ASSESSING AND ABATING KEY THREATS

What is a protected area threat assessment?

A protected area threat is defined as any human activity or related process that has a negative impact on key biodiversity features, ecological processes or cultural assets within protected areas.  There are three types of protected area threat assessments:  a broad assessment of threats across a landscape, a system-wide analysis of threats within the protected area network, and a site-level threat assessment within a protected area. 

What steps are involved in assessing protected area threats?

A protected area threat assessment generally includes the following steps (Ervin and Parrish, 2006):

• Assess the biological status of key biodiversity features, including the distribution and viability of species, natural communities and ecological systems.  

• Map the distribution and intensity of threats and their impacts on focal biodiversity features.  Threats may occur solely or partially within a protected area, or they may occur entirely outside park boundaries (e.g., an upstream dam).  Planners typically use a gradient (e.g., from nil to very high, or 0 to 1) to express the relative intensity of threats.

• Map the distribution and intensity of future threats.  Planners can forecast the trend for many threats using predictive modeling, risk assessments, scenario development and vulnerability analyses (e.g., identifying areas of future mining using existing geological data, and areas of future logging using forest inventory data).

• Analyze the results of the threat assessment.  Planners should consider analyzing the underlying root causes of threats by developing clear conceptual models that show complex relationships and linkages (see for example Stedman-Edwards, 2000).  They should also analyze the cumulative impacts of multiple threats and their complex interactions.

• Prioritize threats based on their overall contribution to the loss of biodiversity, as well as the feasibility of developing threat abatement strategies.

• Develop an action plan for threat prevention and abatement, including a detailed list of strategies for abating key threats, a timeline, responsible actors, costs, and indicators for success.  

• Monitor changes in the status and trends of protected area threats.  Perhaps more than any other component of protected area management, threat abatement requires robust indicators and adaptive management planning.    

What are the different types and scales of protected area threat assessments?

Ideally, a threat assessment includes all three types of threat assessments.  These different approaches operate at different scales, use different tools, technologies and types of data, ask different questions, and yield different results. 

A broad threat assessment (see for example Kramer and Kramer, 2002) relies on remotely-sensed data and GIS software, and focuses on the distribution, patterns and trends of multiple threats across a large geographic area.  This type of assessment allows planners to detect major constraints to the establishment and management of protected areas, such as road networks, mining, dams, land use patters and population densities.  The purpose of this type of threat assessment is to contribute to ecological gap assessments, identify opportunities for expanding and/or restoring the protected area network, and developing broad conservation strategies.

A system-level threat assessment (see for example Goodman, 2003) focuses on threats that have a direct bearing on biodiversity across a protected area system.  This type of assessment generally relies on a mix of remotely sensed data, field level data and expert opinion.  The purpose of a system-wide threat assessment is to identify the relative severity of threats across the entire system, typically as part of a mangement effectiveness assessment, and to develop system-level policies and plan to prevent and abate key threats.

A site-level threat assessment (see for example Margoluis and Salafsky, 2001) uses field-level data and expert opinion to determine the degree of impact on a suite of biodiversity features within a protected area.  The general purpose of a site-level threat assessment is to develop specific threat abatement strategies, to monitor threat status and trends, and to measure the effectiveness of management actions.

What are the most common protected area threats?

Based on the results of protected area threat assessments across multiple protected area sites and systems (Dudley et al., 2007; Ervin, 2003a), the following are the most common protected area threats: 1) global climate change; 2) invasive species; 3) over-harvesting of biological resources; 4) infrastructure for energy and transportation; 5) inappropriate resource management policies; 6) unregulated tourism and recreation; 7) encroachment and development.

Resources and references on protected area threats