Introducing New Guidelines on Geoheritage Conservation in Protected and Conserved Areas

The Cultural Heritage Administration, Republic of Korea, funded the design and publication of the Guidelines on which this paper is based.This paper introduces newly published guidelines on geoheritage conservation in protected and conserved areas within the “IUCN WCPA Best Practice Guidelines” series. It explains the need for the guidelines and outlines the ethical basis of geoheritage values and geoconservation principles as the fundamental framework within which to advance geoheritage conservation. Best practice in establishing and managing protected and conserved areas for geoconservation is described with examples from around the world. Particular emphasis is given to the methodology and practice for dealing with the many threats to geoheritage, highlighting in particular how to improve practice for areas with caves and karst, glacial and periglacial, and volcanic features and processes, and for palaeontology and mineral sites. Guidance to improve education and communication to the public through modern and conventional means is also highlighted as a key stage in delivering effective geoconservation. A request is made to geoconservation experts to continue to share best practice examples of developing methodologies and best practice in management to guide non-experts in their work. Finally, a number of suggestions are made on how geoconservation can be further promoted.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Social Value of Marine and Coastal Protected Areas in England and Wales.

The U.K. government is committed to establishing a coherent network of marine protected areas by 2012 and the recentMarine and Coastal Access Act, 2009 will designate marine conservation zones and provide wider access rights to the coast. To fulfill these goals, this article argues the need for a clearer, shared understanding of the social value of protected areas in creating new designations and managing existing ones. Although marine and coastal environments attract many people and are vitally important in terms of realized and potential social value, the majority of the public in the United Kingdom lacks understanding and awareness regarding them. Combined with this, the social value of marine and coastal protected areas (MCPAs) have been largely ignored relative to conservation and economics, with the latter invariably taking precedence in environmental policymaking. Social value reflects the complex, individual responses that people experience in a given place. Many reasons determine why one area is valued above another, and this research investigates the social value of MCPAs from a practitioner’s perspective through a series of interviews. Understanding why we “socially” value MCPAs will ultimately equip managers with an informed understanding of these spaces, influence management decisions, and, potentially, policymaking. This article defines social value in the context of MCPAs in England and Wales from a practitioner perspective, explores key concepts, and suggests possible improvements in decision-making

Governance challenges in scaling up from individual MPAs to MPA networks

International audience1. With the drive for greater numbers and areas of MPAs to be put in place to meet national and international targets, challenges have emerged in both the establishment and development of sustainable governance of the networks of sites that are emerging. 2. Using 12 presentations given in a workshop on Improving participation for better governance of MPAs' at the 3(rd) International Marine Protected Areas Congress in October 2013, this paper reviews a range of top-down, bottom-up and collaborative approaches to governance, looking at all phases in the process from design of an MPA network to its implementation, as well as considering individual MPAs. 3. Designation of MPA networks requires significant investment of resources to engage local stakeholders in discussions over potential site location and management measures. 4. Scaling-up from individual MPAs to networks of MPAs will often also require a scaling-up of governance approaches, including top-down approaches. 5. Balancing the need to provide for the participation of local users in each constituent MPA with the need to address a variety of challenges, whilst achieving wider-scale objectives through the inclusion of top-down governance approaches is an important but neglected challenge in discussions concerning MPA networks. 6. These case studies indicate that there are various ways in which this challenge can be addressed in different contexts and point to potential good practice' for other MPAs in similar scenarios