P. leo is included in CITES Appendix II; the Critically Endangered Asiatic Lion subspecies P. leo persica is included in CITES Appendix I.

In Africa, Lions are present in a number of large and well-managed protected areas, and remain one of the most popular animals on the must-see lists of tourists and visitors to Africa. Most range states in East and Southern Africa have an infrastructure which supports wildlife tourism, and in this way Lions generate significant cash revenue for park management and local communities and provide a strong incentive for wildland conservation.

Regional conservation strategies have been developed for Lions in west and central Africa (IUCN 2006a) and eastern and southern Africa (IUCN 2006b). The West and Central African Lion Conservation Strategy focuses on three primary objectives to address threats that directly impact Lions: to reduce Lion-human conflict, and to conserve and increase Lion habitat and wild prey base. The objectives of the Eastern and Southern African Lion Conservation Strategy are articulated around the root issues in Lion conservation, including policy and land use, socio-economics, trade, and conservation politics. For example, the policy and land use objective is "to develop and implement harmonious and comprehensive legal and institutional frameworks that provide for the expansion of wildife-integrated land use, Lion conservation and associated socio-economic benefits in current and potential Lion range." The trade objective is "to prevent illegal trade in Lions and Lion products while promoting and safeguarding sustainable legal trade." Both regional strategies share common priorities of conserving and restoring Lion populations, improving management capacity, and increasing the flow of benefits to communities living with Lions. These strategies should be used by governments to guide national Lion action plans, policies and programs, and by the conservation community to guide their project development. By setting out common priorities to guide action on both national, community and landscape levels, the regional conservation strategies have the potential for broad and significant improvement of Lion status and management (Nowell et al. 2006).

For the Asiatic Lion, resolving human Lion-conflict is a high priority, as well as establishing a second wild population (Jackson 2008).