Evaluating the climate change robustness of Canadian protected area management plans
Climate change is increasingly affecting all aspects of protected areas management from changes of species ranges to visitor experiences. Due to these impacts, there is a need for managers to take more robust approaches to considering the implications of climate change on the overall application and...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Elsevier
2025-06-01
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| Series: | Geography and Sustainability |
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| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666683925000197 |
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| author | Stephanie Barr Christopher J. Lemieux Jen Hoesen Brooklyn Rushton Pamela Wright |
| author_facet | Stephanie Barr Christopher J. Lemieux Jen Hoesen Brooklyn Rushton Pamela Wright |
| author_sort | Stephanie Barr |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Climate change is increasingly affecting all aspects of protected areas management from changes of species ranges to visitor experiences. Due to these impacts, there is a need for managers to take more robust approaches to considering the implications of climate change on the overall application and efficacy of protected areas management direction, including the achievement of the goals and objectives contained within management plans. Through a systematic and comprehensive content analysis approach, this study assesses the current extent to which climate change is considered in Canadian protected area management plans. Specifically, we evaluated 63 terrestrial protected area management plans against a set of climate robustness principles. Our content analysis revealed that climate change is currently not effectively factored into Canadian protected area management plans with an average climate robustness score of 18 %. Climate robustness score was not found to be correlated with protected area size, International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) management classification, or jurisdictional authority. Certain climate robustness principles received higher scores across the management plans than others. For example, the principles of ‘diverse knowledge sources’ and ‘addresses climate change’ scored relatively highly whereas ‘climate change vulnerability’ and ‘ecosystem integrity’ received the lowest scores. The lack of integration of ecological integrity considerations in management plans was a particularly noteworthy deficiency considering that this guiding principle is the primary legislative objective of many national and sub-national protected areas in Canada. From this assessment, climate change needs to be more effectively and consistently integrated into protected area management plan development and coordinated across associated planning processes. We discuss the ways in which this can be achieved, for example, by integrating scenario planning into organizational management plan development processes. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-249ee96873be4d76b1fdbe2ebdfc48a2 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2666-6839 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-06-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Geography and Sustainability |
| spelling | doaj-art-249ee96873be4d76b1fdbe2ebdfc48a22025-08-20T03:30:44ZengElsevierGeography and Sustainability2666-68392025-06-016310028010.1016/j.geosus.2025.100280Evaluating the climate change robustness of Canadian protected area management plansStephanie Barr0Christopher J. Lemieux1Jen Hoesen2Brooklyn Rushton3Pamela Wright4Department of Geography and Environmental Studies, Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Ontario N2L 3C5, Canada; Corresponding authors.Department of Geography and Environmental Studies, Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Ontario N2L 3C5, Canada; Corresponding authors.Department of Geography and Environmental Studies, Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Ontario N2L 3C5, CanadaDepartment of Geography and Environmental Studies, Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Ontario N2L 3C5, CanadaFaculty of Environment, University of Northern British Columbia, Prince George, British Columbia V2N 4Z9, CanadaClimate change is increasingly affecting all aspects of protected areas management from changes of species ranges to visitor experiences. Due to these impacts, there is a need for managers to take more robust approaches to considering the implications of climate change on the overall application and efficacy of protected areas management direction, including the achievement of the goals and objectives contained within management plans. Through a systematic and comprehensive content analysis approach, this study assesses the current extent to which climate change is considered in Canadian protected area management plans. Specifically, we evaluated 63 terrestrial protected area management plans against a set of climate robustness principles. Our content analysis revealed that climate change is currently not effectively factored into Canadian protected area management plans with an average climate robustness score of 18 %. Climate robustness score was not found to be correlated with protected area size, International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) management classification, or jurisdictional authority. Certain climate robustness principles received higher scores across the management plans than others. For example, the principles of ‘diverse knowledge sources’ and ‘addresses climate change’ scored relatively highly whereas ‘climate change vulnerability’ and ‘ecosystem integrity’ received the lowest scores. The lack of integration of ecological integrity considerations in management plans was a particularly noteworthy deficiency considering that this guiding principle is the primary legislative objective of many national and sub-national protected areas in Canada. From this assessment, climate change needs to be more effectively and consistently integrated into protected area management plan development and coordinated across associated planning processes. We discuss the ways in which this can be achieved, for example, by integrating scenario planning into organizational management plan development processes.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666683925000197Climate changeProtected areasManagement plansPlanningEffectivenessEvaluation |
| spellingShingle | Stephanie Barr Christopher J. Lemieux Jen Hoesen Brooklyn Rushton Pamela Wright Evaluating the climate change robustness of Canadian protected area management plans Geography and Sustainability Climate change Protected areas Management plans Planning Effectiveness Evaluation |
| title | Evaluating the climate change robustness of Canadian protected area management plans |
| title_full | Evaluating the climate change robustness of Canadian protected area management plans |
| title_fullStr | Evaluating the climate change robustness of Canadian protected area management plans |
| title_full_unstemmed | Evaluating the climate change robustness of Canadian protected area management plans |
| title_short | Evaluating the climate change robustness of Canadian protected area management plans |
| title_sort | evaluating the climate change robustness of canadian protected area management plans |
| topic | Climate change Protected areas Management plans Planning Effectiveness Evaluation |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666683925000197 |
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