Integrating protected areas into climate planning

This paper argues for the need to make protected areas more directly relevant in the light of climate change. This includes the contribution of protected areas towards sustainable livelihoods, the provision of ecosystem services, and ensuring climate mitigation, resilience, and adaptation. The author advocates for mainstreaming protected area planning into sectors such as transportation and energy, reviewing the economic importance of protected areas while addressing climate-related concerns, and ensuring that protected areas form an integral part of climate adaptation efforts. The paper gives guidelines on ensuring that climate change issues and concerns incorporate the future of protected areas. These guidelines depend on:

the location of the protected areas
their management
their ability to directly incorporate and maximise climate change mitigation, resilience, and adaptation

It is emphasised that despite trade-offs between biodiversity conservation (the original mandate of protected area creation) and management for climate change; protected areas provide considerable social, economic, and ecological benefits that make them a natural and cost-effective investment for mitigating climate change. The paper highlights the fact that the management of protected areas can be optimised to maximise the benefits that they provide to adaptation, mitigation, and resilience building.