The Online Benefit Monitor

www.benefit-monitor.eu

Values and benefits of protected areas

Depending on the type of protected areas, their location and specific natural background, they:

• are important tools for the conservation of biodiversity (genetic, species, ecosystem including agrobiodiversity);
• offer many environmental services, e.g. protected areas provide clear water and fresh air, avoid land degradation and extenuate weather events such as floods or droughts;
• can mitigate impacts and other effects related to climate change, e.g. as a buffer for nature, as safe havens that native species need to retain their natural resilience, as “refugia” (places) where favourable habitat will persist or develop as the climate changes;
• provide quietness & tranqillity

The main benefits of protected areas are that they provide a basis for:

• Recreation
• Health and well-being, quality of lifeQuality of life
• Environmental education
• Sustainable tourism and transport
• Sustainable landuse (agriculture, forestry, fishery, hunting)
• Sustainable development of rural areas
• Regional and national identity (preserving traditions & social cohesion, dialects)
• Regional marketing
• Integrated regional development (including economic impacts)
• Employment (including economic impacts)

Main target groups for communicating values and benefits of protected areas:

• Visitors
• Politicians
• Inhabitants
• Businesses
• Scientists
• others

For further information, please read the outcomes of the Communicating values and benefits Workshop held in April 2009 at the international Academy for Nature Conservation on the island of Vilm, Germany.