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Projects

What is a protected area?

The IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) defines a protected area as:

"A clearly defined geographical space, recognised, dedicated and managed, through legal or other effective means, to achieve the long-term conservation of nature with associated ecosystem services and cultural values". 

The first draft of this definition appeared in 2007, and it has since been subjected to several reviews and amendments by many experts within the IUCN and World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA). It was accepted in its final version at the World Conservation Congress in Barcelona in October 2008. In the IUCN's Guidelines for Protected Area Management Categories, the definition is provided with detailed explanations, as listed in the table below:

PHRASE EXPLANATION (IUCN, 2008)
clearly defined geographical space

Includes land, inland water, marine and coastal areas or a combination of two or more of these. "Space" has three dimensions, e.g., as when the airspace above a protected area is protected from low-flying aircraft or in marine protected areas when a certain water depth is protected or the seabed is protected but water above is not: conversely subsurface areas sometimes are not protected (e.g., are open for mining). "Clearly defined" implies a spatially defined area with agreed and demarcated borders. These borders can sometimes be defined by physical features that move over time (e.g., river banks) or by management actions (e.g., agreed no-take zones).
recognized Implies that protection can include a range of governance types declared by people as well as those identified by the state, but that such sites should be recognised in some way (in particular through listing on the World Database on Protected Areas - WDPA).
dedicated

Implies specific binding commitment to conservation in the long term, through:

● International conventions and agreements

● National, provincial and local law

● Customary lawImplies that protection can include a range of governance types declared by people as well as those identified by the state, but that such sites should be recognised in some way (in particular through listing on the World Database on Protected Areas - WDPA).

● Covenants of NGOs

● Private trusts and company policies

● Certification schemes.
managed Assumes some active steps to conserve the natural (and possibly other) values for which the protected area was established; note that "managed" can include a decision to leave the area untouched if this is the best conservation strategy.
legal or other effective means Means that protected areas must either be gazetted (that is, recognised under statutory civil law), recognised through an international convention or agreement, or else managed through other effective but non-gazetted means, such as through recognised traditional rules under which community conserved areas operate or the policies of established non-governmental organizations.
... to achieve  Implies some level of effectiveness - a new element that was not present in the 1994 definition but which has been strongly requested by many protected area managers and others. Although the category will still be determined by objective, management effectiveness will progressively be recorded on the World Database on Protected Areas and over time will become an important contributory criterion in identification and recognition of protected areas.
long-term Protected areas should be managed in perpetuity and not as a short-term or temporary management strategy.
conservation  In the context of this definition conservation refers to the in-situ maintenance of ecosystems and natural and semi-natural habitats and of viable populations of species in their natural surroundings and, in the case of domesticated or cultivated species (see definition of agrobiodiversity in the Appendix), in the surroundings where they have developed their distinctive properties.
nature In this context nature always refers to biodiversity, at genetic, species and ecosystem level, and often also refers to geodiversity, landform and broader natural values.
associated ecosystem services Means here ecosystem services that are related to but do not interfere with the aim of nature conservation. These can include provisioning services such as food and water; regulating services such as regulation of floods, drought, land degradation, and disease; supporting services such as soil formation and nutrient cycling; and cultural services such as recreational, spiritual, religious and other non-material benefits.
cultural values

Includes those that do not interfere with the conservation outcome (all cultural values in a protected area should meet this criterion), including in particular:

●  those that contribute to conservation outcomes (e.g., traditional management practices on which key species have become reliant);

● those that are themselves under threat

Bibliography:

Dudley, N (ed.) 2008. Guidelines for Applying Protected Area Management Categories, IUCN, Gland, Switzerland.

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