Protected Areas and Sustainable Development

 Languages: English
 Estimated effort: 4 hours/all course requirements
 Course type: Self-paced e-learning module
Partners: UNDP, CBD, NBSAP Forum,TNC

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Protected areas are the largest deliberate land use in the world; they are found in virtually every country and on every continent. Although protected areas focus on nature conservation, most also supply a range of ecosystem services with social, cultural, and economic benefits that are essential to sustainable development. This module discusses how ecosystem services can best be incorporated into protected area management, and in so doing contribute to sustainable development. The lessons will improve your knowledge of the links between managing protected areas for biodiversity conservation and for ecosystem services. The module is designed for protected area managers, conservation practitioners, and conservation policymakers.

Learner Objectives:

After successfully completing this course, you will be able to:

• Understand different types of ecosystem services supported by protected areas.
• Understand the core principles of protected area management for ecosystem services.
• Observe the relationship between protected areas and food and water security, disaster risk reduction, health, climate change, jobs, livelihoods, and poverty reduction.

The course covers the following topics:

• Lesson 1: Introduction to protected areas and ecosystem services
• Lesson 2: Protected areas and food security
• Lesson 3: Protected areas and water security
• Lesson 4: Protected areas and disaster risk reduction
• Lesson 5: Protected areas and health
• Lesson 6: Protected areas and climate change
• Lesson 7: Protected areas, jobs, livelihoods and poverty reduction

Course Completion Requirements:

Please note that the seven online lessons and the course survey are required to receive the course certificate. The review of additional resources is not required for receiving the certificate, but you must mark the "Additional Resources" section as complete to generate the certificate once you have completed the requirements.