15/06/2005 - This is the
question being asked of delegates, mainly
government officials from some 50 countries,
attending the preparatory meeting of the 8th
Conference of Parties of the Convention on
Biological Diversity (CBD), held here from
13-17 June.
At a special event held alongside the meeting
today, delegates heard several presentations
highlighting the importance of evaluating
and monitoring management effectiveness of
protected areas, for example, in Brazil and
Canada. To date, more than 23 countries have
completed system-wide assessments of their
protected areas.
Numerous tools exist to help countries assess
the management effectiveness of their parks.
These include the World Bank/WWF Tracking
tool, and the Rapid Assessment and Prioritisation
Methodology (RAPPAM), which several countries
have adapted for local use. But more countries,
which have significant forests, such as Mexico,
Argentina, Venezuela, Uganda and Mozambique,
need to carry out these park assessments.
All signatories to the CBD has an obligation
to ensure effective management of their protected
areas.
The event, Increasing Protected Area Effectiveness:
How to assess the management effectiveness
of protected areas systems, was organised
by IUCN-The World Conservation Union, and
WWF, the global conservation organization.
It was aimed at sharing experiences on protected
area assessments. It highlighted the following
key requirements in carrying out assessments:
• Involvement of park managers so as to ensure
that the results are then used for adaptive
management.
• Providing for input from stakeholders,
including communities and indigenous peoples.
Such participation can help improve dialogue
and understanding between managers, local
communities and other stakeholders.
• Incorporating scientific, traditional,
manager and community knowledge in the assessment.
• Transparency in both the evaluation and
reporting. Exposing management weaknesses
and strengths ensures a balanced understanding
of the assessment, which is critical in demonstrating
credibility of the assessment process. This
information can also be used by managers to
improve management within existing resources
as well as to establish a case for improving
management capacity.
Delegates were also informed of the potential
of these assessments in building or strengthening
partnerships between managers, communities,
NGO’s and other institutions.
