This article makes a diagnosis of the land ownership situation for currently existing Brazilian national parks. We argue that Brazilian cultural and political heritage, the historical record left by the administrative organs managing national parks and the complexity of the land problem are determining factors in holding back processes of regularization of land use and ownership within these "conservation units" (CUs). We maintain that the paucity of financial resources for indemnification of lands that have been appropriated is not the greatest obstacle in resolving the matter. We propose, furthermore, that diverse alternative legal and administrative instruments could be deployed to regularize or incorporate land into national parks and therefore make policies for conserving the country's biodiversity more effective. Finally, we conclude that conserving biodiversity goes far beyond the creation of conservation units of whatever sort, making it necessary for different segments of public power and civil society to invest as well in actions of monitoring, formation of ecological corridors between fully protected and sustainable use CUs , environmental education and the implantation of economic instruments for environmental management that induce private owners of land to adopt practices that are compatible with the preservation of nature.
conservation units; environmental policies; land ownership regulation; public lands
