The guide – the Protected Area Benefits Assessment Tool Plus (PA-BAT+) – is a revised and expanded version of the original PA-BAT, first published in 2007. It draws on over a decade of practical experience in applying the tool; the ‘+’ here indicating the level of technical guidance provided for using the PA-BAT in a participatory process amongst a wide range of rights-holders and stakeholders.* 

The tool looks at legal resource use in ways that do not undermine conservation, and which can provide subsistence/non-economic and economic benefits. The PA-BAT+ can contribute to the Convention on Biological Diversity’s approach to equity and effective governance by providing a procedure which helps recognize stakeholders’ perceptions of use and benefits from a protected area which can result in better information on, and planning for, distribution of benefits. 

Experience shows that many protected area managers are unaware of the numerous benefits that their protected area provides, or could provide sustainably, to local and more distant communities. Applying the PA-BAT+, in one day assessment workshops, is often the first-time protected area staff discuss these issues with people living in and around the area. Results can help revise management objectives so as to meet a wider range of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) relating to issues like food and water security, disaster risk reduction and mitigation of climate change, build more sustainable subsistence and economic opportunities for local stakeholders, and help to achieve better community relations and hence better conservation.

The PA-BAT+ aims to collate and assess information about the overall benefits from conservation and protection in protected areas. It can also be used in other area-based conservation sites including Other Effective Areas Based Conservation Measures (OECMs). The guide provides a quick overview of why understanding the benefits from protected areas is important, and a detailed guide to using the PA-BAT+, then explains how to understand and use the results. Seven case studies outline different uses and adaptations of the tool in Croatia, Colombia, Turkey, Myanmar, USA and Ethiopia, as well as describing the use of the tool across natural World Heritage sites.

The upheavals of 2020 show very clearly that protected areas need to integrate effectively and harmoniously into the wider landscape and seascape if they are to survive through what are likely to be an unsettled few decades. We hope this tool will be a valuable contribution to the process.

      Photo: IUCN and WCPA

*The original PA-BAT remains available and is still useful for use with more detailed, expert-driven assessments.