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for focal habitats/species delineation, conservation goal setting, and defining/ranking ofrisk elements that threaten the health of targeted habitats or key species.The guiding principles for conducting a protected area gap analysis include (Dudley andParrish, 2004):1. Ensure full representation across biological scales (species and ecosystems) andbiological realms (terrestrial, freshwater, and marine).2. Aim for redundancy of examples of species and ecosystems within a protectedarea network to capture genetic variation and protect against unexpected losses.3. Design for resilience to ensure protected area systems to withstand stresses andchanges, such as climate change.4. Consider representation gaps, ecological gaps and management gaps in theanalysis. Representation gaps refer to species, ecosystems and ecologicalprocesses that are missed entirely by the protected area system; Ecological gapsrelate to biodiversity that exists within protected areas but with insufficientquality or quantity to provide long term protection; while management gaps referto situations where protected areas exist but are failing to provide adequateprotection either because they have the wrong management objectives or becausethey are managed poorly.5. Employ a participatory approach, collaborating with key experts and stakeholdersin making decisions about protected areas.6. Make protected areas system design an iterative process in which the gap analysisis documented, reviewed and improved as knowledge grows and environmentalconditions change.TNC Protected Area Tools (PAT) Version 3.0The Nature Conservancy, August 20098