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PARCC project presents key findings to increase resilience of protected areas to climate change

The capacity of decision makers in West Africa to assess and understand the impacts of climate change and factor this knowledge into national policies and protected area management has been enhanced by a Global Environment Facility (GEF) project managed by UNEP-WCMC.

Bringing together a diverse group of partners, including the Central and West Africa Protected Areas Programme of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the governments of Chad, The Gambia, Mali, Sierra Leone and Togo, the Protected Areas Resilient to Climate Change (PARCC) project developed new science-based methods of assessing the impacts of climate change in West Africa and helped regional and national decision makers understand and use the results of these assessments.

Results of the five-year project were presented and discussed at the project’s final meeting in Banjul, The Gambia, 24-29 January 2016. This included new regional climate projections for West Africa and in depth assessments of the vulnerability of species and protected areas to climate change. An analysis of the connectivity of the West African protected area network also highlighted the importance of specific protected areas in the region.

Using these assessments and other relevant ecological data, systematic conservation planning systems were developed and used to identify conservation priorities for the design of new protected areas. Relevant pilot activities were also carried out at five transboundary pilot sites across the West Africa region. Finally, adaptation strategies and policy recommendations were developed for climate adaptation and management both at the national and regional level, as well as guidelines for managers of protected areas.

The meeting in Banjul focused on how the results of the project could be best used by countries and help improve the management of protected areas in order to protect the unique biodiversity of the region. Participants from countries that did not partake in the project also attended and expressed a strong interest in being involved in a possible follow-up project. Wider engagement would support the project’s ambitions to further strengthen the regional network of protected areas by enhancing resilience to climate change and supporting the local communities who are dependent on the goods and services provided by protected areas.

The outputs of the project are available in a series of reports prepared by UNEP-WCMC and our project partners, and vulnerability assessment results have also been integrated into ProtectedPlanet.net, the online interface of the World Database on Protected Areas (WDPA).

Participants of the final PARCC meeting in Banjul, The Gambia

Participants of the PARCC project's final meeting in Banjul, The Gambia, 24-29 January 2016

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