Deconstructing Protected Area Governance at IUCN

From 4-5 July, Holly Shrumm (Natural Justice) attended a meeting at the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) headquarters in Gland about a draft resource kit on protected area governance. This kit, which will include a content-focused guide and a training-of-trainers guide, has been under development by partners from the IUCN Secretariat, the IUCN Commission on Environmental, Economic and Social Policy (CEESP), the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA), and the German development cooperation organization (GIZ). It explores a variety of issues including the emergence and realization of the new conservation paradigm since the 2003 World Parks Congress; the Programme of Work on Protected Areas (PoWPA) under the  Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and relevant CBD Decisions; protected areas management types and governance categories; and a compilation of case studies, resources, and tools.

The meeting was intended to bring together different partners who have been involved in the development of the kit to revisit what has been accomplished so far and to chart a way forwards. It is intended to be ready for use in regional PoWPA training workshops in collaboration with the CBD Secretariat in 2012.