Contributors
UNEP-WCMC
Core team (2015-16): Matt Jones, Seb Dunnett, Mary Nower
Core team (2013-14): Melissa Tolley, Ruth Fletcher, Matt Jones, Theodora Panayides, Simon Blyth, Holly Murray, Kerstin Brauneder
Core team (2012): Mônica Barcellos Harris, Sharon Brooks, Chetan Kumar
Informatics: Tim Wilkinson, James Cox, Andre Neves, Stuart Watson. Website developed by Click.
Expert reviewers: Elise Belle, Charles Besancon, Heather Bingham, Blaise Bodin, Bastian Bomhard, Claire Brown, Neil Burgess, Colleen Corrigan, Marine Deguinet, Liz Farmer, Marcelo Gonçalves de Lima, Jerry Harrison, Peter Herkenrath, Diego Juffe-Bignoli, Mamady Keita, Siobhan Kenney, Naomi Kingston, Jane Kloda, Brian MacSharry, Corinne Martin, Soyoung Park, Jorn Scharlemann , Yichuan Shi, Pablo Sinovas, Sarah Smith, Hannah Thomas, Louisa Wood, Terri Young.
External expert reviewers: UNEP-WCMC also acknowledges the voluntary contribution of several external experts, from both within and outside those organisations supporting different areas of biodiversity importance, who have reviewed and contributed to the information provided in this guide.
| Area of biodiversity importance | Name of contributor | Affiliation |
| Alliance for Zero Extinction sites | Benjamin Skolnik | American Bird Conservancy |
| ASEAN Heritage Parks | Monina T. Uriarte, Rodrigo U. Fuentes, Clarissa C. Arida, Reynaldo Molina | ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity |
| Biodiversity Hotspots | Conrad Savy | Conservation International |
| Centres of Plant Diversity | Alan Hamilton | Plantlife International |
| Crisis Ecoregions | Jonathan Hoekstra | The Nature Conservancy |
| Emerald Network sites | Ivana D’Alessandro, Iva Obretenova | The Emerald Network, Council of Europe |
| Endemic Bird Areas | Leon Bennun, Lincoln Fishpool | Birdlife International |
| High Biodiversity Wilderness Areas | Conrad Savy, Mike Hoffman | Conservation International, IUCN Species Survival Commission |
| Important Bird Areas | Leon Bennun, Lincoln Fishpool | Birdlife International |
| Important Plant Areas | Seona Anderson, Elizabeth Radford | Plantlife International |
| Indigenous and Community Conserved Areas | Grazia Borrini-Feyerabend, Terence Hay-Edie | Collaborative Management Working Group of IUCN Commission on Environmental Economic and Social Policy (CEESP), GEF Small Grants Programme UNDP |
| Intact Forest Landscapes | Lars Laestadius, Peter Potapov, Nigel Sizer | World Resources Institute, South Dakota State University, RARE Conservation |
| IUCN Protected Areas Categories | Nigel Dudley, Pedro Rosabal Gonzalez | Equilibrium Research, IUCN Protected Areas Programme |
| Man and the Biosphere Reserves | Ishwaran Natarajan, Ana Persic | UNESCO Division of Ecological and Earth Sciences |
| Megadiversity Countries | Conrad Savy, Mike Hoffman | Conservation International, IUCN Species Survival Commission |
| Natura 2000 | Danny Charbonneau | Natura 2000, European Commission |
| Privately Protected Areas | Rodrigo Castro | Confederação Nacional de RPPN |
| Specially Protected Areas of Mediterranean Importance | Daniel Cebrián Menchero | UNEP Mediterranean Action Plan, Regional Activity Centre for Specially Protected Areas (RAC/SPA) |
| Transboundary Protected Areas | Maja Vasilijevic | IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas |
| Vulnerable Marine Ecosystems | Fabio Carocci, Jessica Sanders | Food and Agricultural Organisation |
| Wetlands of International Importance (Ramsar Convention) | Nick Davidson, Stephan Flink | Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, Wetlands International |
| World Heritage Sites | Kishore Rao, Marc Patry, Tim Badman | UNESCO World Heritage Centre, IUCN |