Protected areas

The East Asia Action Plan (IUCN, 1996) recommended exchange programmes as a means of improving protected area management capacity in the East Asia region. The experience of exchange programmmes from around the world shows that they can bring great benefits when executed and managed effectively. This report reviews and summarizes past experience world-wide in protected area-related exchange programmes, and analyzes its relevance to East Asia.

These guidelines address one of the most critical issues which protected area planners and managers face in the East Asia region: obtaining the funds needed to ensure the survival and success of protected areas. The publication explains how protected areas can generate more finance to help meet their needs, and contains brief case studies. It also includes a list of potential funding sources in the region.

Protected areas are vital for life on earth. They safeguard biological and cultural diversity, help to improve the livelihoods of local communities, provide the homelands for many indigenous peoples and bring countless benefits to society at large. It is now generally understood that conservation planning cannot just be site-specific; plants and animals do not recognize national boundaries, nor do many of the forces that threaten them.

This publication provides a collection of material useful to planners and managers of parks and protected areas in East Asia. It has been designed to help them think about the influx of tourism to natural protected areas, and to urge them to consciously plan for management of the interactions of tourists and the natural and cultural environment.

The IUCN system for classifying protected areas distinguishes six management categories (I-VI). This publication aims to further clarify how they can be interpreted within Europe, in order to help protected areas managers and others concerned with protected areas to apply the IUCN system more consistently to ensure reliable categorisation and data gathering