Reducing disease risks in protected areas: New toolkit launched to safeguard human, wildlife and ecosystem health

Grounded in expert consensus and informed by real-world testing, the MAP–ACT–CREATE for One Health toolkit is presented in the new publication “Assessing and reducing infectious disease risks in protected and conserved areas”. The toolkit was developed by the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA) Task Force on Protected Areas and One Health, an international group of 21 experts in health and conservation, and tested with protected area managers on the ground, combining scientific rigour with practical relevance and applicability.  

“Recognised as a transformational area in IUCN’s 20-Year Strategic Vision, One Health is an emerging priority in the management of protected and conserved sites – a need made especially clear by the impact of pandemics such as High Pathogenicity Avian Influenza, Ebola and HIV on both humans and wildlife,” said Dr. Madhu Rao, IUCN WCPA Chair. “We hope this new toolkit helps the conservation sector take a further step in building long-term partnerships with the public health sector”.

One Health – an approach that optimises the health of people, animals and ecosystems by recognising and addressing the links between them – has increasingly shaped scientific research and international policies. Its importance has been increasingly emphasised in the context of preventing pandemics, pathogen spillover and other human health issues arising from ecotourism, hunting, collecting or consuming wildlife. However, interpretations of the concept have focused primarily on risks to humans, often overlooking implications for biodiversity.

An example is the transmission of human diseases to apes through close contact during ecotourism or research activities, sometimes resulting in ape mortality. Domestic animals such as cats, dogs and livestock can also transmit parasites and diseases, including rabies and respiratory viruses, to wildlife. These interactions are particularly evident in and around protected and conserved areas, where complex interfaces exist among wildlife, human populations and domestic species.  

“Most protected area managers have never conducted formal or informal infectious disease risk assessments due to lack of expertise, time and resources. This new toolkit responds directly to their needs, allowing a rapid assessment of priority diseases in under 20 minutes”, said Dr. Skylar Hopkins, one of the editors of the publication and Chair of the IUCN WCPA Protected Areas and One Health Task Force. “It offers a robust yet flexible framework, enabling managers to tailor infectious disease risk-reduction strategies to their specific ecological, social and cultural contexts”.

The toolkit is structured around three main pillars: mapping and assessing infectious disease risks (MAP), analysing and controlling transmission (ACT) and building long-term One Health capacity (CREATE). The CREATE component helps managers identify strengths and priorities across eight interconnected categories: equitable governance, interface management, competency development, enforcement, ecological integrity, monitoring, outbreak preparedness and affordable healthcare access.  

Overall, the toolkit is designed to help protected and conserved area managers systematically evaluate, document and improve health-related benefits provided by these sites. In particular, it supports the identification and strengthening of ecological countermeasures that can prevent or reduce the spread of infectious diseases.

To learn more, download the publication here.

Hopkins, S.R & Olson, S.H. (Eds.) (2026). Assessing and Reducing Infectious Disease Risks in Protected and Conserved Areas: the MAP–ACT–CREATE for One Health Toolkit. IUCN WCPA Technical Report, No.11. IUCN; Joint publisher.