Global Environmental Change Assessment 2016
Taking Stock of Parks in a Changing World
The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (2005) was a United Nations project designed to assess the consequences of ecosystem changes for human well-being at a global scale. It used available information to identify and assess the consequences of a number of drivers of global environmental change. The Assessment raised questions about the role of protected areas in buffering ecosystem change, as well as the possible impacts on, and actions required to allow protected areas to contribute to sustaining ecosystem services and human well-being.
The questions raised in this global project were of interest and concern to SANParks and triggered an assessment at the local scale, with SANParks launching its own assessment of the state of environmental change in all parks in 2009.