Fischborn, Marie

Alongside their contribution to biodiversity conservation, protected and conserved areas are increasingly recognised as important sources of a wide range of benefits, or ecosystem services, that humans gain from intact, natural ecosystems. Well-governed and well-managed protected areas are among the most effective tools for maintaining ecosystems – such as forests, natural grasslands, coastal areas and freshwater wetlands – and their associated ecosystem services. This report explores how protected areas contribute to achieving the SDGs.

PANORAMA is a partnership initiative to facilitate learning from success in conservation. It promotes examples of inspiring solutions that showcase how nature conservation can benefit society. PANORAMA enables the wider application of such solutions through cross-sectoral global learning and exchange. Through a modular case study format, solutions are dissected into their replicable “building blocks”. This booklet is the first in a series of compilations assembling PANORAMA solution case studies on a defined topic.

In this publication, several case studies from the African continent illustrate the "nature-based solutions" approach and offer hope that effective solutions to the climate change dilemma can be addressed through local responses that also achieve mutual benefits for biodiversity conservation and community resilience.