Towards equitably managed protected areas: A review of synergies between Protected Area Management Effectiveness and social and governance assessment

Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) have agreed that by 2020 at least 17 per cent of terrestrial and inland water and 10 per cent of coastal and marine areas should be conserved through “effectively and equitably managed, ecologically representative and well connected systems of Protected Areas and other effective area-based conservation measures”. The effectiveness of protected areas has been subject to measurement and assessment for the last decade and a wide range of Protected Area Management Effectiveness (PAME) tools and methods have been developed. However, there is no equivalent means of measuring progress towards the goal of equitable management. Is PAME enough? Should social and governance issues be better incorporated into existing PAME processes? Or do we need stand-alone additional assessments if we really are to get to grips with equity?