Glossary:

Capacity: The degree to which staffing, competencies, structures, processes, resources, laws and policies enable the establishment and effective management of a protected area site or system

Ecological gap assessment: An analysis of the extent to which species, natural communities, ecological systems and the ecological processes that sustain them are represented in a protected area network.

Evolutionary potential: The degree to which a species or associated species is likely to be able to continue to evolve and adapt to environmental changes over long periods of time.

Focal biodiversity feature: An element of biodiversity (e.g., species, natural community, ecological system) that conservation planners can use to represent a broader suite of biodiversity elements.

Irreplaceability: The degree to which a biodiversity feature is redundant and can be substituted within a broad planning area, such as an ecoregion or country.

Other conserved areas: Areas that provide substantial benefits to biodiversity conservation, but do not have permanent legal designation as a protected area.

Protected area designation: The assignation of a management type or category, such as National Park, to a protected area.

Protected area gap assessment: A broad assessment of the ecological, management, designation, capacity, effectiveness, policy and financial gaps within a protected area system.

Protected area governance: The configuration of governmental and non-governmental actors, structures and policies that determine how decisions about protected areas are made.

Protected area management effectiveness: The extent to which protected areas have the elements in place to protect the values for which the protected area was established.

Protected area system master plan: A comprehensive strategic plan for a protected area system that typically includes a vision, the results of protected area assessments, and specific plans to improve the protected area network, management effectiveness, and enabling conditions.

Protected area monitoring: The observation of changes over time within a protected area site or system in order to improve biodiversity conservation, including both status and trend monitoring and effectiveness monitoring.

Protected area network: The physical lands and waters that are legally designated as protected areas within a given country or region.

Protected area system: A system comprised of an ecological network of protected areas, and the management structures, processes, resources and policies that sustain them within a country or region.

Protected area: The IUCN defines a protected area as an area of land and/or sea especially dedicated to the protection and maintenance of biological diversity, and of natural and associated cultural resources, and managed through legal or other effective means.

Resilience: The capacity of an ecological system to recover from disturbance.

Viability: The degree to which a species or ecosystem is likely to persist over time, given its current condition and threat status.