Protected Areas Law Capacity Development
Strong and well-implemented legal frameworks are critical to creating and maintaining effective and sustainable protected areas, which provide fundamental infrastructure for conservation of biological diversity and ecosystem services.
This IUCN site provides a set of educational tools for teaching and learning about protected areas law and governance. The materials are primarily intended as resources for face-to-face instruction. They are designed for use in a wide variety of settings, including training sessions, workshops, university courses and practitioner seminars. The resources are arranged into 12 interactive modules, which cover key legal aspects of management and governance of protected areas and connected landscapes, systems and processes in the terrestrial and marine contexts. The materials together constitute a complete course, but can also be used as stand-alone modules covering different aspects of protected areas law, from management to governance to MPAs to connectivity.
These materials were developed by a project led by the IUCN Environmental Law Programme. The Environmental Law Programme is made up of the IUCN Environmental Law Centre (ELC) and the World Commission on Environmental Law (WCEL). ELC is an outposted unit of IUCN based in Bonn, Germany. It focuses on conceptual development of the law as well as technical assistance, capacity building, and information dissemination. WCEL is a network of environmental law and policy experts from all regions of the world who volunteer their knowledge and services to IUCN activities.
