European Study on Management Effectiveness

A European Study on protected area management effectiveness assessments was carried out between May 2009 and March 2010, to provide an overview of existing studies, evaluation methods and results. This study was initiated in response to the Global Study’s insufficient coverage of the European sub-region, and as protected area governance in Europe has distinct characteristics that justified a separate analysis. The study was led by the Universities of Greifswald and Queensland, in partnership with UNEP-WCMC, EUROPARC Federation and the German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN). The three key objectives of the study were:

Objective I: Generate a comprehensive and systematic overview of existing studies, evaluation methods and key indicators used in Europe

Objective II: Synthesize results of European management effectiveness evaluations with respect to the overall management effectiveness, strengths and weaknesses, threats and recommendations

Objective III: Generate recommendations for best practice in European management effectiveness evaluation

Results

The European Study analyzed 1,846 management effectiveness evaluations in Europe and found that the large majority of countries in Europe have assessed the management effectiveness of at least some of their protected areas within the last ten years. A third of the European countries are expected to reach the CBD target of assessing 30% of the area of their terrestrial protected areas by 2010. Of the 40 evaluation methods documented by the study, 31 were found to be only used in Europe. The average overall management effectiveness in Europe was 0.56 (on a zero-to-one scale, where one equates with fully effective management), slightly higher than the average of 0.53 from the Global Study. A number of recommendations were made, with key ones being that support be given to set up evaluation systems in the one quarter of European countries that have not yet implemented systematic management effectiveness evaluations, that evaluations are incorporated into management and governance systems and are made more transparent, and that experiences should be shared to provide mutual learning.

Protected Area Management Effectiveness Assessments in Europe: A review of application, methods and results

Protected Area Management Effectiveness Assessments in Europe: Supplementary Report

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