Other brief

IUCN WCPA Technical Note No. 18 Identifying and avoiding environmentally and socially-damaging legal changes to protected areas to improve conservation outcomes

Legal changes that downgrade, downsize, and degazette protected areas (PADDD events) are increasingly common, occurring under a range of contexts and with diverse impacts. Although often damaging, PADDD is actually a neutral descriptor. We suggest the application of key concepts to shape good governance across all related PA decisions, including outlining an approach to distinguish between PADDD events with different levels of risk and impacts on the protected area. We also urge the avoidance of environmentally and socially damaging PADDD events, which have the potential to undermine progress toward Target 3 of the Global Biodiversity Framework. Damaging PADDD events reduce the effectiveness of existing sites, eroding their ability to deliver the full range of potential benefits for biodiversity, climate, and people.