Carson Fellow and Director of the Global Diversity Foundation Gary Martin examines the cultural implications of conservation designation (i.e. the system of preserving certain areas of land in national park, or related, structures from outside development). Martin explains how protected areas shape the livelihoods of those who live “next door”; he also considers the way that such structures impact both biological and cultural diversity. Gary Martin is an ethno-ecologist who focuses on the inextricable links between biological and cultural diversity and the role of communities in maintaining socio-ecological resilience. Since 1998, he has been a research fellow and lecturer at the School of Anthropology and Conservation at the University of Kent in Canterbury, UK and in 2000 he founded the Global Diversity Foundation (GDF).