Objectives, Categories and Institutional Options for Protected

Areas

Jim Barborak

Mobile Seminar on Protected Area ManagementCosta Rica

June 9-20, 2008

Key points• What is a protected area?• PA management objectives and their relationship

with management categories • IUCN management categories• Current process to update and improve the IUCN

framework• Perspectives on governance, institutional options

and management categories

“Terrestrial and/or marine area, dedicated especially to the protection and conservation of biological diversity and related natural and cultural resources, and managed through legal or other effective means”

Protected Area: Current IUCN Definition

Protected Area Objectives• Protect biodiversity • Protect cultural resources• Protect unique natural sites

and features• Promote research • Promote environmental

education and interpretation • Promote outdoor recreation

and ecotourism

• Contribute to sustainable socioeconomic development, employment, foreign exchange and income generation

• Protected watersheds and water sources

• Prevent natural disasters• Restore degraded areas• Maintain options open for the

future• Manage natural resources in a

sustainable fashion

Protected Areas Provide Environmental Goods and Services

ServicesProtect biodiversityProtect watershedsPrevent natural disastersServe as living laboratoriesPromote recreation and tourismRescue spiritual/cultural valuesServe as outdoor classroomsPromote climate change

mitigation and adaptation

GoodsWood and minor forest

productsFiberFruits, nuts and other foodsConstruction materialsMedicinal plantsWaterBushmeatFish, molluscs, seafood

Management Categories• Principle types of protected areas, differentiated based on

distinct management objectives and characteristics, on the activities that are permitted or prohibited and on the mix and relative importance of different environmental goods and services they produce for society

• Since the 1970s IUCN has attempted to reach global consensus on management categories

• The Convention on Biological Diversity recommends adoption of management category classification systems such as that of IUCN

• Categories and governance are two different aspects of protected aras: any category can be managed by any number of institutions

There are six global management categories

• Areas principally managed for environmental services: Categories I, II, III

• Areas managed to produce both environmental goods and services: Categories IV, V, VI

Categories principally for production of environmental services

• Category I: Wilderness/Strict Nature Reserve

• Category II: National Park

• Category III: National Monument

Categories that produce both environmental goods and services

• Category IV: Area for management of species and habitats

• Category V: Protected landscape/seascape• Category VI: Managed resource reserve

- The system is not hierarchical and all categories are important for conservation

- National designations and categories often have nothing to do with IUCN definitions

Review of IUCN Categories is Underway

• Durban accords and Bangkok resolution of IUCN recommend updating system

• IUCN WCPA has established a task force and global process for updating the category system by the end of 2008

• Summit held in Almeria, Spain, more than 60 background documents produced, many regional fora

Process is underway to improve category system

Major points of discussion

Is IUCN deemphasizing the role of protected areas?

Are extractive and “soft” categories being favored?

Are traditional names associated with categories going to be eliminated (e.g. national park)?

Points of consensus

New definition taking place “A specifically delineated area designated and managed to achieve the conservation of nature and maintenance of associated cultural values, through legal or other effective means”

Consensus that conservation of biological diversity must be a principle objective of any area for it to qualify as a protected area

In case of conflict, biodiversity conservation should be the principle objective: “For IUCN, only those sites where the main goal or outcome is conserving nature should be considered protected areas. Note that this would include many sites which can have other goals as well, at the same level, such as cultural or spiritual, but in the case of conflict nature conservation has to be the priority.”

Points of agreement• First decide if a place should even be considered to

be a protected area then define category• Traditional names of categories will be retained

with more explanatory text and a glossary• It will be stressed that all categories contribute to

conservation, but specific objectives and category should be defined based on the situation of each

• If management effectiveness is limited, first you should try to improve management before you consider changing the management category!

Lessons for the Developing World• All categories play a role in a robust protected

area system• A range of institutional options and tenure types

contribute to strong PA systems• We should not argue over which category is

best, but about which category or categories, zones and limits are needed for any given area

• Recognize that much conservation needs to take place outside protected areas in buffer zones, corridors and other private, communal and indigenous lands, at the landscape level, to complement protected areas systems

Governance and Institutional Aspects

Traditional view Protected areas are

government owned, government managed, and government designated

Current View PAs can be owned or managed by all

levels of government, NGOs, private land owners, communities and tribal authorities

Good management of any area requires a range of actors from the public and private sectors and community involvement

Planning and management should be participatory and adaptive

Privatization, devolution of control to local actors, and decentralization are occurring around the world

The range of institutional options• Management by central, regional or local governments• Management by NGOs• Management by universities and university consortia• Management by private landowners• Management by tribal and community authorities• Management by corporations• Comanagement, parastatals and management councils

are important concepts

Ownership, management authority, and management category are three separate but related concepts.

Planning and Management Context

Before… Planned and managed by

individual agencies and by experts

Managed as islands apart from the surrounding landscape

Tendency Planned and managed in a

participatory manner as part of national and international PA systems

Managed as networks of protected areas, surrounded by buffers and linked by corridors

Ecosystem and landscape/seascape approach

Perspectives on PA management

Before

Protected areas seen as the exclusive domain of national governments

Unilateral responsibility of the state

Managed individually or at the national level without regard for international implications

Tendency

Protected areas seen as something of local, regional, national concern

Protected areas are part of international obligations of nations

PA management is the collective responsibility of nations, civil society and the international community