This report, the fourth in the WWF Arguments for Protection Series, uses new tools (see details of the Benefits Assessment Tool below) to analyse the links between protected areas and poverty reduction. Efforts to align protected areas and poverty reduction have continued for some time and have a mixed history; while some social programmes associated with protected areas have worked well there have also been plenty of failures. The report aims to give a balanced overview of what is happening around the world and of what appears to work and what does not.