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| Protected area coverage has reached over 15% of the global land area. However, the quality of management of the
vast majority of reserves remains unknown, and many are suspected to be “paper parks”.Moreover, the degree to
which management can be enhanced through targeted conservation projects remains broadly speculative.
Proven links between improved reserve management and the delivery of conservation outcomes are even
more elusive. In this paper we present results on how management effectiveness scores change in protected
areas receiving conservation investment, using a globally expanded database of protected area management effectiveness,
focusing on the “management effectiveness tracking tool” (METT). Of 1934 protected areas with
METT data, 722 sites have at least two assessments. MeanMETT scores increased in 69.5% of siteswhile 25.1% experienced
decreases and 5.4% experienced no change over project periods (median 4 years). Low initial METT
scores and longer implementation time were both found to positively correlate with larger increases in management
effectiveness. Performance metrics related to planning and context aswell as monitoring and enforcement
systems increased the most while protected area outcomes showed least improvement. Using a general linear
mixed model we tested the correlation between change in METT scores and matrices of 1) landscape and
protected area properties (i.e. topography and size), 2) human threats (i.e. road and human population density),
and 3) socio-economics (i.e. infant mortality rate). Protected areas under greater threat and larger protected
areas showed greatest improvements in METT. Our results suggest that when funding and resources are targeted
at protected areas under greater threat they have a greater impact, potentially including slowing the loss of
biodiversity | |
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