Conducting marine ecological gap assessments - A quick guide for protected area practitioners

The world's protected areas number nearly 114,000 and cover almost 20 million square kilometers. However, researchers and practitioners alike have documented numerous problems with the management effectiveness of the world's protected area. For example, more than 70 percent of 201 tropical parks are affected by poaching, encroachment, logging and a host of lesser threats; more than 90 percent of Russia's 197 National Parks have serious gaps in infrastructure, management, planning and staffing, and most of the 110 parks in South Africa's KwaZulu-Natal Province have major gaps in data collection, park layout and design, field equipment, and research.