Protected Area Solutions for Biodiversity and Climate Change
Project partner countries are highly biodiverse and especially vulnerable to climate change impacts. They can demonstrate the opportunities for improved governance as vehicle for more socially, ecologically and climate-resilient protected and con-served area (PA) systems. The project goal is to help promote and strengthen diverse and equitable governance and management of PA systems that deliver biodiversity and climate change outcomes. This will help partner countries advance and report progress on the quality elements of Aichi Target 11, as well as mark progress on Targets 1 and 14 of the CBD Strategic Plan 2011-2020, and provide a blueprint for other countries to undertake similar efforts.
The project will help overcome gaps in quality and capacity in the governance of PA systems in South America (Colombia, Peru); Eastern Africa (Kenya); and Southeast Asia (Vietnam). Work Packages will help broaden national recognition of diverse governance institutions, strengthen the capacities of State, municipal, community and private-sector custodians, and foster learning in shared governance situations.
The project will also develop a global portfolio of case studies to communicate successful PA biodiversity and climate change outcomes, pioneered through a new international standard for protected area quality and performance – the IUCN Green List of Protected Areas- developed and tailored to the partner country context and project outputs.
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The project delivers the IKI 2015 objective relating to integrated implementation of the Programme of Work on Protected Areas (PoWPA) in partner countries, principally through demonstrating PA system governance as a pathway to improved and measurable outcomes from individual PAs and their contribution to the national PA system. In addition it directly supports the achievement of the quality dimensions of Aichi Target 11 on Protected Areas. Finally, in each country the project supports the integration of PAs within national climate change strategies.
Five key impacts expected from the project in each partner country include:
Improved policies in each country that clearly articulate recognition of more diverse PA governance options and better accountability as evidenced by demonstrated improvements in measurable criteria for “equitable management” in at least 2 PAs per country;
Positive impacts on the long-term conservation of PA values through improved management effectiveness, including and beyond the two sites per country, with documented trends in achieving thresholds for successful biodiversity conservation outcomes across the PA system;
PAs beyond boundaries: project interventions in at least 2 PAs per partner country have a broader positive impact on the role of the national PA system, through demonstrating the broader contribution of PAs to biodiversity conservation outcomes; ecosystem-based adaptation to climate change; security of provision of ecosystem services for productivity in surrounding landscapes, and diverse contributions to social and economic development;
The project will increase the efficiency of public and private investment in PA systems, through expanding and diversifying governance, recognising the contributions of PAs and conserved areas to national development priorities and production landscapes/seascapes.;
The project will encourage the uptake of tools and methodologies that better encourage and promote improvement, development and progress in performance by PAs within the national system. The adoption of the IUCN Green List of Protected Areas standards as a peer networking tool and motivational benchmark for successful PA outcomes will help scale-up project impacts across the PA system.
