Protected Area Management

Introduction
Many of the world's protected areas are not managed well, and many are said to be existing on paper only. Our staff have travelled extensively in many parts of the world and as people interested in nature, witnessed the deplorable status of many protected areas. This has raised the idea within our team if not we could use our expertise also in the field of protected area management. After several discussions within the organisation and with key informants working in nature conservation, we felt we can contribute to improved protected area management in the areas we are working.

Experience
Our concrete experience with protected area management comes from our work in sustainable forest management and certification processes. Protected areas need to be identified within a forest area and a certain percentage of total area needs to be properly managed as a protected area, and effectively monitored for the protection of the vegetation, animals, birds, soils etc. FORM has not implemented such work on its own, but heavily relied on the experts from nature conservation NGOs. In Gabon, we are working closely with the Wildlife Conservation Society and in Cameroon with World Wildlife Fund, to mention two examples. We trust that the same methodologies that are being applied in sustainable forest management will also proof to be instrument for improved management of larger-scale protected areas. We therefore are ready to apply our expertise in this field.