WCPA Best Practice Guidelines

Ssacred sites

Sacred Natural Sites - Guidelines for Protected Area Managers

Task Force on the Cultural and Spiritual Values of Protected Areas in collaboration with UNESCO's Mand and the Biosphere Programme, Editors: Rob Wild and Cristopher McLeod

Best Practice Guidelines Nº 16

Sacred sites are the oldest form of protected areas and many of them are very important biodiversity reservoirs. This book will help conservation professionals and the custodians of sacred sites interested in the role of cultural and spiritual values in nature conservation to ensure the long-term survival of such valuable sites

Identification and gap analysis of key biodiversity areas: targets for comprehensive protected area systems

Identification and Gap Analysis of Key Biodiversity Areas: Targets for comprehensive protected area systems

Langhammer, Penny F. ; Bakarr, Mohamed I. ; Bennun, Leon A. ; Brooks, Thomas M. ; Clay, Rob P. ; Darwall, Will ; De Silva, Naamal ; Edgar, Graham J. ; Eken, Güven ; Fishpool, Lincoln D.C. ; Fonseca, Gustavo A.B. da ; Foster, Matthew N. ; Knox, David H. ; Matiku, Paul ; Radford, Elizabeth A. ; Rodrigues, Ana S.L. ; Salaman, Paul ; Sechrest, Wes ; Tordoff, Andrew W. ; Valentine, Peter, ed. IUCN ; IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas ; James Cook University, AU ; Rainforest CRC, AU

Best Practice Guidelines for Protected Areas Nº 15

Important Bird Areas and Important Plant Areas have already been identified in more than 170 countries. The Key Biodiversity Areas approach builds on the work done to date, in order to provide practical guidance to governments in identifying those sites which must be protected to ensure the future of both biodiversity and humanity.

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

Evaluating Effectiveness - A framework for assessing management effectiveness of protected areas 2nd Edition

Best Practice Protected Area Guidelines No 14 Marc Hockings, Sue Stolton, Fiona Leverington, Nigel Dudley, José Courrau

The Framework for management effectiveness developed by the IUCN World Commission for Protected Areas was published in the first version of this Best Practice Guideline. It is further explained and interpreted, although not substantially altered, in this version. A number of key guidelines for good practice in evaluation are presented from many practitioners around the world, and important needs and directions for the future are identified.

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Sustainable financing of protected areas : a global review of challenges and options

Sustainable Financing of Protected Areas

Lucy Emerton, Joshua Bishop and Lee Thomas

Best Practice Protected Area Guidelines No 13

This volume is a little different from many previous Guidelines in its emphasis on understanding the complex issues of financing protected areas as well as helping managers find solutions from the experience gained in many protected areas around the world

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Forests and protected areas : guidance on the use of the IUCN protected area management categories

Forests and Protected Areas: Guidance on the use of the IUCN Protected Area Management Categories BPG 12

Dudley, Nigel ; Phillips, Adrian IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas ; Cardiff University

 Best Practice Guidelines for protected areas Nº 12

Protected areas are the cornerstone of virtually all national and international conservation policies. About 10% of the world’s forests are to be found in protected areas, and Forest Protected Areas make a critical contribution to conservation. The purpose of this publication is to address two questions, both of which are strategic, complex and politically significant: What is, and what is not, a Forest Protected Area? What other forms of forest protection are there, and how do they relate to Forest Protected Areas?

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Indigenous and local communities and protected areas: towards equity and enhanced conservation

Indigenous and Local Communites and Protected Areas Towards Equity and Enhanced Conservation

Grazia Borrini-Feyerabend, Ashish Kothari & Gonzalo Oviedo

Best Practice Protected Areas Guidelines No.11.

An open and flexible guide to engaging indigenous peoples and local communities in protected area management. It includes clear concepts and concrete advice for policy at the national, landscape and site level, and ushers better recognition and protection of existing Community Conserved Areas – a marvellous world--wide conservation asset in great jeopardy today.

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Guidelines for management planning of protected areas

Guidelines for Management Planning for Protected Areas

Lee Thomas and Julie Middleton

Best Practice Protected Areas Guidelines No.10.

What is a management plan for a protected area? Why is one needed? These Guidelines based on global best practice drawn from many areas around the world, represent a working framework for protected area planners to consider and to adapt to their needs and circumstances
 
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Management Guidelines for IUCN Category V Protected Areas Protected Landscapes/Seascapes

Management guidelines for IUCN category V protected areas, protected landscapes/seascapes

Phillips, Adrian IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas ; Cardiff University, Dept. of City and Regional Planning Best Practice Guidelines Nº 9

Protected Landscapes (IUCN Protected Area Category V) are lived-in working landscapes. In the past, there has been a tendency to see them as a rather Eurocentric approach to protected areas but increasingly the category is being designated in other parts of the world, including in a number of developing countries. The Guidelines include sections on the background and on the planning of such areas, and chapters on the principles, policies, process and the means for their management. The text includes more than 20 case studies from more than 15 countries in every region of the world.

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French Version

Spanish Version

Chineese Version

Sustainable tourism in protected areas : guidelines for planning and management

Sustainable tourism in protected areas : guidelines for planning and management

Eagles, Paul F.J. ; McCool, Stephen F. ; Haynes, Christopher D. Best Practice Guidelines Nº 8

The link between protected areas and tourism is as old as the history of protected areas. Though the relationship is complex and sometimes adversarial, tourism is always a critical component to consider in the establishment and management of protected areas. These guidelines aim to build an understanding of protected area tourism, and its management. They provide both a theoretical structure and practical guidelines for managers. The underlying aim is to ensure that tourism contributes to the purposes of protected areas and does not undermine them.

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Chineese Version

Russian Version

Transboundary protected areas for peace and co-operation

Transboundary Protected Areas for Peace and Cooperation

Sandwith, Trevor ; Shine, Clare ; Hamilton, Lawrence S. ; Sheppard, David BPG Nº 7

Protected areas are vital for life on earth. They safeguard biological and cultural diversity, help to improve the livelihoods of local communities, provide the homelands for many indigenous peoples and bring countless benefits to society at large. It is now generally understood that conservation planning cannot just be site-specific; plants and animals do not recognize national boundaries, nor do many of the forces that threaten them. Strategies to conserve biodiversity in the 21st century must therefore emphasize transboundary co-operation , and may at the same time foster better co-operation and understanding between countries. This publication reports on the work undertaken by IUCN’s World Commission on Protected Areas to focus attention on the conservation and security benefits of transboundary protected areas.

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Chineese Version

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

Evaluating Effectiveness : A framework for assessing the management of protected areas

Hockings, Marc ; Stolton, Sue ; Dudley, Nigel BPG Nº 6

This publication proposes a framework for assessing management effectiveness, recognising the need for a variety of responses depending on needs and resources. It aims to help all those who wish to assess protected areas, both in suggesting what needs to be done and in providing some guidelines. It includes six practical case studies from Australia, the Congo Basin, Central America, South America and the USA

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Chineese Version

Financing Protected Areas: Guidelines for Protected Area Managers

Financing protected areas : guidelines for protected area managers

IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas, Financing Protected Areas Task Force ; IUCN, Economics Unit ; University of Cardiff, Department of City and Regional Planning BPG Nº 5

These guidelines explore financing options for protected areas and provide advice and information on sustainable financing. Both public and private financing is needed to ensure provision of the private and public goods and services which protected areas provide. A step-by-step process is given which protected area managers can use to create business and financial plans tailored to the needs and strengths of their protected area. Mechanisms are discussed for generating revenue flows from both public and private sources and an overview of potential grant-based sources of financing is given. It concludes with case studies demonstrating how protected area managers worldwide have developed cohesive funding strategies

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Indigenous and traditional peoples and protected areas: principles, guidelines and case studies

Indigenous and traditional peoples and protected areas : principles, guidelines and case studies

Beltrán, Javier, ed. IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas ; Cardiff University, Dept. of City and Regional Planning Best Practice Guidelines Nº 4

It is sometimes assumed that protected areas must be in conflict with the rights and traditions of indigenous and other traditional peoples on their domains. In reality, where indigenous peoples are interested in the conservation and traditional use of their lands, waters, territories and the natural and cultural resources that they contain, conflicts need not arise. Formal protected areas can provide a means to recognise and guarantee the efforts of many communities who have long protected certain areas, such as sacred groves and mountains. This publication provides a framework for developing partnerships between indigenous and other traditional peoples and protected area managers. It contains a number of case studies giving examples from different parts of the world on successful experiences on the application of these principles

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En espanol

Guidelines for marine protected areas

Guidelines for Marine Protected Areas

Kelleher, Graeme, ed. IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas ; Coastal Zone Management Centre ; Cardiff University, Dept. of City and Regional Planning ; United States, NOAA ; United Kingdom, Countryside Council for Wales BPG Nº 3

Creation and effective management of marine protected areas (MPAs) have lagged behind those of protected areas on land, but they are just as important. The world urgently needs a comprehensive system of MPAs to conserve biodiversity and to help rebuild the productivity of the oceans. The aim of these guidelines is to help countries establish systems of MPAs as a key component of integrated management of coastal and marine areas and as part of their sustainable development. The various actions to make an effective MPA are set out, from early planning stages to implementation. These guidelines aim to help policy-makers, planners and field managers, whether working on conservation of nature or sustainable use of marine resources

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Economic Values of Protected Areas Cover

Economic Values of Protected Areas - Guidelines for Protected Area Managers

IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas, Task Force on Economic Benefits of Protected Areas ; IUCN, Economics Service Unit ; Cardiff University BPG Nº 2

This guide illustrates the potential for using valuation as a tool for diversifying the funding structure for protected areas and for providing information about stakeholders which is crucial for effective management. It provides information and examples of how economic valuation tools and methodologies have been and can be applied to protected areas and is intended to enable protected area managers to determine how they can use valuation as a tool for conserving, sustainably using, and equitably sharing biological resources and to enable economists to help fulfil those goals

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National System Planning for Protected Areas, BP Guideline

National System Planning for Protected Areas

IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas ; University of Cardiff, Department of City and Regional Planning BPG Nº 1

A system plan is the design of a total reserve system covering the full range of ecosystems and communities found in a particular country, identifying the range of purposes of protected areas and the relationships among the system components (i.e. individual areas, protected areas and other land uses), and different sectors and levels of society. Highlighting key linkages with other aspects of economic development, it should show how various stakeholders can interact and co-operate to support effective and sustainable management of protected areas, and help to establish priorities. A valuable resource for all those involved with national system planning

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Best Practice Guidelines in Russian