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OTHER MANAGEMENT PLANNING GUIDANCE & TOOLKITS
INTRODUCTION
Existing toolkits & guidance
After several decades of site management planning, many interesting guidelines and manuals have been developed. Here you can find some useful information, examples and links from existing guides that could be adapted to each of your specific contexts.
Read the full document here.
EUROPARC
The EUROPARC Federation website hosts a toolbox with a wide variety of case studies, videos and toolkits on topics relevant to management planning for protected areas. The website of the EUROPARC Federation has a specific section attributed to (sustainable) tourism and protected areas, including a charter on tourism and protected areas. Through this charter the organisation aims to balance the need for the public to visit and recreate in protected areas without jeopardising the basic goals of protected areas; protecting biodiversity. The organisation calls upon members to become a “sustainable Destination”.
The topics covered include biodiversity conservation, climate change, capacity building, community involvement, ecosystem services, forestry, fresh water ecosystems, invasive species, large carnivores, sustainable agriculture and sustainable tourism.
The toolbox offers a lot of information on these topics but does not provide structured guidance on how to tackle issues as we intend to do with the Eurosite Management Planning Guidance.
WWF
WWF Programme and Project Standards
The Open Standard has been the basis for WWF’s Standards of Conservation Project and Programme Management (PPMS). The WWF Standards are a set of best practice actions to help practitioners deliver conservation results. The Standards lend consistency to planning, implementing and monitoring effective conservation projects and programmes worldwide. WWF has developed a large portfolio of guidance material for applying the Programme Standards. This guidance material covers each step and sub step of the Open Standards, as well as detailed suggestions about Stakeholder Analysis, Risk Assessment, Climate Adaptation, Operational Planning, Programme Capacity Assessment, Financial Modelling, and much more.
RAMSAR
Ramsar Sites Management Toolkit
Ramsar offers a Sites Management Toolkit on their website through which one can quickly and easily find information on specific stages of management planning, such as the description of the site, planning, management, monitoring, or evaluation and review. Alternatively, one of the three featured documents can be downloaded: The Designation and Management of Ramsar Sites (2017), Wetlands Management Planning: a guide for site managers (2008) and Handbook 18; managing wetlands (2010).
“The Designation and Management of Ramsar Sites” provides guidance on how management of Ramsar Sites can contribute to implementation of the Ramsar Strategic Plan 2016 – 2024 and other international processes. It also identifies key information sources, including non-Ramsar publications, to help site managers, administrators and partners. Although this guidance targets managers of wetlands, it is also relevant for terrestrial protected areas.
The document offers a simple step-by-step process, describing the designation and subsequent management of Ramsar Sites within the Ramsar Convention Framework. It should not be regarded as a definitive or exhaustive guide, but more as a starting point to understand the process and a reference for identifying key information and sources for further reading.
The document includes information and guidance on assessing the ecosystem services provided by a site , site designation including how to gain community support for the designation, site description including identification of threats to the site, planning and financing including establishing a management committee, monitoring and evaluation and communication, capacity building, education, awareness and participation (CEPA).
„Wetland Management Planning: A guide for site managers“ targets site managers, administrators and partners to improve their management planning. Although the guidance is directed to managers of wetlands, the guidance is also relevant for terrestrial protected areas.
The document includes information and guidance on assessing the ecosystem services the site provides, site designation including how to gain community support for the site designation, site description including identification of threats to the site, planning and financing including establishment of a management committee, monitoring and evaluation and communication
OPEN STANDARDS
Open Standards for the Practice of Conservation (OS) were developed through the collaboration of many international environmental organizations working together. They aimed to create a common vocabulary in order to share experiences and implement adaptive management. The OS have developed a software program (Miradi https://www.miradi.org/about-miradi/) for nature conservation practitioners to design, manage, monitor, and learn from their projects to more effectively. The advantages that have been observed with the OS include: the definition of what reality looks like: understanding the cause – effect relationships, design strategies focusing on the abatement of prioritized threats; prioritization of strategies and actions, and the identification of alternative development opportunities. The targets in Open Standards can also allow Natura 2000 sites to move beyond the limits of habitats or species, and include ecological process and habitat fragmentation. The Open Standards provide opportunities for stakeholders to come together to more clearly define the management vision and goals. Additionally, the incorporation of conceptual models in the planning process develops the consequential sequence linking cause and effects.
IUCN
IUCN Best Practice Guidelines
IUCN’s World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA) has a tradition of proposing global guidelines to protected area practitioners. These publications cover various topics, such as protected areas and visitor management, the management of wilderness areas, transboundary conservation, governance and protected areas, ecological restoration and adaptation to climate change. There is also an issue on applying protected area management categories.
Additional information can be found in two PDF’s: “Guidelines for privately protected areas” and “Managing protected areas”.
IUCN Green List for Protected Areas
The IUCN Green List Sustainability Standard is a new global standard for protected and conserved areas. It aims to improve the contribution that equitably governed, and effectively managed protected areas make to sustainable development through the conservation of nature and provision of associated social, economic, cultural, and spiritual values. The Green List is a way of setting a standard for how protected areas could or should be managed. The IUCN green list of protected and conserved areas intends to celebrate successfully protected areas, and help other protected areas lift their standards by showcasing successful examples.
Potential sites for the Green List are assessed against four criteria: good governance, design, effective management and conservation outcomes. The pilot stage of the green list is now complete, and the IUCN is working with park management agencies to assess areas for inclusion.
IUCN Protected Area Management Categories
IUCN protected area management categories classify protected areas according to their management objectives. The categories are recognised by international bodies such as the United Nations and many national governments as the global standard for defining and recording protected areas, and as such are increasingly being incorporated into government legislation. More information on applying these categorisations for management planning can be found here. Also the IUCN Management Categories of Protected Areas provides an introduction to the IUCN Protected Areas Management Categories.
IUCN Guidelines for privately protected areas
The IUCN Guidelines for privately protected areas (2018) address planning and management of privately protected areas. Guidance is given on the establishment of the protected areas, management and reporting. The aim is to improve effectiveness and conservation outcomes. A special focus is given to learning from best practices from around the world and considering how these can be incorporated at site or national levels.
Links to more information
This website is co-funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or CINEA. Neither the European Union nor CINEA can be held responsible for them.
