Expanding the protected forest network alone provides few benefits if protection is ineffective and if governments feel no pressure to implement protected area management plans. IUCN and WWF have identified the need for systems to verify the effectiveness of protected area management. IUCN has been working together with WWF and the World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA) to develop and field test methods for verifying forest protected areas and assessing their management effectiveness under the Forest Innovations Project.
Protected area verification
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ITTO/IUCN International Workshop on Increasing the Effectiveness of Transboundary Conservation Areas in Tropical Forests |
Protected area verification
Currently, many forest protected areas exist in name only - the so-called 'paper parks' - and continue to be degraded and destroyed by settlers or by illegal activities such as logging and mining.
