What should be evaluated from a manager's perspective? Developing a salient protected area effectiveness evaluation system for managers and scientists in Spain

The System for the Integrated Assessment of Protected Areas (SIAPA) was developed as a tool to improve our knowledge on the status and trends of protected biodiversity. In order to increase SIAPA's salience and use, representatives of the main managerial and scientific protected area (PA) institutions of Spain were surveyed using a structured questionnaire. PA network managers and scientists showed a high degree of consistency in rating the most important SIAPA indicators: ‘Appropriateness of protection legislation’, ‘Degree of fulfilment of management objectives’ and ‘Effectiveness of public participation bodies’, respectively. However, PA managers perceived the ‘State of conservation’ as the most determinant factor to ascertain overall PA effectiveness whereas for scientists ‘Management’ was the most important factor. Most managers and one scientist suggested including the indicator ‘Change in extent of focal habitats’ in the SIAPA and comparing management effects inside and outside PAs. The methods and results of this study intend to streamline and standardise PA evaluation efforts in Spain and guide future developments of PA evaluation systems elsewhere.     

Results of the implementation of the System for the Integrated Assessment of Protected Areas (SIAPA) to the protected areas of the Autonomous Region of Madrid (Spain)

The long-term conservation of biodiversity and related ecosystems goods and services of the Autonomous Region of Madrid is jeopardized by the intensive resource-consuming development model followed by the region in the past few decades. This paper presents the aggregated results of the first integrated assessment of the protected areas of the Autonomous Region of Madrid (Spain) with the System for the Integrated Assessment of Protected Areas (SIAPA). Detailed results are also provided for individual protected areas as supplementary data. The assessment was done during 2009–2010, on ten protected areas differing in their sizes (from 2.5 to 52,796 ha), protection categories (seven categories) and types of ecosystems present. Comparison of results from both assessment models of the SIAPA (the Complete Model and the Simplified Model) is also presented. The results from the Complete Model show that eight out of the ten protected areas of the Autonomous Region of Madrid are currently ineffective. The poorest partial indexes overall were: “State of Conservation” and “Social and Economic Context”. The only indexes significantly correlated with the effectiveness of a protected area were: the “State of Conservation” (r = 0.851**) and the “Social Perception and Valuation” (r = 0.786**). Although not as relevant as was thought, “Management” and the other non-significant factors are likely to influence the effectiveness of protected areas as well. The results for the Simplified Model are slightly better than those for the Complete Model, although this is probably a specific result of this assessment. The two models of the SIAPA were very significantly correlated, although their aggregated results should not be compared directly.