Key arguments for effective protected areas in the places that matter Arguments for Protection aims to identify, and where possible quantify, a wide range of the benefits derived from protected areas, to increase support for protection and broaden and strengthen protected area management strategies

Cheap supplies of clean drinking water for city dwellers Abundant fish stocks for local communities Irreplaceable genetic resources for crop breeding Effective protection against natural disasters Material for local and global medicines Places for exercise and mental relaxation Protection for many of the world’s sacred sites Secure storage for huge amounts of carbon Sustainable livelihoods for people Protection for vulnerable human societies The world’s most effective tool for biodiversity conservation The Arguments for Protection project has created the world’s largest information source on the wider values of protected areas, covering thousands of reserves, and including…

Well-managed forests provide high quality water A third of the world’s hundred biggest cities derive much of their drinking water from forest protected areas

All major faith groups are involved in managing natural spaces for sacred and nature values Over 100 research projects have found high biodiversity levels in sacred natural sites

Crop wild relatives provide agriculture with hundreds of million of dollars in value each year Yet the world’s “centres of crop diversity” have far lower than average proportion of land in protected areas

Protected areas can help to buffer human communities against all forms of natural disaster: floods, tsunamis, typhoons, storms, droughts, fires and the after-effects of earthquakes

Well planned and managed protected areas can contribute to poverty alleviation But only under conditions of good governance

Protected areas can provide local and global medicines and space for physical exercise and mental recuperation

The Protected Area Benefits Assessment Tool allows rapid assessment of wider benefits of protected areas

A multi-organisational report looking at the role of protected areas in mitigating and adapting to climate change: WWF working with The World Bank, UNEP, UNDP, CBD, IUCN, The Nature Conservancy and others… Climate change and protected areas

The Arguments for Protection project links to the three WWF global priorities Saving biodiversity: building support for protected areas as the key tool in global biodiversity strategies Reducing ecological footprint: linking protected areas with sustainable supply of clean drinking water, crop breeding material, human health benefits, disaster mitigation, local wellbeing and poverty reduction Tackling threats and drivers: consolidating partnerships with the World Bank, ISDR, WHO, ARC, UNDP, CBD, UNEP, TEEB and new industry partners to develop sustainable finance mechanisms

The Arguments for Protection series Completed: reports on drinking water, faiths, agrobiodiversity, poverty reduction, disaster mitigation and health; an assessment tool. In preparation: a report on climate change and a book summarising the series