2 October 2013: The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has published a revised version of its ‘Guidelines for Applying Protected Area Management Categories,’ which is meant to support the consistency of reporting by international bodies and national governments on protected areas across a variety of indicators.

According to the IUCN, the Guidelines are a benchmark for defining, recording and classifying protected areas worldwide. In this reprint of the 2008 categories, there is a new section on ‘Recognizing Protected Areas and Assigning Management Categories and Governance Types,’ drawing on global best practices and extensive consultations. The guidelines also include an assessment of the effectiveness of IUCN categories, an overview of international conservation initiatives, and consideration of special applications of the guidelines to different ecosystems. [IUCN News Release] [Publication: Guidelines for Applying Protected Area Management Categories]