Abstract:

Establishment of protected areas is one of the most important approaches for biodiversity conservation. Assessment of management effectiveness of protected areas is critical to understand the management situation, to improve the management level, and to achieve the management targets. Based on the World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA) of IUCN framework for assessing management effectiveness of protected areas and protected area systems, specific assessment methodologies have been developed and implemented in many countries according to their own situations. The assessment methodologies are generally generalized into four types, including in-depth evidence-based assessments, comprehensive system-wide peer-based assessments, rapid expert-based scorecard, and categorical assumption-based assessments. In the present paper, we compare the four types in terms of application scales, targets, objectives, assessment forms, advantages, disadvantages and adaptable situations. Eight categories of methodologies are summarized in terms of the assessment indicators and current application status. On the basis of this analysis, applications and problems of the assessment methodologies in China are further discussed and a proper assessment indicator system is proposed.

Key words: protected area, management effectiveness, assessment framework, assessment methodology, assessment indicator, tracking tool