Luigi Boitani and Carlo Rondinini are at the Department of Animal and Human Biology, University of Rome “La Sapienza”, Rome, Italy. Richard Cowling is at the Department of Botany, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, Port Elizabeth, Eastern Cape, South Africa. Holly T. Dublin is at the Species Survival Commission, International Union for Conservation of Nature, Office of the Chair, Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa. Georgina M. Mace is at the Centre for Population Biology, Imperial College London, Silwood Park, United Kingdom. Jeff Parrish is at the Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences, Manomet, Massachusetts, United States of America. Hugh P. Possingham, Robert L. Pressey, and Kerrie A. Wilson are at the Ecology Centre, the University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. Robert Pressey is also at the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland, Australia, and Kerrie Wilson is also at the Nature Conservancy, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
Current classifications of IUCN protected areas are based on management objectives. Fully revising the category system to reflect each category's contributions to biodiversity would greatly enhance their value as effective tools for conserving biodiversity.
In 1872, United States President Ulysses Grant set aside 2.2 million acres of wilderness, primarily for recreational purposes, as the first formally recognized protected area (PA)—Yellowstone National Park. The concept took hold slowly over the next hundred years, and PAs are now recognized as essential to biodiversity conservation [
Despite this recognition of biodiversity's prime significance, when the IUCN established the classification system for PAs (
Ia: Strict Nature Reserve: managed mainly for science
Ib: Wilderness Area: managed mainly for wilderness protection
II: National Park: managed mainly for ecosystem protection and recreation
III: Natural Monument: managed mainly for conservation of specific natural features
IV: Habitat/Species Management Area: managed mainly for conservation through management intervention
V: Protected Landscape/Seascape: managed mainly for landscape/seascape protection and recreation
VI: Managed Resource Protected Area: managed mainly for the sustainable use of natural ecosystems
The category system was established to reduce the confusion that had arisen from the adoption of many different terms to describe different kinds of PAs, to provide international standards for global and regional accounting and comparisons, and to provide a framework for collecting, handling, and disseminating data about PAs [
For example, the priority management objectives for category V (“preservation of species and genetic diversity”) and category IV (“maintenance of environmental services”) are aimed at preserving species. However, without explicitly identifying the biodiversity elements or processes to be preserved and the outcomes to be measured—for example, which species or vegetation types are to be conserved, the improvement in viability of an endangered population to be achieved, the trend in community composition proposed, or the nature of ecosystem processes to be maintained—these objectives remain imprecise, the necessary management activities difficult to define, and the outcomes not amenable to quantitative review. Furthermore, under the current IUCN categories of PAs, Yellowstone National Park falls into category II, and presumably its primary management objectives are, among others available in the list for category II, the following: (a) to protect natural and scenic areas for spiritual, scientific, recreational, and tourist purposes; (b) to perpetuate, in as natural a state as possible, representative examples of biotic communities and species; and (c) to manage visitor use for inspirational, educational, and recreational purposes. Under a new category system based on the contribution of a PA to the conservation of biodiversity, Yellowstone National Park would be ranked (among other criteria) according to the objectives of maintaining self-sustaining populations of the endangered grizzly bear and wolf, and maintaining the natural dynamics of the entire guilds of native carnivores and herbivores.
The limitations of the current category system have become ever more apparent as PAs have assumed greater importance in biodiversity conservation and as the system has been applied beyond its original purpose and capabilities. Of particular concern is the extent to which the system is now adopted to provide baseline information in broad, systematic conservation planning assessments. For example, a PA's contributions to biodiversity conservation objectives are judged based on its category, with “higher” categories (e.g., 1–4) considered to be superior for purposes of biodiversity conservation (e.g., [
This issue has not gone unrecognized. The IUCN recently issued a report [
Fully revising the category system to reflect each category's contributions to biodiversity would add enormously to the value of PAs as effective conservation tools. Such a redesign would reduce the subjectivity of current classifications in favor of more objective criteria, appropriately based upon definable biological components. The categories should be based around conservation objectives concerning the species, communities, or processes that are to be maintained or restored—including, for example, viability of populations or set of habitat types to be maintained—so that progress and successes can then be monitored and recorded. Toward that end, PAs should be defined using criteria that include any measurable aspects of the particular biodiversity features that are the primary reason for protecting that area in the first place (
Biodiversity includes the diversity and abundance of genes, species, communities, ecosystems, and landscapes, and the ecological processes that link all elements in a dynamic state and deliver ecosystem functions and services. Species and habitat types stand out as the most frequent elements of biodiversity targeted for conservation action [
We recommend modifying and strengthening the current category system in the following ways:
The goals and objectives of a PA should be stated in terms of explicit and measurable outcomes that reflect the ecological and related social attributes to be conserved (e.g., the restoration and/or maintenance of a viable population of a critically endangered species, or the maintenance of the condition of the largest remnant of a particular habitat type). This adjustment will allow the contributions of PAs to real outcomes to be monitored and more effectively evaluated [
Systematic conservation planning has become the modus operandi of planning and designing PA systems, and a classification system for PAs that was explicit about conservation objectives for individual PAs or networks would vastly improve the information base for conservation assessment and planning. For example, questions such as the following could be addressed routinely:
What is a system of PAs expected to achieve in terms of conservation? What type of PA (or network of PAs) is required to protect specific biodiversity features, including necessary management actions? What attributes should be monitored to evaluate the effectiveness of a PA, given its objectives and its ability to counteract threats to achieve these objectives
The revision of the IUCN category system will be a key topic at the 4th World Conservation Congress (October 2008) and at several other meetings on PAs organized in 2008 under the umbrella of the Convention on Biological Diversity. Therefore, the opportunity now presents itself to initiate the process of shifting the focus of the categories from management intent to conservation outcomes, thus making them fully operational tools in biodiversity conservation.
Developing a new system for PA categories will not be an easy task. PAs are not simply technical tools for conservation—they are value-laden institutions that are deeply rooted in national policies and international agreements. Opening the discussion on a well-established system that is universally adopted is a serious decision, not to be taken lightly. In addition to the benefits we have listed, there will also be costs. Changing the current system might prove costly and painful not only for IUCN, but also for the international conservation community. The transition from one system to another will require dedicated efforts. A change of the category system might prove particularly challenging for developing countries that lack the technical and economic resources to apply techniques of conservation planning, enforce goals related to conservation outcomes, and implement biodiversity monitoring programs. Developed countries and international organizations must be prepared to support the transition with skills and resources where necessary.
Without doubt, the current system is easier to apply than the alternative we propose, and might, therefore, be strongly defended by countries that find it easy to apply and have invested deeply in it. However, IUCN has the right and responsibility to manage the PA category system and, if necessary, to change it. IUCN has a track record for applying the best scientific theory and practice to conservation issues. We urge IUCN to consider the benefits of an extensive review of the PA categories based on the best current approaches to ecology and systematic conservation planning. We recommend that IUCN initiate the process (through an appropriate resolution of the forthcoming World Conservation Congress in 2008) by empowering a group of technical and institutional experts to draft a preliminary set of categories, describing their rationale and likely advantages, for consideration and refinement by the IUCN constituency and beyond.
International Union for the Conservation of Nature
protected area