Turning Technical Experts into Multifunctional Managers of Protected Areas

Abstract

Exactly 100 years ago the first national parks in Europe were established in Sweden. Since then there has been a veritable boom of newly designated protected areas across the globe while biodiversity has decreased all the while. There are manifold reasons why the global network of protected areas obviously fails to "achieve the long-term conservation of nature with its associated ecosystem services" (IUCN 2008). The Nature Conservancy, a US environmental NGO, for example, pointed out significant weaknesses in the design and management of protected areas which leave them vulnerable to threats such as population pressures or the effects of climate change. In order to deliver on their promise of a sustainable future, protected areas need to be well-funded, well-managed and have the support of both governments and society. This calls for professional staff. Frequently both natural and social scientists lack adequate training to deal successfully with the challenging tasks that come with managing a protected area. Nowadays this knowledge gap can be filled by special master courses on the "Management of Protected Areas". One of them was launched in 2005 at the University of Klagenfurt, Austria. The course has become an internationally well-established hub for training integrated management of protected areas. The application deadline for the new course is 30th of June 2009. It will start in September 2009 and run till June 2011.