LIFE PAME Europe – National Approaches to Protected Area Management Effectiveness
About the webinar
How do we know whether Protected Areas are being managed effectively? How can we assess where there is room for improvement?
Protected Area Management Effectiveness (PAME) assessments help managers answer these questions. By looking systematically at how a Protected Area is planned, governed, managed and monitored, PAME assessments can identify what is working well, where challenges remain, and where management can be strengthened to achieve better outcomes for biodiversity.
Across Europe, countries have developed their own approaches to assessing management effectiveness, reflecting their different conservation systems, governance structures and experiences. These national approaches offer valuable lessons for others, whether they are just beginning their PAME journey or already have an established assessment process in place.
The LIFE PAME-Europe project is working towards a PAME Framework that can be applied across Protected Areas in Europe. As part of this process, the project consortium is learning from existing international and national approaches to ensure that the emerging system is practical, easy-to-use, relevant and available for use across Europe.
This webinar showcased four national approaches to PAME, offering insights into how assessment systems have been developed and implemented in different contexts. Speakers shared experiences, lessons learned and perspectives from Spain, Estonia, Germany and Finland and highlight what makes a PAME process useful for Protected Area management.
The webinar also provided an update on the LIFE PAME-Europe project and its work towards a European approach.
Speakers and presentations
The webinar was moderated by Neil McIntosh, Head of Communications and Capacity Building Unit at EUROPARC, and LIFE PAME-Europe Project Manager. Neil provided an overview of the project and its achievements so far.
We were joined by the following PAME experts:
- Anja May: Technical advisor for national parks and wilderness at Nationale Naturlandschaften e.V.
Since 2017, Anja has worked for Nationale Naturlandschaften e.V. (NNL e.V.), the umbrella organisation for Germany’s large Protected Areas, where she is responsible for national parks and wilderness areas. Her work focuses particularly on quality assurance, including the application of quality criteria and standards and the evaluation of management effectiveness. Since the end of 2024, NNL e.V. has been part of the LIFE PAME-Europe project consortium.
Evaluation of Management Effectiveness in German National Parks
Anja introduced the German approach to evaluating management effectiveness in German national parks, including the quality criteria and standards used as benchmarks. She outlined how individual national park evaluations are carried out and how the results are brought together through a synthesis and cross-sectional analysis. The presentation highlighted key findings and recommendations for further improving management effectiveness in German national parks.
More information is also available in this article.
- Kirsi Loide: Nature conservation planning specialist at the Estonian Environmental Board
Kirsi Loide has worked as a nature conservation planning specialist at the Estonian Environmental Board since 2016. She studied ecology and biodiversity conservation at the University of Tartu. Her work focuses on nature conservation planning and the assessment of Protected Area Management Effectiveness, including the implementation of Estonia’s national PAME approach.
PAME Assessements in Estonia
In 2025, the Estonian Environmental Board launched systematic PAME assessments of Protected Areas with support from the Swiss-Estonian Cooperation Programme. The approach uses an adapted PAME methodology based on the Management Effectiveness Tracking Tool (METT) and other management effectiveness assessment frameworks. A small team of conservation planners has so far assessed nearly 160 Protected Areas. Kirsi shared insights into the process and how the results are being used to support adaptive conservation management within the Environmental Board.
- Dr Ben Ross: Head of Protected Areas, Innovation and Data at NatureScot
Dr Ben Ross is Head of Protected Areas, Innovation and Data at NatureScot, Scotland’s nature agency. He leads work to strengthen the contribution of existing and new area-based conservation approaches to reversing biodiversity loss in Scotland, including through effective planning, management and monitoring. Ben has worked in conservation for more than 25 years, including on protected species management and wildlife regulation. He was part of the international expert team that carried out the most recent system-level management effectiveness evaluation of Parks & Wildlife Finland.
External Evaluation of Finnish Protected Areas
Finland was among the first countries in the world to establish a national PAME system. The first assessment of Finnish Protected Areas took place in 2004, followed by a second system-level assessment in 2023 involving an international group of experts. Ben was part of this expert group and shared his experience of the evaluation process, including key lessons that can be learned from the Finnish approach.
Access an article on the experience + the full evaluation report
- Francisco Guil Celada: Head of MPA programme, Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge Spain
Francisco Guil is a senior environmental and biodiversity expert at the Spanish Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITECO), with extensive experience in nature conservation, Protected Areas, and marine biodiversity policy. He combines a strong scientific background, including wildlife conservation research and numerous publications, with leadership in the implementation of Natura 2000, biodiversity governance, and international environmental commitments
Regional PAME Assessments and Site-Specific Evaluations in the Natura 2000 Network in Spain
This presentation explored the relationship between regional PAME assessments and the potential need for site-specific evaluations, particularly in the context of the Natura 2000 network. It examined how these different levels of assessment relate to one another and consider the role of site-specific evaluations in assessing management effectiveness. The presentation provided insights into this relationship and its relevance for Protected Area management across Europe.
Download Francisco’s Presentation
This webinar was organised in the framework of the LIFE PAME-Europe Project.
Co-funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or CINEA. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.