Protected Areas Benefits Assessment Tool + (PA-BAT+): A tool to assess local stakeholder perceptions of the flow of benefits from protected areas

Abstract

IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA) IUCN's World Commission on Protected Areas is the world's premier network of protected area expertise. It is administered by IUCN's Programme on Protected Areas and has over 2,500 members, spanning 140 countries. WCPA helps governments and others plan protected areas and integrate them into all sectors by providing strategic advice to policymakers; by strengthening capacity and investment in protected areas; and by convening the diverse constituency of protected area stakeholders to address challenging issues. For more than 60 years, IUCN and WCPA have been at the forefront of global action on protected areas. The Best Practice Guidelines series is one of the Commission's flagship products, providing timely guidance on all aspects of protected area planning, management and assessment. www.iucn.org/wcpa Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) Opened for signature at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, and entered into force in December 1993, the Convention on Biological Diversity is an international treaty for the conservation of biodiversity, the sustainable use of the components of biodiversity and the equitable sharing of the benefits derived from the use of genetic resources. With 196 Parties so far, the Convention has near universal participation among countries. www.cbd.int WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature) WWF has been a leading voice for nature for more than half a century, working in 100 countries on six continents with the help of over five million supporters. Keen to ensure a positive future for the world's wildlife, rivers, forests and seas, WWF is pushing for a reduction in carbon emissions that will avoid catastrophic climate change and pressing for measures to help people live sustainably, within the boundaries of one planet. The work of WWF is founded on science, with a precise mission-to create a world where people live in harmony with nature. wwf.panda.org Equilibrium Research Equilibrium Research offers practical solutions to conservation challenges, from concept, to implementation and evaluation of impact. With partners ranging from local communities to UN agencies across the world, Equilibrium explores and develops approaches to natural resource management that Protected Areas Benefits Assessment Tool + (PA-BAT+) | v Contents

Applicability of the PA-BAT+ in the evaluation of values of urban protected areas

“…To assess non-economic, economic, potentially noneconomic, and potentially economic values research was conducted using the PA-BAT + methodology (Ivanić et al, 2020). The assessment of the value of PAs was performed collected the data by questionnaires for five groups of stakeholders: local population; public sector (managers); government; civil society organizations (CSO); scientists/ experts.…”

“…Mapping the values of PAs, greater participation of decision-makers, and finally changes in public policies and the development of economic models that include natural resources in their development plans are significant but also long-term processes (Trzyna, 2014;Cumming, 2016;Ten Brink et al, 2016;Chen et al, 2020). IUCN has established the Protected Areas Benefits Assessment Tool+ (PA-BAT+) (Ivanić et al, 2020), which provides initial information on how different stakeholders view the current state and potential values of PAs, which can help integrate natural resources and services provided by ecosystems in development plans. Such a tool makes it possible to identify the main factors relevant to the PAs and the country's development policy, the flow of economic benefits, and the need for strategies that will enable the return of income to local people and PAs.…”

Understanding Public Support for European Protected Areas: A Review of the Literature and Proposing a New Approach for Policy Makers

“…Jones et al [23] identified six categories of social impacts that can help in this direction. However, no widely accepted tool for social impact assessment currently exists, apart from some preliminary attempts including the PA-BAT tool [115] and SAPA [116]. The categories identified in Section 3.2 provide a detailed review of the different impacts that need to be included in an in-depth assessment.…”

An Outcome-Oriented, Social–Ecological Framework for Assessing Protected Area Effectiveness

“…Although many tools and approaches for assessing NCP have been proposed (e.g., measuring biological carbon storage and sequestration, crop pollination), indicators derived from such assessments have rarely been included in protected area effectiveness evaluations. Encouragingly, the new IUCN Protected Area Benefits Assessment Tool+ (PA-BAT+) aims at collating and assessing information on local stakeholders’ perceptions on the benefits of protected areas (Ivanić et al 2020 ), which could complement quantitative approaches in assessing NCP. However, following the NCP concept, PA-BAT+ should furthermore, expand to also entail the negative impacts of protected areas on local stakeholders.…”