Monteverde cloud forest reserve in Costa Rica
Photo: IUCN Photo Library / © Gillian Eborn
Strong and well-implemented legal frameworks are critical to creating and maintaining effective and sustainable protected areas, which provide fundamental infrastructure for conservation of biological diversity and ecosystem services.
Here we provide a set of educational tools for teaching and learning about protected areas law and governance. The materials are primarily intended as resources for face-to-face instruction. They are designed for use in a wide variety of settings, including training sessions, workshops, university courses and practitioner seminars. The resources are arranged into 12 interactive modules, which cover key legal aspects of management and governance of protected areas and connected landscapes, systems and processes in the terrestrial and marine contexts. Read more about how to use this course.
These materials were developed by a project led by the IUCN Environmental Law Programme. The Environmental Law Programme is made up of the IUCN Environmental Law Centre (ELC) and the World Commission on Environmental Law (WCEL). ELC is an outposted unit of IUCN based in Bonn, Germany. It focuses on conceptual development of the law as well as technical assistance, capacity building, and information dissemination. WCEL is a network of environmental law and policy experts from all regions of the world who volunteer their knowledge and services to IUCN activities.
The project was undertaken in collaboration with the IUCN Academy of Environmental Law, the IUCN Global Protected Areas Programme, the World Commission on Protected Areas, and IUCN regional offices for Eastern and Southern Africa (ESARO), West and Central Africa (PACO), and the Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean (ORMACC). It was generously funded by the Aage V. Jensen Charity Foundation.
The modules were authored by the following team of experts:
- Alexander Paterson (Modules 1-6) and coordinator
- Jamie Benidickson (Modules 7, 12)
- Patti Moore (Modules 8-9)
- Barbara Lausche (Modules 10-11).
The project was managed by Lydia Slobodian (ELC Legal Officer) and Sarah Lucas (ELC Legal Officer) with the support of Li Ning (ELC Programme Officer), Anni Lukacs (ELC Documentation Officer), Ann Devoy (ELC Project Administator), Jil Self (ELC Programme Assistant) and ELC interns Supanut Chotevitayatarakorn, Marcos De Armenteras Cabot and Lorélie Escot. The project was implemented under the overall leadership of Alejandro Iza (ELC Director).
Thanks go to those who have served on the project steering committee:
- Ben Boer (WCEL)
- David Reynolds (GPAP)
- Eduard Muller (WCPA)
- Pedro Rosabal (GPAP)
- Jose Courrau (ORMACC)
- Maria Pia Hernandez (ORMACC)
- Sébastien Regnaut (PACO)
- Christine Mentzel (ESARO)
- Leo Niskanen (ESARO)
Citation: Building Capacity on Protected Areas Law and Governance [Training Modules]. Paterson, Alexander, Barbara Lausche, Jamie Benidickson, and Patti Moore. 2015. Lydia Slobodian (ed.). Gland, Switzerland: IUCN
