Barat, Indonesia (tropical Indo-Malayan, high species diversity, difficulties in planning and implementation); and Fergusson Island, Milne Bay Province, Papua New Guinea (tropical Australasian, high species diversity with probable super-saturation, political vacuum for conservation planning but some indigenous conservation initiatives).;Long-term prospects for implementation of such conservation programmes are considered to be problematic politically even with the growing support of local communities. Provincial government frameworks for land use planning and management were found to be the major institutional obstacles to comprehensive planning, for the in situ conservation of local biological diversity, with federal agencies and non-governmental organisations finding it increasingly necessary to monitor and intervene. The local indigenous society has a central role in both identification of strategic elements of biological diversity and in defining and managing conservation programmes. |
