The creation of an international protected area network embracing the range of ecosystems and species on Earth is a policy goal that has in various guises attracted widespread support amongst the inter-state polity since the 1970s (Holdgate Reference Holdgate1999). It empowers and accommodates both established and new discourses on nature and the society-environment relationship whilst at the same time providing one vehicle to promote rational resource planning and economic and political liberalization in less-developed countries.

Governments of less-developed countries, and in particular their forestry, environment and/or wildlife departments, have been willing supporters of this policy goal, which among other things can bring prestige, access to international networks, flows of donor aid, help develop new sectors such as tourism and serve various political ends. In return for these benefits, developing countries have established protected areas (PAs, the number has increased from 30 000 to 85 000 since 1980; Chape et al. Reference Chape, Harrison, Spalding and Lysenko2005) and allowed governance networks of external actors to determine the management goals and approaches of these territories. Managing Protected Areas illustrates the concept of governance states (see for example Duffy Reference Duffy2006) where transnational networks of intergovernmental organizations (such as the World Bank, United Nations Environment Programme and World Conservation Union [IUCN]), non-governmental organizations (such as the Worldwide Fund for Nature and Conservation International) and aid donors (for example United States Agency for International Development) define and frame goals and practice in a particular policy area, and where the relevant state agency is but one stakeholder or ‘node’ and not necessarily the most important one.

From this perspective, this volume can be viewed as an effort on the part of a multi-partner protected area governance regime to maintain and extend its influence to the every-day management of PAs. Co-ordinated by the World Commission on Protected Areas it aims to synthesize and organize the material compiled for, and generated at, the 2003 IUCN World Parks Congress. It is organized into three parts: (1) setting the context (7 chapters); (2) practice and principles (19 chapters) and (3) six appendices. The chapters are written by a team of 19 authors (11 of whom are Australian) and illustrated with numerous ‘good practice’ case studies.

Although the case studies offer a rich resource of cutting edge practice, the body text of the book is not so much a ‘how to guide’ as a reaffirmation of the key narratives and knowledge claims of this ‘governance network’. So for instance, the links between PAs, sustainability, community and indigenous people's rights, poverty alleviation and livelihoods are explained in detail in the manner of ‘guiding principles’; threats to, and failings in the management of, PAs are framed as technical, capacity and leadership issues that can be solved with more resources, political will and management capacity; and the classifications and categorizations generated by this small group of quasi-governmental and private organizations are given prominence. These narratives give little mention to alternative perspectives on the politics, purpose and management of PAs being articulated by political ecologists, human geographers, anthropologists and others that would help and challenge PA managers to think critically about their role and work.

Compared with the books (proceedings) arising from earlier World Parks Congresses, this volume is notable for the space given to managerial skills. It includes chapters on planning frameworks, information, human resource, financial and operation management, and, perhaps inevitably, evaluating management effectiveness. Most of this material is rather basic and the rationale for its inclusion is unclear, not least because it adds significantly to the size of the book and I suspect that most PA professionals will already use more specific texts and/or organizational guidelines to inform these areas of their work. Where I think professionals and students will find this book particularly valuable is as a source of examples, summary statistics, classifications, general principles and language for use in writing reports and proposals.

For the most part, this book is still rooted in a state-managed resource-based perspective of PAs. However scattered through the chapters are clear signals that this international PA governance network is opening up to the idea that there are other valid views on the nature(s) that merit conservation as well as the fact that there are numerous non-state actors owning and managing PAs. These signals are most clear in chapters 2 (social context), 5 (governance of PAs), 17 (natural heritage management) and 18 (cultural heritage management). In my view, embracing the observation that ‘protected areas are a cultural construct in so far as they reflect the attitudes and beliefs of local, national and/or international society’ poses a far more fundamental challenge to international norms of PA management than adopting the set of principles on good governance (legitimacy and voice, equity, direction, performance and accountability) outlined in the rather tame concluding chapter.