The International Centre for Advanced Mediterranean Agronomic Studies (CIHEAM) of Zaragoza, in collaboration with the International Union for Conservation of Nature - Centre for Mediterranean Cooperation (IUCN-Med), offered an advanced course on Protected Areas and socioecological landscape planning in Zaragoza (Spain) on 13-18 June 2016.

The course addressed the new strategies, tools and trends to effectively manage Protected Areas (PAs). It also paid attention to the most relevant recurrent and emerging issues related to the increasing use of resources and global change faced by PAs. Although many of the contents are of worldwide interest, the course focused on the conditions in the Mediterranean region.

At the end of the course participants gained: a good understanding of the role and functions of PAs, awareness of the importance of social participation in PAs governance, knowledge about economic tools currently used to support PAs, acquaintance with different planning and management approaches that help PAs to fulfil their conservation goals providing ecosystem services demanded by society, in-depth understanding of the conceptual framework of the socioecological landscape planning approach and practical experience on how to apply it in different future scenarios, and finally a more critical reflection of the potential and limits of new trends and tools to deal with hot issues in PAs management, monitoring and evaluation.

The course was held over a period of 1 week, from June 13-18th 2016, in morning and afternoon sessions.

For further information: Marcos Valderrábano

Photo credits:  Presentation during the course- © IUCN-Med