The new face of Protected Areas

During the joint meeting of two IUCN Commissions (WCPA and CEC) a few weeks ago in Ecuador, we discussed the need to (re)brand protected areas. WCPA experts approached branding from the science perspective. IUCN had commissioned a study on the values of protected areas (PA) and my WCPA colleagues already came up with some slogans for us to comment on or to improve: “Benefits beyond boundaries”; “Parcs for life”; “A convenient solution to an inconvenient truth”. It almost made me also jump to conclusions. “Protected Areas: powering security, health, learning and employment” - crossed my mind. But from the communication perspective more homework needs to be done, before we talk slogans. We have to answer questions such as how do PA contribute to basic human needs; who are the clients; what really is the product or services; how do we position PA in the market; what are the core brand values etc. So I bit my tongue. We agreed that in July some CEC experts will look at the results of the WCPA study and start asking branding questions. I look forward to it.