Supporting country action on the CBD programme of work on protected areas

PoWPA Activity 3.2.1

Complete national protected-area capacity needs assessments, and establish capacity building programs on the basis of these assessments including the creation of curricula, resources and programs for the sustained delivery of protected areas management training.

Many protected areas do not have the human, technical or administrative capacity to adequately support their core management activities. In many instances, protected area managers and their staff also need a new range of skills. These skills vary at each site but often relate to interaction with people, including both indigenous and local communities and also the increasing number of tourists who want to visit protected areas and experience wild nature. To do this, Parties can start by assessing capacity building needs and then establishing capacity building programmes.

The capacity assessment will be a cross-cutting exercise, since capacity encompasses everything from effective and relevant laws and policies to sound management organizations, to the skills of individuals and the empowerment of indigenous and local communities. Moreover, capacity needs will vary according to a country’s level of development and protected area system. At a minimum, though, a national assessment should cover: (1) the legal and policy framework; (2) formal government protected area institutions and their coordination with other sectors; (3) protected area planning and management; (4) public participation and partnerships; (5) public awareness and support; and the needs of diverse stakeholder groups.

Capacity building programs and training courses for decision-makers and protected area managers can be organized in a variety of ways. The preceding capacity and training needs assessment should guide the deployment of the actual training programme. For example, Barbara Pitkin in her book Training Needs and Opportunities Among Protected Area Managers in Eastern, Central and Southern Africa (http://www.worldwildlife.org/bsp/publications/africa/parcs/contents.html) suggests that the preceding needs assessment will be valuable as long as it:

• Assesses skills needed for effective protected area management;
• Assesses present skill levels;
• Determines the types, amount, and frequency of training currently received;
• Assesses training needs;Identifies constraints to adequate and effective training;
• Identifies the institutions and programs presently used for training;
• Identifies potential opportunities for relevant training; and
• Identifies pilot activities to test innovative training methods.

This useful guide further provides a step-by-step approach for deploying a PA capacity building / training programme. Thus, the initial assessment is followed by (1) identification of training priorities, and (2) assessment and selection of institutions which may host the training/capacity building programme.

Based on lessons learned from case studies in developing capacity action plans (Ervin et al., 2007), the following are some guiding principles in developing protected area capacity action plans:

• Build off the results of existing assessments of protected area management effectiveness; 
• Focus on capacities needed to address key management weaknesses, abate critical threats and improve policy constraints as the basis for the action plan; 
• Consider individual and institutional capacities, and, depending on the scope of the assessment and available resources, on societal capacities when developing actions;
• Engage the right actors at the right time; park guards and field level staff can provide one level of input, ministerial staff and policy makers can provide another.  Several meetings may be needed to include different levels of expertise;
• Include multiple actors from different sectors, including, for example, tourism, economic development, land use planning, forestry, fisheries and agriculture;
• Emphasize a self-assessment approach, empowering protected area staff and administrators to identify their own capacity needs and constraints;
• Ensure the support of senior-level management in conducting the capacity assessment and following up with results; and
• Ensure that the capacity action plan is integrated into national budgetary processes in order to increase the likelihood that the plan will be implemented.

Many universities in Europe and the US have permanent vocational training courses for Protected Area managers and staff (for example the Colorado’s State University College of Natural Resources http://conservation.warnercnr.colostate.edu/). Their experience may be valuable for drafting a country’s own training and/or capacity building programme. They may also become partners in developing and launching a training curriculum.