Cultural and Spiritual Significance of Nature: Guidance for Protected and Conserved Area Governance and Management

This e-book provides guidelines and principles to accommodate the cultural and spiritual value of nature while governing and managing protected areas. It can be accessed through the website of the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) Open Archive.

The guidelines aim to promote inclusivity and respect for diversity in maintaining multi-stakeholder dialogue and nature-culture linkages. This e-book also discusses case studies of protected areas where the guidelines have been implemented.

IUCN as a global environment network engages in ‘nature-based solutions’ to implement the Paris agreement and 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). It brings together organizations from the governmental as well as non-governmental domains, including the United Nations to formulate policies and best practices.

Some of the areas discussed in the manual are:

• Consensus building and conflict resolution in managing protected and conserved areas
• Assessment of values and significance of nature in protected and conserved areas
• Governance of protected and conserved areas