Governance, equity and the green list: developing a multi-stakeholder and participatory governance assessment methodology for protected areas

Governance of PAs and associated development activities is about who defines the overall objectives and how, and the allocation of responsibility and accountability for delivering on these objectives. An important distinction should be made between PA governance type and PA governance quality (commonly referred to as good governance). PA governance type concerns who has the legal authority to govern the PA, and there are four main types:• Governance by government, Shared governance by two or more actors working in collaboration, Private governance by private organisations or individuals, Community governance by Indigenous Peoples and/or local communities. Governance quality is typically described by principles. IIED have condensed IUCN’s 40 key considerations on good governance (as detailed in Governance of Protected Areas: From understanding to action) to 11 good governance principles that are relevant to site-level governance assessment. The IIED good governance principles were presented to attendees alongside IUCN’s five broad good governance principles...Equity is a core issue for PA management and governance both in terms of the ethics of conservation and in terms of the effectiveness and sustainability of conservation outcomes. Equity has three distinct dimensions – recognition, procedure, and the distribution of benefits and costs and their ultimate impact on human well-being (social impacts). A social impact (of a protected area and associated conservation and development activities) is a good or bad thing that in some way affects human well-being. A positive social impact is a benefit, while a negative social impact is cost, burden or harm from the PA and associated development activities.