A protected area (or the management of biological resources more generally) contributes to biodiversity conservation to the extent that it:

• maintains viable populations of all native species and subspecies, subject only to environmental changes that may naturally alter abundances or distributions;

• maintains the number and distribution of commmunities and habitats, subject to environmental changes that may alter such distributions;

• maintains the genetic diversity of all species in the protected area;

• excludes human-caused species introductions;

• enables distributions of species to shift in response to climatic or other environmental changes;

• fosters the study of the taxonomy, distribution, and ecology of species and biogeographic units;

• allows, but regulates, exploration for valuable genetic resources and other types of biodiversity information; and,

• ensures that any use of biological resources is in keeping with the above criteria.