The IUCN green list of protected and conserved areas: Setting the standard for effective area‐based conservation

The IUCN Green List of Protected and Conserved Areas is the first global sustainability standard describing best practice for area-based conservation. The standard is organised around four components — Good Governance, Sound Design and Planning, Effective Management and Successful Conservation Outcomes — subdivided into 17 criteria and 50 indicators. IUCN manages a ‘Green List’ of protected and conserved areas through a certification process that examines evidence assembled by site managers against each of the criteria and indicators. The assessment of evidence is carried out by an independent group of experts in the governance and management of protected and conserved areas, overseen by an independent reviewer to ensure that proper processes and appropriate evidence are used in the assessment. The objective of the IUCN Green List programme is to increase the number of protected and conserved areas around the world that deliver successful conservation outcomes through good governance, sound design and effective and equitable management. The IUCN Green List programme is currently operating in 40 countries and by August 2019, 46 sites in 14 countries had been awarded the Green List status. There are a further 400+ protected and conserved areas engaged in the process. The challenge remains to scale up the Green List programme to the point where it is truly global in operation and able to provide both a stimulus and a metric for effective conservation.