These guidelines argue that governance that is both context appropriate and ‘good’ is crucial for effective and equitable conservation. The intended audience for the paper is broad, including: protected area practitioners, including staff of government agencies, indigenous peoples and local community representatives, municipal councils, owners of private protected areas and anyone interested in conservation. The document is in two parts: Part 1 provides a guide, with examples and explanation, to the four different protected area governance types and to the set of principles of good governance recognised by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. Part 2 offers practical guidance on assessing, evaluating and improving governance for a given system or site.