9 February 2016: An end-of-project workshop for partners of the Protected Areas Resilient to Climate Change (PARCC) explored how to use the results of new regional climate projections and in-depth vulnerability assessments to improve the management of protected areas in West Africa. The meeting took place in Banjul, The Gambia, from 24-29 January 2016.

Funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and managed by the UN Environment Programme's World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC), the PARCC West Africa project was implemented by the governments of Chad, The Gambia, Mali, Sierra Leone and Togo, with support from the Central and West Africa Protected Areas Programme of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

The project identified conservation priorities for the design of protected areas and tested new systematic conservation planning approaches at five transboundary pilot sites across the West Africa region. It also developed adaptation strategies and policy recommendations for climate adaptation and management both at the national and regional levels, as well as practical guidelines on how to improve the management of protected areas in order to enhance their resilience to climate change.

In addition to a series of reports published by UNEP-WCMC and its partners, the vulnerability assessment results have been integrated into ProtectedPlanet.net, the online interface of the World Database on Protected Areas (WDPA). [UNEP-WCMC Press Release] [PARCC West Africa Project Website] [Protectedplanet.net]

read more: Here