Protected area management

The IUCN protected area management categories is a core document for the development, reporting and understanding of protected areas worldwide. In this reprint of the 2008 categories new text on Recognising Protected Areas and Assigning Management Categories and Governance Types, drawing on global best practice and extensive consultation, provides guidance on implementing the categories.

Visitors to parks and protected areas impact at many levels: political, economic, social and ecological. To ensure effective park management for increasing visitor numbers, good quality global data on visitor use is necessary. This manual describes terms, approaches and techniques for gathering information about public use of parks and protected areas.

The world’s climate is changing rapidly and protected areas are an increasingly important component of national and international climate change adaptation strategies. These guidelines articulate essential elements for adaptation planning and implementation, and it describes additional resources that site managers can use right away.

The manual provides guidance for States Parties and all those involved in the care of World Heritage cultural properties on how to comply with the requirements of the Convention. It also aims to help States Parties to ensure that heritage has a dynamic role in society and harnesses, but also delivers to others, the mutual benefits that such a role can create. This Manual deals only with the management of cultural heritage sites.

An Internationally Designated Area (IDA) is a natural area internationally recognised by a global or regional designation mechanism. Among these, there are 263 areas where different IDAs fully or partially overlap thus carrying double, triple or even quadruple international designations.

Crisis has enveloped the more than 200,000 nationally and regionally protected natural and cultural heritage sites around the world.

The purpose of these first-ever international Guidelines for managing wilderness (Category 1b) has been to impress upon you the challenges involved in managing wilderness, while also clarifying the essential techniques, protocols, and mindset required of a good, efficient, adaptable, and visionary manager.