Sue Stolton

Evaluating effectiveness : a framework for assessing management effectiveness of protected areas

The first version of this document was published in 2000. At that stage, although the IUCN-WCPA Management Effectiveness Evaluation Framework had been developed over several years, it had only been field tested in a few countries. The whole concept of assessing management effectiveness of protected areas was still in its infancy. The need for methodologies to assess protected areas had been discussed by protected area practitioners for several years, but only a handful of systems had been field-tested and implemented, and there was little commitment to management effectiveness beyond a few enlightened individuals in nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and parks agencies. There was also, in consequence, little evidence of the suitability of particular methodologies to meet the needs of the vast array of different types of protected area, and little experience in implementing the findings of assessments to achieve the aim of the whole exercise: more effective conservation. Six years later, the situation is very different. Management effectiveness evaluation is a term now well recognised in the lexicon of protected area management. Many different assessment methodologies have emerged, most of them developed using the Framework agreed by the World Conservation Union (IUCN) and its World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA), and the number of individual protected areas that have undergone some form of evaluation has risen from a few hundred to many thousand.

The Intersections of Biological Diversity and Cultural Diversity: Towards Integration

There is an emerging recognition that the diversity of life comprises both biological and cultural diversity. In the past, however, it has been common to make divisions between nature and culture, arising partly out of a desire to control nature. The range of interconnections between biological and cultural diversity are reflected in the growing variety of environmental sub-disciplines that have emerged. In this article, we present ideas from a number of these sub-disciplines. We investigate four bridges linking both types of diversity (beliefs and worldviews, livelihoods and practices, knowledge bases and languages, and norms and institutions), seek to determine the common drivers of loss that exist, and suggest a novel and integrative path forwards. We recommend that future policy responses should target both biological and cultural diversity in a combined approach to conservation. The degree to which biological diversity is linked to cultural diversity is only beginning to be understood. But it is precisely as our knowledge is advancing that these complex systems are under threat. While conserving nature alongside human cultures presents unique challenges, we suggest that any hope for saving biological diversity is predicated on a concomitant effort to appreciate and protect cultural diversity.

Natural Solutions: Protected areas helping people cope with climate change

This report provides an exhaustive overview of the literature regarding the role protected areas play in reducing emissions from land use change, and sustaining ecosystem services that will be vital to reducing the vulnerability of humans to climate change. Section 3, Adaptation – The role of protected areas, looks at reducing the impacts of natural disasters, safeguarding water, addressing health issues and biodiversity conservation and maintaining ecosystem resilience.

Partnerships for protection : new strategies for planning and management for protected areas

How can we successfully conserve what remains of the worlds rapidly diminishing natural and semi-natural areas? Although more and more land and water surface is protected many vital ecosystems are under-represented, and traditional conservation methods are often ineffective. New approaches are urgently needed. This book sets out ways to safeguard all the major ecosystems and explores innovative management partnerships involving individuals, communities, companies and governments. It draws attention to the importance of building collaboration among those with a stake in the resources, and an incentive to protect them. This will be essential reading and a vital tool for all those involved with or studying biodiversity and conservation, the planning and management of protected areas

The revised IUCN protected area management categories: The debate and ways forward

The global protected area estate is the worlds largest ever planned land use. Protected areas are not monolithic and vary in their purpose, designation, management and outcomes. The IUCN protected area category system is a typology based on management objectives. It documents protected area types and is increasingly used in laws, policy and planning. As its role grows, the category system must be reactive to opinions and open to modifications. In response to requests from members IUCN undertook a 4-year consultation and recently published revised guidelines for the categories. These made subtle but important changes to the protected area definition, giving greater emphasis to nature conservation, protection over the long term and management effectiveness. It refined some categories and gave principles for application. Debates during revision were intense and highlighted many of the issues and challenges surrounding protected areas in the early 21st century. There was a consensus on many issues including the suitability of different governance models (such as indigenous and community conserved areas), sacred natural sites, moving the emphasis of Category IV from habitat manipulation towards species and habitat protection, and recognition of legally defined zones within a protected area as different categories. However, there was considerable disagreement about the definition of a protected area, the appropriateness of some categories with extensive human use, the possibility of linking category classification with biodiversity outcomes, and recognition of territories of indigenous peoples. We map these debates and propose actions to resolve these issues: a necessary step if the worlds protected area network is to be representative, secure and well managed.

Measuring biodiversity and sustainable management in forests and agricultural landscapes

Most of the worlds biodiversity will continue to exist outside protected areas and there are also managed lands within many protected areas. In the assessment of millennium targets, there is therefore a need for indicators to measure biodiversity and suitability of habitats for biodiversity both across the whole landscape/seascape and in specific managed habitats. The two predominant land uses in many inhabited areas are forestry and agriculture and these are examined. Many national-level criteria and indicator systems already exist that attempt to assess biodiversity in forests and the impacts of forest management, but there is generally less experience in measuring these values in agricultural landscapes. Existing systems are reviewed, both for their usefulness in providing indicators and to assess the extent to which they have been applied. This preliminary gap analysis is used in the development of a set of indicators suitable for measuring progress towards the conservation of biodiversity in managed forests and agriculture. The paper concludes with a draft set of indicators for discussion, with suggestions including proportion of land under sustainable management, amount of produce from such land, area of natural or high quality semi-natural land within landscapes under sustainable management and key indicator species.

Management effectiveness: Assessing management of protected areas?

To maximise the potential of protected areas, we need to understand the strengths and weaknesses in their management and the threats and stresses that they face. There is increasing pressure on governments and other bodies responsible for protected areas to monitor their effectiveness. The reasons for assessing management effectiveness include the desire by managers to adapt and improve their management strategies, improve planning and priority setting and the increasing demands for reporting and accountability being placed on managers, both nationally and internationally. Despite these differing purposes for assessment, some common themes and information needs can be identified, allowing assessment systems to meet multiple uses. Protected‐area management evaluation has a relatively short history. Over the past 20 years a number of systems have been proposed but few have been adopted by management agencies. In response to a recognition of the need for a globally applicable approach to this issue, the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas developed a framework for assessing management effectiveness of both protected areas and protected area systems. This framework was launched at the World Conservation Congress in Jordan in 2000. The framework provides guidance to managers to develop locally relevant assessment systems while helping to harmonise assessment approaches around the world. The framework is strongly linked to the protected area management process and is adaptable to different types and circumstances of protected areas around the world. Examples from Fraser Island in Australia and the Congo Basin illustrate the use of the framework.

Where now for protected areas? Setting the stage for the 2014 World Parks Congress

Protected areas are regarded as the most important tool in the conservation toolbox. They cover > 12% of the Earths terrestrial area, with over half of this designated since 1970, and are thus a unique example of governments and other stakeholders consciously changing management of land and water at a significant scale. The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) has a global programme to complete ecologically-representative protected area networks, and this is driving the creation of large numbers of new protected areas. But there is also growing criticism of protected areas because of the social costs of protection and doubts about their effectiveness. We acknowledge this criticism but believe that it is over-stated and applied to a protected area model that has already been replaced by newer thinking. As protected areas are becoming more complex in concept and more complicated in management, we review the six most important changes affecting them over the last 2 decades: (1) a new protected area definition with more emphasis on nature conservation; (2) a plurality of management and governance models; (3) acknowledgement of wider protected area benefits beyond nature conservation; (4) greater social safeguards for protected areas; (5) evidence that protected areas are effective conservation tools; and (6) a new emphasis on larger protected areas, transboundary protected areas, connectivity conservation and landscape approaches. We conclude by considering fresh challenges as a result of policy changes and the global criminal wildlife trade, and consider the potential of the forthcoming 2014 IUCN World Parks Congress.

The potential of forest reserves for augmenting the protected area network in Africa

The protected area network of Africa has grown from nothing to over 2 million km in the past 110 years. This network covers parts of all biomes and priority areas for biodiversity conservation but protected area gaps remain, as identified at the 5th World Parks Congress in 2003. Forest reserves, managed by Forest Departments, are typically excluded from global protected area lists, but in Africa they are found in 23 countries and cover at least 549,788 km, adding 25% to the conservation estate. Forest reserves protect 5.3% (2,027 km) of the dry forest habitats, 5% (165,285 km) of lowland and montane moist forests, 2.6% (364,354 km) of savannah woodlands, 1.8% (10,561 km) of flooded grasslands, and 1.65% (1,177 km) of mangroves. Forest reserves also protect parts of three conservation schemes: 6.5% (61,630 km) of BirdLife’s Endemic Bird Areas, 3.4% (147,718 km) of Conservation International’s Hotpots and 3.4% (346,864 km) of WWF’s Global 200 Ecoregions. Several of the global protected area gaps identified in Africa are also covered by forest reserves, in the Eastern Arc Mountains, Eastern African coastal forests, Kenyan Highlands, CameroonNigerian Mountains, West African Forests and mountain areas of Malawi, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Zambia. Some African forest reserves have a legally defined role in biodiversity conservation and are strictly protected; they thus fit criteria for protected areas. Working with forest departments in individual countries may help develop a more comprehensive protected area network without creating additional new reserves.

Options For Guaranteeing the Effective Management of the World's Protected Areas

A rapid increase in the number and size of protected areas has prompted interest in their effectiveness and calls for guarantees that they are providing a good return on investment by maintaining their values. Research reviewed here suggests that many remain under threat and a significant number are already suffering deterioration. One suggestion for encouraging good management is to develop a protected‐area certification system: however this idea remains controversial and has created intense debate. We list a typology of options for guaranteeing good protected‐area management, and give examples, including: danger lists; self‐reporting systems against individual or standardised criteria; and independent assessment including standardised third‐party reporting, use of existing certification systems such as those for forestry and farming and certification tailored specifically to protected areas. We review the arguments for and against certification and identify some options, such as: development of an accreditation scheme to ensure that assessment systems meet minimum standards; building up experience from projects that are experimenting with certification in protected areas; and initiating certification schemes for specific users such as private protected areas or institutions like the World Heritage Convention.