This assessment was conducted between 18 June 2020 and 3 June 2021 with the objective of analysing the developments and challenges in the management of biodiversity and protected areas (PAs) in 14 countries that carried out and completed a ECE Environmental Performance Review (EPR) under its 3rd cycle (further 3EPR) since 2014. This includes Albania (2018), Belarus (2016), Bosnia and Herzegovina (2018), Bulgaria (2017), Georgia (2016), Kazakhstan (2019), Republic of Moldova (2014), Mongolia (2018), Montenegro (2015), Morocco (2014), North Macedonia (2019), Serbia (2015), Tajikistan (2017), and Uzbekistan (2020). In the cases of Mongolia and Morocco, the “3EPR” acronym relates to the fact that their first EPRs were carried out according to the methodology of the third cycle of ECE EPRs. Moreover, the draft 3EPR report of Romania (carried out in 2020) has also been analysed for this assessment.
The main objectives of this assessment were to:
• Examine what has been done in the management of biodiversity and PAs;
• Investigate challenges and bottlenecks encountered by countries;
• Identify trends and commonalities in areas of concern and in solutions to address them;
• Identify lessons learned and good practices in improving the management of biodiversity and PAs;
• Foresee possible matters of contention in the management of biodiversity and PAs for the next decade.