IUCN, the International Union for Conservation of Nature

University of Queensland,
St Lucia Campus
School of Geography, Planning and Environmental Management
Brisbane, Queensland 4072
Australia
Tel: +61 (7) 3346 7845, +61 7 422 842714
Fax: ++61 (7) 3365 6899
Email: m.hockings@uq.edu.au

Completing the global system of protected areas will not be sufficient to achieve biodiversity conservation objectives. It has to be accompanied by maintaining, improving and at times restoring the ecosystems within protected areas.  Effective management is essential. Progress has been made through the development of the WCPA framework and associated systems on management effectiveness. But, in many places, monitoring and evaluation systems need to be adopted and implemented. Elsewhere, they need to be more comprehensive, participatory and affordable and the results better used to guide plans and management. In addition, scientific and other technical research and investigation should be undertaken to ensure that there is sufficient knowledge of trends in ecological, environmental, social, cultural and economic indicators to allow informed management decisions to be taken. Greater understanding and recognition of traditional management practices is also required

Durban Action Plan

Particular attention must be paid to the effects of global change on protected areas.

Corresponding plans of action must be drawn up and implemented.

Conservation Biology and Restoration Ecology is particularly relevant to protected areas, enabling better understanding of risk and effective prevention and  mitigation of impacts.

This body of knowledge along with indigenous and traditional knowledge will be encouraged and integrated into protected area planning and management frameworks.

Many protected areas around the world are not effectively managed. In response, management effectiveness will continue as a priority with a focus on improving on and learning from past approaches.

New protocols are needed to evaluate the efficacy and effectiveness of management in relation to the IUCN Protected Areas Management Categories, and to take on board the increased recognition of cultural and spiritual factors in the effective management of protected areas.

Information arising from the assessment management effectiveness must be better applied to on ground management actions and also to guide donor support for protected area investment. Such information must also be incorporated into the World Database on Protected Areas (WDPA).

A management effectiveness specialist group operates in the Strategic Direction chaired by Dr. Fiona Leverington and Dr. José Courrau

The IUCN Protected Areas Management Categories are increasingly being used around the world. However, better guidance on the application of the Categories has been developed and assistance is being provided to assist countries in applying the categories, especially through the work of the Capacity Development Strategic Direction. 26% of protected areas currently listed in the World Data Base on Protected Areas have not been assigned to a Protected Area Category. It is imperative that this issue is addressed and WCPA can play a role in assisting UNEP-WCMC with this process.

PA Management standards may open new opportunities, benefits and incentives for protected areas management at national and international levels. WCPA aims to explore this possibility with the full involvement of protected areas agencies and key Pas stakeholders. Indicators of management quality to assess the potential application of methods for ‘certification’ of protected areas at national and international levels will be reviewed and applied, as appropriate.WCPA members are actively working on development of a system of standards.

The World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA) and the Species Survival Commission (SSC) are the two largest of six IUCN Commissions, which in turn form one of the three pillars of the Union. The purpose of the Commissions is to provide state of the art knowledge and expertise drawn from a wide range of volunteer experts as a contribution to fulfilling the IUCN Mission and Programme.

This critical linkage between species and protected area conservation is widely recognized through the broader conservation community, for example, by the Durban Accord of the V World Parks Congress, convened by IUCN-WCPA, which celebrated “protected areas as places where we conserve biodiversity” , by the Programme of Work on Protected Areas of the Convention on Biological Diversity, the objective of which is “support the establishment and maintenance by 2010 for terrestrial and by 2012 for marine areas of comprehensive, effectively managed, and ecologically representative national and regional systems of protected areas” , and by the Alliance for Zero Extinction, which is “a global initiative of biodiversity conservation organizations, aims to prevent extinctions by identifying and safeguarding key sites where species are in imminent danger of disappearing” .

Recognizing this overarching commonality,a Joint Task Force has been established that builds on previous and current efforts for the Commissions to work together.

The Joint Task Force is examining two key issues:

1. Biodiversity outcomes in protected areas: a metastudy on the effectiveness of different IUCN categories and governance types in delivering biodiversity outcomes, drawing on available long-term data from protected areas around the world (and comparable data from outside protected areas where available). The project will draw on a number of individual studies and also develop, build up and analyse a larger database of information.
2. Consolidating the global standards for the identification of sites of biodiversity conservation significance (“key biodiversity areas”). A huge body of work and experience exists in the identification of important sites for biodiversity conservation – many of which are protected areas already, the remainder of which are targets for protecting through appropriate mechanisms. This process will undertake a broad community consultation to converge on common global standards and criteria, under the IUCN umbrella.

WCPA Science and Management Strategic Direction Protected Areas and Biodiversity Outcomes Task Force

A number of recent initiatives, projects and publications (PACT2020, Natural Solutions, Granada Protected Areas and Climate Change workshop) have highlighted both the likely impacts of climate change on PAs and the potential for PAs to make an extremely significant contribution to ecosystem based adaptation and mitigation. There is an increasingly solid science-basis for understanding climate change impacts on PAs but almost no clear guidance to managers on how they might, at a practical level, predict and respond to these likely impacts to retain biodiversity values.

WCPA is working with UNDP, Equilibrium Research, WWF and WCS to produce an edition of the IUCN WCPA Best Practice Guidelines focusing on understanding the likely impacts of climate change on protected areas (PAs) to provide site level guidance for PA practitioners in adapting management to limit the effect of climate change on PA values and benefits.

It is generally acknowledged that the world faces urgent global conservation challenges including biodiversity loss, land use conversion, over-exploitation of resources, and climate change. The establishment and effective management of protected areas are seen as a major part of the solution to these challenges. Ecological restoration is an important protected area management tool that serves as a means of halting and reversing ecosystem degradation. It contributes to global conservation objectives by reducing biodiversity loss, enhancing natural capital and ecosystem services, enhancing landscape connectivity, facilitating mitigation and adaptation to the adverse effects of climate change, and contributing to the improvement of human well-being.