An assessment of management effectiveness was carried out for all the protected areas in the Kingdom of Bhutan. During 2014–2016 the Royal Government of Bhutan developed a custom-made tool for assessing management effectiveness: the Bhutan Management Effectiveness Tracking Tool Plus (Bhutan METT +). This was implemented in Bhutan's 10 protected areas and one botanical park, and the results were verified through field trips and expert reviews. The assessment indicates that protected areas in Bhutan are well managed and there are generally good relationships with local communities, despite an increase in livestock predation and crop damage. However, effectiveness is limited by a low level of resources (both financial and appropriate technical resources) and by gaps in monitoring and research data, which limits the ability to understand the impact of conservation, react to changing conditions and undertake adaptive management to improve efficiency and effectiveness. Bhutan is in the midst of mobilizing considerable conservation funding. The Government is working in partnership with WWF to create an innovative funding mechanism for the protected area system: the Bhutan for Life initiative. The Bhutan METT + study provides an example of how to develop a baseline against which to measure the effectiveness of protected areas over time and assess the impact of conservation inputs.

This paper examines mainstreaming environment and climate change into development policy, planning, and budgeting. It looks at why we should integrate environment and climate and outlines challenges and successes. One result is that governments' progress pro-poor and equitable development. Governance gains are important too: co-benefits include more transparent decision making and better cross-government working. Ultimately, the impact of mainstreaming has increased awareness, changed perceptions, and improved the way inter-sectoral decisions are made, especially in climate adaptation. This supports countries to achieve their sustainable development ambitions -lessons which could be applied to a post-2015 development agenda.Cet article examine l'intégration de l'environnement et du changement climatique dans les politiques, la planification et la budgétisation du développement. Il se penche sur les raisons pour lesquelles nous devrions intégrer l'environnement et le climat et présente les défis et les réussites. Un résultat est le fait que les gouvernements font des progrès vers le développement pro-pauvres et équitable. Les gains sur le plan de la gouvernance sont aussi importants : parmi les co-bénéfices figurent une prise de décisions plus transparente et un travail plus efficace entre tous les niveaux du gouvernement. En fin de compte, l'impact de l'intégration a favorisé la sensibilisation, modifié les perceptions et amélioré la manière dont les décisions intersectorielles sont prises, en particulier pour ce qui est de l'adaptation au changement climatique. Cela aide les pays à concrétiser leurs ambitions de développement durable -enseignements qui pourraient être appliqués à un ordre du jour pour le développement post-2015.El presente ensayo examina la incorporación de los conceptos de medio ambiente y cambio climático en las políticas, la planeación y la financiación del desarrollo. Asimismo, analiza las razones por las cuales deben ser incorporados estos temas, señalando los retos enfrentados y los éxitos obtenidos. Resultan importantes los logros obtenidos por el gobierno, ya que los beneficios compartidos abarcan un proceso de toma de decisiones más transparente y una mejor coordinación entre dependencias gubernamentales. En última instancia, la incorporación de los temas mencionados ha elevado el grado de conciencia al respecto, ha modificado opiniones y ha mejorado la manera en que se toman decisiones a nivel intersectorial, particularmente en el ámbito de la adaptación al cambio climático. El proceso descrito podrá servir de apoyo para que los países logren sus planes orientados al desarrollo sostenible y, además, los aprendizajes obtenidos podrán ser integrados en una agenda de desarrollo pos-2015.

A hundred research priorities of critical importance to protected area management were identified by a targeted survey of conservation professionals; half researchers and half practitioners. Respondents were selected to represent a range of disciplines, every continent except Antarctica and roughly equal numbers of men and women. The results analysed thematically and grouped as potential research topics as by both practitioners and researchers. Priority research gaps reveal a high interest to demonstrate the role of protected areas within a broader discussion about sustainable futures and if and how protected areas can address a range of conservation and socio-economic challenges effectively. The paper lists the hundred priorities structured under broad headings of management, ecology, governance and social (including political and economic issues) and helps contribute to setting future research agendas.

Retaliatory killing due to livestock depredation is a major threat to snow leopard (Panthera uncia) conservation. To devise management actions that reduce livestock losses and the consequent retaliatory killing, we need to understand the factors that influence the snow leopard's diet and depredation on livestock. Here, we studied snow leopard diet and ecological determinants of livestock depredation in Bhutan by semi‐systematically collecting scat samples and analysing prey hair structure using a micro‐histological method. We identified five prey species. Most of the snow leopard diet consisted of wild ungulates (85.8%), mostly bharal (60.8%). Yak (14.2%) was the only livestock species in the scats. Livestock depredation was higher during summer and differed markedly among four protected areas characterized by various wildlife densities and human activities. These findings will help develop a site‐based management plan to ensure the long‐term persistence of the snow leopard in Bhutan.

The snow leopard (Panthera uncia) is one of the world's most elusive felids. In Bhutan, which is one of the 12 countries where the species still persists, reliable information on its distribution and habitat suitability is lacking, thus impeding effective conservation planning for the species. To fill this knowledge gap, we created a country-wide species distribution model using “presence-only” data from 420 snow leopard occurrences (345 from a sign survey and 77 from a camera-trapping survey) and 12 environmental covariates consisting of biophysical and anthropogenic factors. We analyzed the data in an ensemble model framework which combines the outputs from several species distribution models. To assess the adequacy of Bhutan's network of protected areas and their potential contribution toward the conservation of the species, we overlaid the output of the ensemble model on the spatial layers of protected areas and biological corridors. The ensemble model identified 7,206 km2 of Bhutan as suitable for the snow leopard: 3,647 km2 as highly suitable, 2,681 km2 as moderately suitable, and 878 km2 as marginally suitable. Forty percent of the total suitable habitat consisted of protected areas and a further 8% of biological corridors. These suitable habitats were characterized by a mean livestock density of 1.3 individuals per hectare, and a mean slope of 25°; they closely match the distribution of the snow leopard's main wild prey, the bharal (Pseudois nayaur). Our study shows that Bhutan's northern protected areas are a centre for snow leopard conservation both at the national and regional scale.

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