In the past few years, a number of analyses have been undertaken to measure progress towards the 2010 and 2012 CBD targets. This report demonstrates how the measurement of progress is influenced by decisions on which protected areas are included (for instance, whether internationally designated sites, or sites without an assigned IUCN category are included) and which biogeographic datasets used (for instance which mountain dataset is chosen), and highlights the need for standardised methods and datasets.
Resource Type: Journal PapersThe Global Study into management effectiveness evaluation was conducted between late 2005 and 2010. In cooperation with many people across the world, it aimed to strengthen the management of protected areas by compiling the existing work on management effectiveness evaluation, reviewing methodologies, finding patterns and common themes in evaluation results, and investigating the most important factors leading to effective management.
Resource Type: ReportsThe objectives of the World Heritage Convention are the identification, protection, conservation and presentation of the world's natural and cultural heritage and ultimately, the successful transmission of them to future generations. UNEP-WCMC and IUCN have undertaken a range of global and regional studies to support State Parties to the Convention in the selection of potential sites, and to assist in the evaluation of nominations.
Resource Type: ReportsThis poster series shows the state of the world's protected area coverage in 2003.
Resource Type: Posters
These posters, about Mountain Protected Areas and Indigenous Community Conserved Areas, were created for the 10th Conference of the Parties of the Convention on Biological Diversity, October 2010.
Resource Type: Posters
The United Nations List of Protected Areas is an essential reference document for all who want to understand the progress made in responding to the challenges of biodiversity loss and other environmental threats around the world. It is a record of extraordinary human achievement over 125 years - a commitment by nations, peoples, groups and individuals to safeguard areas of land and sea from destruction. Protected areas represent human ideals at their best - they express a long term vision and a broad sense of responsibility towards people and nature.
This version of the list is the twelfth in a series, each recording steady expansion in the total area protected. There are now some 12,754 areas in the UN List, covering almost 8% of the land surface of the world (a far smaller proportion of the oceans is protected). Compared to the previous, 1993 edition of the of the UN List, this report includes 2,933 more sites covering 3.9 million more square kilometres. At the end of the century it can be said that practically every country has protected areas; some have a very sophisticated network of sites.
Resource Type: ReportsThe success of protected areas as a tool for conservation is based around the assumption that they are managed to protect the values that they contain. To be effective, management should be tailored to the particular demands of the site, given that each protected area has a variety of biological and social characteristics, pressures and uses. Achieving effective management is not an easy task – it requires adopting appropriate management objectives and governance systems, adequate and appropriate resourcing and the timely implementation of appropriate management strategie and processes. It is unlikely to be achieved fully without an approach to management that is inquiring an reflective – that seeks to understand how effective the current management regime is and how it could be improved. Information on management effectiveness is thus a cornerstone of good management.
Current global marine protection targets aim to protect 10–30% of marine habitats within the next 3–5 years. However, these targets were adopted without prior assessment of their achievability. Moreover, ability to monitor progress towards such targets has been constrained by a lack of robust data on marine protected areas. Here we present the results of the first explicitly marine-focused, global assessment of protected areas in relation to global marine protection targets.
Resource Type: Journal PapersThis study assesses the global gaps in forest conservation with reference to the target of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), which calls for the effective conservation of "at least 10% of the world's forest types" by 2010 (decision VIII/15). The results are expected to guide forest conservation policies and planning at national and international levels.
Resource Type: ReportsThe World Database on Protected Areas (WDPA) is the key source for global and regional forest protected area information. It is in the process of a major redevelopment that will significantly enhance its usefulness for various users. The database already plays a significant role in reporting to major globally-agreed goals and targets, such as Millennium Development Goal 7 and the CBD programmes of work on forests and protected areas. For any global forest protected area network, the WDPA could provide information on officially designated protected areas, including sites that have not been assigned a particular IUCN management category but nevertheless qualify as sites contributing towards national, regional and global efforts and processes addressing forest conservation.
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