the iucn bulletin world conservation...2 world conservation 2/2003 cover, centre photo: traditional...

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22003

The IUCN Bulletin

World Conservation

World Conservation 2/20032

Cover, centre photo: Traditional community ownership and management of terrestrialand nearshore resources predominates in the Pacific. Photo courtesy of StuartChape. Side bands: see inside.

World Conservation

(formerly the IUCN Bulletin)

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© 2003 International Unionfor Conservation of Nature

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Volume 34, No. 2, 2003

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Vth IUCN World Parks Congress:Benefits beyond BoundariesThe Vth IUCN World Congress on Protected Areas, or World Parks Congress (WPC), convenedin Durban, South Africa, on 8–17 September 2003. More than 3000 participants from 157countries gathered to forge new commitments and policy guidance for protected areasworldwide. This was the largest and most diverse gathering in history of those concernedwith protected areas, with participants representing governments and public agencies,international organizations, the private sector, academic and research institutions, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and community and indigenous organizations. Forthe full programme, see www.iucn.org/themes/wcpa/wpc2003/

CONTENTS

ROADMAP

12 The Durban Accord and Action Plan: Reaching out Roger Crofts

13 Recommendations: A bold step Steve Edwards

14 Categorizing protected areas Nigel Dudley and Sue Stolton

16 Photospread: Events and awards

18 Message to the CBD: A call for commitment Martha Chouchena Rojas

19 Conservation and the mining industry: Durban’s vote of confidenceMohammad Rafiq

20 Scenario planning: Stories to tell Jeffrey A. McNeely

VISIONS

22 The workshops: What did we learn?

27 Cross-cutting themes

28 Photospread: Changing course

29 Where do we go from Durban? David Sheppard

30 World Parks Congress Supporters

31 Photospread: Farewell

IN PRINT

32 Guiding protected area management

A NEW ERA

3 A milestone in Durban Yolanda Kakabadse

4 Photospread: Opening Ceremony

4 Four main achievements Achim Steiner

6 A modern paradigm Adrian Phillips

8 Monitoring global commitment Stuart Chape

10 Photospread: Special session on Africa

11 African initiatives Walter Lusigi

World Conservation 2/2003 3

www.iucn.org/themes/wcpa/wpc2003/

Today protected areas are viewed as community assets, and tourism as a means to help local economies. Pictured: ecotourists inKinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary, Sabah, Malaysia.

Yolanda Kakabadse

The Vth IUCN World Parks Congress proved to be one ofthe most successful conservation events ever organized byIUCN. The rich and substantive agenda included morethan 50 workshops, more than 100 side events and thelaunching of numerous initiatives and commitments toassist the world’s protected areas.

A key conclusion emerging from the debate is that pro-tected areas are a crucial element to achieve sustainabledevelopment and to contribute to globally agreed goalssuch as those proposed by the World Summit on Sustain-able Development ( WSSD) and the UN’s MillenniumDevelopment Goals. The many case studies presented re-inforced the premise of the Congress theme: that protectedareas are delivering goods and services beyond theirboundaries, contributing to biodiversity conservation andhelping to alleviate poverty.

The Congress celebrated the establishment of almost12% of the Earth’s land surface as protected areas – animpressive doubling of the world’s protected area estatesince the IVth World Parks Congress in Caracas, Venezuelain 1992.

While applauding this historic accomplishment, theCongress also cautioned that biodiversity loss is still ac-celerating, with more than 11,000 animal species world-wide now threatened with extinction. Many protected

areas, particularly in developing countries, are managedineffectively and chronically underfunded. The global pro-tected area system remains incomplete, particularly in rela-tion to marine and freshwater ecosystems.

Workshop streams focused on these challenges and de-veloped a range of tools and approaches for improvingmanagement effectiveness, building capacity, filling gaps,and developing sustainable financing strategies.

Throughout the Congress, there was an unprecedentedemphasis on reaching out to and engaging with a widerange of new partners and stakeholders, including indig-enous peoples, local communities, urban populations,youth and the private sector, and ensuring their substan-tive input to the programme. Participants agreed that pro-tected areas are not just the products of local action, butare profoundly influenced by the activities of people on theother side of the planet. As a result, protected area plan-ning and management have embraced a new paradigm.

This special issue of World Conservation will examinesome of the ideas, wisdom and creative solutions emanat-ing from the Vth World Parks Congress, use them to takestock of where we stand in the history of protected areamanagement, and consider how we should proceed,together.

Yolanda Kakabadse is President of IUCN.

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new eraA

for protected areas

A milestone in Durban


WORLD PARKS CONGRESSA

NE

W E

RA

...we have many moreresponsibilities to society thanwe did when our protectedareas covered just three or fourpercent, and we can expectsociety to put more demandson us. How we define the rightbalance between saving natureand supporting developmentwill perhaps be our biggestchallenge here in Durban.

Yolanda Kakabadse,IUCN President

We know that the key to asustainable future forProtected Areas lies in thedevelopment ofpartnerships. It is onlythrough alliances andpartnerships that protectedareas can be made relevantto the needs of society.Nelson Mandela, World Parks

Congress Co-Patron

Mere exhortations to poor people to value andrespect the ecosystems contained within nationalparks will not succeed. It is critically importantthat alternative means of livelihood be found forthe poor of the world, so that they are not forcedto act in a manner that undermines the globaleffort to protect these ecosystems, driven byhunger and underdevelopment.

South African President Thabo Mbeki

There is no one-size-fits-all solution to themanagement of protected areas. Some areasdemand strict protection, hard edges and anabsence of human activity. Others require arecognition that people are part of theecosystem and that excluding them can becounterproductive as well as unjust.

Message from Kofi Annan, United NationsSecretary-General, delivered by Klaus Töpfer,

Executive Director of UNEP

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IUCN Patron and Congress Co-Patron Her MajestyQueen Noor highlighted the role of protected areas inpromoting peace and security.

A highlight of the opening ceremony was a theatricalperformance, ‘The African Story Line’.

Opening Ceremony

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We celebrated many wonderfulachievements at the Vth IUCN WorldParks Congress – not least the an-nouncement of several outstandingnew protected areas. But what are thekey themes which help Durban standout against the backdrop of other Con-gresses? This short piece offers somepreliminary thoughts on four of itssignificant attainments.

Telling targetsAccording to the UN List of ProtectedAreas, launched at the Congress, thereare now more than 100,000 protectedareas across the globe, covering nearly19 million sq km. This is greater thanthe total area under permanent crops,or 12% of the Earth’s surface. This isremarkable, considering that theworld had only one protected area 131years ago (1872) when Yellowstone Na-tional Park was created. Protection ofmany of the world’s biomes now ex-ceeds the 10% target set by the WorldParks Congress in Caracas a decadeago. Protected area advocates can feeljustly proud of these successes in spiteof the many challenges which remain.

Coming of ageUnder the overarching theme of ‘Ben-efits beyond Boundaries’, Congressparticipants had the opportunity toshowcase the relevance of protectedareas to sustainable development aswell as biodiversity conservation. To-day we have a much better grasp of therole of protected areas in providingkey ecological services – such as safe-guarding our water supplies throughwatershed protection or mitigatingand adapting to climate change – aswell as their wealth of other biologi-cal, economic, cultural and spiritualvalues. This shift in focus will help usshake a common misperception thatprotected areas are disconnected is-lands of conservation for the exclusiveuse of the privileged few. We suc-ceeded in demonstrating their valuesas vital and integral elements of liv-ing land and seascapes – essential tothe welfare of all.

Parks, people and povertyWe also made great progress in con-fronting the social inadequacies ofpast conservation approaches, espe-cially those which curtailed access toresources critical to livelihoods of lo-cal communities. With reference to theMillennium Development Goals, theRecommendation on Poverty and Pro-tected Areas made it clear that pro-tected areas should strive to reducepoverty at the local level, and at thevery minimum not contribute to pov-erty. While community involvementin parks will not solve all conservationproblems, and parks can not solve allpoverty problems, we should gladlyacknowledge the many advances be-ing made on the conservation/socialjustice agenda to date.

In Durban, our efforts to engagewith and share experiences with rep-resentatives of local communitieshelped us to foster mutual under-standing and expand this importantconstituency of protected areas.

Growing political maturity

The Vth World Parks Congress providedyet another example of IUCN’s con-vening power – its capacity to bringdiverse stakeholders to the table todiscuss conservation and naturalresource issues from multipleperspectives. Society’s capacity tocraft forward-looking solutions to

Four main achievementsAchim Steiner

protected area problems is shaped bydeepening and sharing these perspec-tives, as well as by learning how tomanage trade-offs between differentinterest groups. This budding conven-ing power reflects the growing politi-cal maturity of our Union – one that iswilling to tackle difference, com-plexity and uncertainty in a changingworld. This is no trivial achievement,and one that will underpin our futuresuccesses.

These four achievements cannot becredited to any particular element ofthe Union, but reflect the expertiseand dynamism of all our members,Commissions and Secretariat staff. Itis by acting together, as a Union, thatwe generate creative synergies for theconservation community and IUCNto become a major world actor for bio-diversity, protected areas and liveli-hoods in the 21st century.

Nevertheless, specific words of ap-preciation should be extended to thevolunteers of IUCN’s World Commis-sion on Protected Areas, many ofwhom dedicated more than two yearsto prepare for Durban. In particular, Iwould like to pay tribute to WCPAChair Kenton Miller and to DavidSheppard who have dedicated a largepart of their careers to IUCN andWCPA.

Achim Steiner is Director General ofIUCN. Visit www.iucn.org

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IUCN Director General Achim Steiner addresses the Opening Ceremony.


WORLD PARKS CONGRESS

Our view of what a protected area is,what it is for and how it should be runhave all changed fundamentally sincethe first international conference onnational parks (in effect the first WorldParks Congress) held in Seattle, USA,in 1962. We can trace that changethrough decisions of the congressesover time. What has emerged by2003 is a new paradigm for protectedareas, one that dominated debate inDurban.

The model that prevailed 40 yearsago was developed in a few countries,notably the United States, and thenreplicated in many parts of the world:magnificent, wild places set aside fornature, and for visitors to enjoy. “Theidea of setting land aside for nationalparks arises from an old and basic

human need, one that has been withus since man (sic) first wonderedabout the colours of an ancient sun-set or joined his companions in mar-velling at the symmetry of a flight ofgeese as they winged their way to adistant nesting ground” said ConradWirth at Seattle. The main character-istics of this view of a protected areaare summarised in the middle columnin Table 1 below.

New trends and forcesIf we analyse the recommendations –see Table 2 – of all five parks con-gresses, several trends are evident.This table is a very brief summary ofwhat has to be a rather crude analysis(to take just one example of how hardit can be to assign recommendations,

is support for the CBD about biodiver-sity or international conventions?).However, what stands out are the nar-row perspectives of the 1960s and1970s. But after the watershed thirdcongress in Bali, more importance wasgiven to people-related issues: devel-opment, partnerships, indigenousgroups, local communities.

On the other hand, education, sci-ence and research, at least in therather limited sense used in the past,has become relatively less prominentin the recommendations adopted bythe protected area community. By2003, new issues, like management ef-fectiveness, governance and links tourban society, have come to the fore.

The forces that have driven thischange are numerous, powerful and

A modern paradigmAdrian Phillips

As it was: protected areas were...

Objectives

Governance

Local people

Wider context

Perceptions

TOPIC

Managementtechniques

As it is: protected areas are...

Finance

Set aside for conservationEstablished mainly for spectacular wildlife

and scenic protectionManaged mainly for visitors and touristsValued as wildernessAbout protection

Run also with social and economic objectivesOften set up for scientific, economic and

cultural reasonsTourism a means to help local economiesValued for the cultural importance of so-called

"wilderness"Also about restoration and rehabilitation

Run by central government Run by many partners

Planned and managed against peopleManaged without regard to local opinions

Run with, for, and in some cases by localpeople

Managed to meet the needs of local people

Developed separatelyManaged as ‘islands’

Planned as part of national, regional andinternational systems

Developed as ‘networks’ (strictly protectedcores, buffered and linked by greencorridors)

Viewed primarily as a national assetViewed only as a national concern

Viewed also as a community assetViewed also as an international concern

Managed reactively within short timescaleManaged in a technocratic way

Managed adaptivelyManaged with political sensitivity

Paid for by taxpayer

Managed by multi-skilled individualsDrawing on local knowledge

Table 1. Old and new paradigms of protected areas

Managementskills

Managed by scientists and natural resourceexperts

Expert led

Paid for from many sources



complex. They arise from improvedscientific understanding, greater cul-tural and social awareness, the ac-knowledgement of human rights,political developments, general devel-opments in management practice,technological advances and economicforces.

To give a few examples: we havelearnt from conservation science thatmany protected areas are too small todo the job asked of them; in manycountries, power and responsibilityare being devolved from the centre,and with it power and responsibilityfor protected areas; the growing rec-ognition of the human and politicalrights of indigenous peoples hasspilled over into a new understandingof the relationship between suchgroups and protected areas; and de-velopments in the management of thecorporate sector have affected ourview of what the task of protected areamanagement entails. All in all, it isnow a far more complex world inwhich to try to run protected areas,and the nature of their managementhas to reflect this.

So, by the time we met in Durban,it was evident that a wholly new para-digm of a protected area, and of itsmanagement, had emerged. This issummarised in the right hand columnof Table 1.

Such analysis is fully borne out bythe growth sectors of the protectedareas business – the areas, that is,where debate is most lively and inno-vation most evident. These were re-flected in some of the stream topicsselected for Durban: linkages in thelandscape, community and equity,governance, sustainable finance,building support, capacity develop-ment and management effectiveness.The agenda for Durban was not onlychallenging, but entirely relevant tothe new paradigm.

Adrian Phillips, former Chair of WCPA(1994-2000), is now IUCN Senior

Adviser on World Heritage.

Ecosystem coverage (including marine)

Standards, definitions, information

Threats, pressures, global change

Technical assistance, finance

Interpretation, education

Species, genetic resources, biodiversity

Research, science

Training, capacity building

Conventions, transboundary, etc.

Building support, partnerships

Linkages and frameworks

People (including indigenous peoples)

Governance

Management effectiveness

Urban

Spiritual

1

3

1

2

1

1

2

4

1

4

2

1

–

–

3

3

2

2

3

3

1

1

1

2003 – 5th

Congress1962 – 1st

CongressTOPICS

Table 2. Changing priorities as shown in Recommendationsadopted by first and most recent World Parks Congresses

Paradigms,old and new

Above: Yosemite, a World Heritagesite in the USA, was one of the firstarchetypal National Parks, establishedin the 19th century.

Left: a village within Nam Et NationalProtected Area (NPA), Laos. All NPAsin Laos are IUCN Category VI(managed resource areas),containing both resident communitiesand high biodiversity conservationvalues.

1 = lowest priority

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As we enter the new millennium thereis compelling statistical evidence pre-sented in the 2003 United Nations Listof Protected Areas, launched at the Vth

IUCN World Parks Congress, that con-crete action has been taken by govern-ments and others to set asidenetworks of protected areas. The 2003list records more than 100,000 sitescovering 18.8 million km2. The globalconservation estate has grown enor-mously since the first UN List waspublished in 1962, with just over 1,000protected areas recorded – althoughwe know that there were almost 10,000protected areas worldwide.

At the broad biome level, signifi-cant progress has been made, al-though some biomes, including lakesystems (the large lakes of the worlddefined by Udvardy: Aral Sea, Ladoga,Baikal, Rudolf, Victoria, Tanganyika,Malawi, Titicaca, and the Great Lakes)and temperate grasslands, remainpoorly represented. Of the total areaprotected, it is estimated that 17.1 mil-lion km2 constitute terrestrial pro-tected areas, or 11.5% of the globalland surface. Marine areas are

significantly under-represented in theglobal protected area system. Only1.64 million km2 of protected areas aremarine – an estimated 0.5% of theworld’s oceans and less than one-tenth of the overall total.

A summary of the global statisticsin the 2003 UN List of Protected Areasis presented in Figure 1 and Table 1.Figure 1 also shows the key events overthe past 40 years that have led togreater understanding of the impor-tance of protected areas as a funda-mental conservation mechanism.

Another critical factor has been theexpansion of the World Commissionon Protected Areas network and thetechnical and scientific outputs fromWorld Parks Congresses held in 1972,1982 and 1992. As a result, nature con-servation has become one of the mostimportant human activities on theplanet, and the area under protectionnow exceeds the total area of perma-nent crops and arable land (Figure 2).

The 2003 figures highlight the im-portance of the IUCN managementcategories in establishing an inter-national standard for classifying

protected areas, and the extent towhich they are being applied by gov-ernments and other bodies that man-age protected areas. The overview ofglobal statistics indicates that almost67% of the world’s protected areashave been assigned an IUCN manage-ment category, covering 81% of thetotal area protected.

Among the categorized sites, thelargest number lie within Category IV(Habitat/Species Management Area)and Category III (Natural Monument).Together they comprise almost 47% ofall protected areas. This is not surpris-ing, since protected areas assigned tothese categories often cover small geo-graphic areas – especially in the caseof Category III.

Turning to category by area, thepicture changes dramatically, withCategory II (National Park) and Cat-egory VI (Managed Resource Pro-tected Area) comprising almost 47% ofall protected areas. National parks, interms of management objectives,have traditionally been established toprotect larger areas at the ecosystemand landscape level. The considerable

Monitoring global commitmentStuart Chape

Figure 1. Cumulative Growth in Protected Areas by 5 Year Increments: 1872–2003

0

Area of sites Number of sitesA

rea

(km

2 )

Num

ber

of s

ites

100,000

80,000

60,000

40,000

20,000

01887 1902 1917 1932 1947 1962 1977 1992 20031872

Year

Key events and periods relating to protected areas after 1959

2003 Vth IUCN World Parks Congress2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development

1992 IVth World Congress on Protected Areas, UN Conferenceon Environment and Development, Agenda 21 adopted,Convention on Biological Diversity adopted

1987 Our Common Future published1982 3rd World Parks Congress1981 World Conservation Strategy published

1972 Stockholm Conference on Human EnvironmentSecond World Conference on National Parks

1959 ECOSOC resolution, first PAs list, 1962 UNGeneral Assembly endorsement of ECOSOCresolution, commitment of periodic UN List process,First World Conference on National Parks

18,000,000

16,000,000

14,000,000

12,000,000

10,000,000

8,000,000

6,000,000

4,000,000

2,000,000



extent of Category VI reflects this cat-egory’s important role in supportingthe sustainable livelihoods of localpeople. Two of the world’s largest pro-tected areas are classified as CategoryVI: the Ar-Rub’al–Khali Wildlife Man-agement Area (640,000 km2) in SaudiArabia and the Great Barrier Reef Ma-rine Park (GBRMP) in Australia(345,400 km2). Together, these twosites account for 22.5% of the totalarea under this category although thetotal area of the GBRMP has been sub-divided into other IUCN categoriesbased on the management objectivesof legally defined zones within thepark.

In addition to national protectedareas, international conventions andagreements have resulted in thestrengthening of protected area net-works within regions and at the glo-bal level. Examples at the regionallevel include the European UnionBirds and Habitats Directives and theBern Convention, leading to the iden-tification of protected areas that con-serve the species and habitats listed inannexes to the agreements throughthe Emerald Network and Natura 2000network. At the international levelthere are now 172 Natural and MixedWorld Heritage Sites, 1313 RamsarSites and 440 Biosphere Reserves.

The announcements made at theVth World Parks Congress by the gov-ernments of Brazil, Madagascar, SouthAfrica and Mozambique to establishnew large protected areas show that itis still possible to set aside large

conservation areas in some countries.The total commitment made by thesecountries will add 158,000 km2 to theglobal conservation estate, includingthe 100,000 km2 Biodiversity Corridorin the Brazilian State of Amapá andmore than 8,000 km2 of new marineprotected areas in South Africa andMozambique.

The importance of regular moni-toring of the global number andextent of protected areas was high-lighted in the Durban Action Plan andRecommendations. The periodic UNList reporting process is underpinnedby the World Database on Protected

Areas (WDPA) maintained by UNEP-WCMC. A new Memorandum ofUnderstanding between IUCN andUNEP signed at the World Parks Con-gress, and establishment of a consor-tium of WDPA global partners, willensure that the WDPA provides evenmore effective support for globalmonitoring efforts.

Stuart Chape is Head of the UNEP-WCMC World Heritage, Ramsar and

Protected Areas Programme.See www.unep-wcmc.org/latenews/

meetings/wpcV/. For more on thecategory system, see page 14.

Figure 2. Protected Areas as Proportion of Global Land Use

Notes:1. Forest and woodland: land under natural or planted stands of trees (Note: this category would also includeprotected areas)2. Permanent pasture: land used permanently (5 years or more) for herbaceous forage crops, either cultivated orgrowing wild (Note: this category would also include protected areas)3. Source: 2003 UN List of Protected Areas4. Arable: land under temporary crops, temporary meadows, market gardens, or temporarily fallow.5. Permanent Crop: land cultivated with crops that occupy the land for long periods and need not be replanted aftereach harvest.Source (except 3.): FAO Production Yearbook (2000 data) www.fao.org/waicent/faostat/agricult/landuse-e.htm

Ia – Strict Nature Reserve

Ib – Wilderness

II – National Park

III – Natural Monument

IV – Habitat/SpeciesManagement Area

V – Protected Landscape/Seascape

VI – Managed ResourceProtected Area

No category

Total

4,731

1,302

3,881

19,833

27,641

6,555

4,123

34,036

102,102

4.6

1.3

3.8

19.4

27.1

6.4

4.0

33.4

100.0

1,033,888

1,015,512

4,413,142

275,432

3,022,515

1,056,008

4,377,091

3,569,820

18,763,407

5.5

5.4

23.6

1.5

16.1

5.6

23.3

19.0

100.0

Table 1. Summary of Global Protected Area Statistics by IUCN Category in 2003

Category No. of sites Proportion of total no.protected areas (%)

Area (km²) Proportion of total areaprotected (%)

26.1%

23.4%

11.5%9.2%

0.9% 0.2%% G

loba

l Lan

d A

rea

30

25

20

15

10

5

0UrbanForest (1) Permanent

Pasture (2)ProtectedAreas (3)

ArableLand (4)

PermanentCrop (5)



This Congress has touched on anddealt with the conservation andpreservation of nature. In thismanner, delegates from so manydifferent countries have now joinedforces as the custodial family of theEarth and its precious resources....They understand that if we disregardthe state of world conservation asirrelevant, then we sow the seeds ofmankind's eventual demise.

His Majesty King Goodwill Zwelithiniof the Zulu Nation

Claude Martin, WWF Director General,recognised the progress achieved in Africasince the Caracas Congress, and offered a“gift to the Earth” certificate to MarcRavalomanana, President of Madagascar,and Pape Diouf, Minister of Fisheries ofSenegal (pictured), on behalf of PresidentAbdoulaye Wade.

Left to right: Hon. Mohammed Valli Moosa, South African Minister of EnvironmentalAffairs and Tourism, HM King Goodwill Zwelithini of the Zulu Nation, HM OsagyefuoAmoatia Ofori Panin, King of Akyem Abuakwa and Presidential Advisor on Environ-ment, Ghana, and HE Marc Ravalomanana, President of Madagascar. PresidentRavalomanana received an award for progress achieved in conservation from WWF(see below).

Theatrical presentations, music anddancing by South African performers

brightened the Congress. Above: adrama on protected area issues by

Vukani; right: Hugh Masakela.

Special session on

The discussions here were as rich asmany of our National Parks. For SouthAfrica, this is a very successfulconference. It has translated manyissues, such as sustainablelivelihoods, sharing of benefits andthe role of the private sector, thatcame out of the World Summit onSustainable Development, intoconcrete goals and actions for themanagement of parks and reserves.

South African Minister ofEnvironmental Affairs and Tourism

Hon. Mohammed Valli Moosa

Africa

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About one third of the world’s 102,102protected areas are found in Africa.The various national parks, wildernessareas, multiple use and other types ofreserves, provide water, protect soilsand filter air. They offer natural mate-rials to meet the basic needs of mil-lions of people who depend on theland for their livelihood. They hold thepromise of improving foods andmedicines from their unexplored ge-netic resources. They recycle nutri-ents for production of food and fibreand they mitigate the effects of natu-ral disasters like drought and floodsthrough their protection of importantwater catchments. And they attracttourists from around the world by themillions.

But the legacy of African protectedareas, which are of such high value toits people and their livelihoods, is farfrom secure. These places are at riskas never before.

The Vth IUCN World Parks Congressgave African leaders and park manag-ers an opportunity to explore and pro-pose new and innovative policies,strategies and practices to adapt pro-tected areas to their rapidly changingcontinent.

African Convention:a fresh approachThe Congress was also an ideal oppor-tunity to draw international attentionto a recent milestone in Africanconservation: the revision of, and re-commitment to, the 1968 African Con-vention on the Conservation of Natureand Natural Resources. The new Con-vention, approved in July 2003 by theAfrican Union, establishes a ‘roadmap’ for African countries to managetheir natural resources more sus-tainably. Embedded within it is theconcept of conservation areas, incor-porating the IUCN Protected Area

Management Categories,and the Congress stronglyencouraged its implementa-tion.

APAI: a bright visionTwo major problems cast adark cloud over conservationon the African continent.One is the inability of insti-tutions charged with respon-sibility for wildlife resourcesto carry out their mandateseffectively, and the inabilityof governments to devote fi-nancial resources to conserv-ing biodiversity in the face ofpoverty, population growth,wars, famines, epidemics,desertification and other ca-tastrophes. The interna-tional community must acturgently before large num-bers of species of fauna andflora become extinct, andunique ecosystems irretriev-ably collapse.

To date more than twentydifferent strategies andaction plans for Protected

Areas, species or groups of specieshave been prepared, yet there has notbeen any continent-wide mechanismfor coordinating all these initiatives.This is the void that the African Pro-tected Areas Initiative (APAI) is ex-pected to fill.

APAI is a new approach to strength-ening wildlife management institu-tions by improving their humancapacity and the availability offinancial resources to support theiractivities. This includes support totraditional African institutions, capac-ity building, and establishment of theAfrican Protected Areas Trust Fund(APATF) to ensure a reliable and pre-dictable flow of resources to protectedareas in perpetuity. I sometimes de-scribe it as a kind of African “MarshallPlan” for protected areas, helping tosecure resources and channeling themto critical areas.

APAI has already succeeded in plac-ing protected areas on the continent’shighest political agenda, and benefitsfrom the firm endorsement of theHeads of State of the African Union(AU), its status as part of the New Part-nership for African Development(NEPAD) environment action planadopted by the African Ministers Con-ference on the Environment, and thesupport of the World Parks Congress.

The APAI vision operates at all lev-els, from local to national to regionalacross the continent, to safeguard Af-rica’s natural treasures. It is an initia-tive from which all Africans, and theworld, can take hope.

W.J.Lusigi, Senior Advisor,Global Environment Facility,

The World Bank, Washington DC

African initiativesWalter J. Lusigi

Centre of Excellence

During the congress the IUCNCommission on EnvironmentalLaw recognised the Mandela In-stitute, School of Law, Universityof Witwatersrand as a centre ofexcellence in water law.

The Durban Consensus

The World Parks Congress adopted theDurban Consensus on African ProtectedAreas for the New Millennium, with a ten-point agenda for action:1. Build public support.2. Make protected areas a central part of

poverty reduction strategies.3. Improve regional and national conser-

vation policies.4. Mainstream protected areas in

national and regional developmentplanning.

5. Strengthen technical capacity andfinancial support for management ofprotected areas at the national level.

6. Improve management of existingprotected areas.

7. Improve representation and coverageof biodiversity in protected areas.

8. Target threatened species.9. Promote landscape approaches to

protected area establishment andmanagement.

10. Foster international recognition forAfrican protected areas.


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The fifth great global gathering onprotected area is now history. So, wasthe Durban World Parks Congress re-ally any different from its predeces-sors? And will it make a real differencefor protected areas, for biodiversityand for the people of the world?

Protected areas have yet to registeras important instruments in securingpoverty reduction and they have yetto be significant in the global agendaof biodiversity conservation. So wedeliberately set out to connect withthese wider global agendas. All partici-pants approved the Durban Accord as‘A Global Commitment for People andEarth’s Protected Areas’. At the heartof the Accord is a new paradigm:

“The maintenance and enhance-ment of our core conservationgoals, equitably sharing them with theinterests of all affected people. In thisway synergy between conservation,the maintenance of life supportsystems and sustainable developmentis forged. We see protected areas asvital means to achieve this synergyefficiently and cost-effectively. We seeprotected areas as providers ofbenefits beyond boundaries – beyondtheir boundaries on a map, beyondthe boundaries of nation states, acrosssocieties, genders and generations.”

These are not just more fine words.They reflect a consensus with: repre-sentatives of indigenous peoples, mo-bile peoples and local communitieswho have been so let down in the past,younger generations who have beenignored, business and industry whichhave been tarnished only as despoil-ers, politicians and government

ministers who alwaysseemed to have otherpriorities.

Surely this means di-luting the basic purposeof protected areas? Notin the view of partici-pants. The new para-digm does not mean‘dumbing down’ pro-tected areas or sellingtheir birthright. Tomany of us, like myself,with a long-standingprofessional and per-sonal commitment toprotected areas, it is theessential step to ensurethat protected areas aretreasured and cared for,and their benefits re-ceived by all parts of society. It defi-nitely means improving managementand building capacity to cope withand adapt to change, and completingthe global systems within an ecosys-tem framework. It means also that wemust move outwards, beyond the bas-tions of protection, to promote thebenefits and argue for and achievechanges in the policies, programmes,resource allocation decisions and allof the other activities which currentlydegrade and downgrade protectedareas.

We do have a lot to celebrate sincethe last gathering in Caracas 11 yearsago, most notably surpassing the 10%coverage target of protected areas onland. However, the Accord noted theurgency to address 16 key concerns,not least, loss of species diversity,

habitat fragmentation, and unpro-tected high seas, coastal and freshwaters. Conflicts also persist over theresource exploitation and the loss ofrights and voice of local communities.So does concern about the changesimpacting on protected areas: climatechange, globalization, devolution andmany others.

On our own we cannot overcomethe concerns and bring the new para-digm into operation. So the Accordsets out a “Call for Commitment andAction” on 24 items from the imple-mentation of the WSSD and the Mil-lennium Development Declaration toredirecting perverse subsidies and in-creasing resources.

To persuade others of the commit-ment and action needed then we musthave outreach:

! Outreach from the core of sites ofspecial protection to the surround-ing environment as the linkagesare of vital importance in maintain-ing and enhancing biological andlandscape diversity.

! Outreach to the surrounding hu-man communities whose liveli-hoods and often their survival

The Durban Accord and Action Plan

Reaching outRoger Crofts

Five elements of the Durban Accord

1. Linking to international development and biodiversity agendas2. Expanding, safeguarding and strengthening the system3. Mainstreaming into programmes, policies and resource allocation4. Incorporating rights, interests and aspirations of women, younger

generations, indigenous peoples…5. Increasing positive and reducing negative financial flows

Clearing for agriculture on the edge of a protected areain Laos. The new paradigm means that we must lookbeyond the boundaries of protected areas to changeharmful policies and activities.

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depends on the proper functioningof the protected areas.

! Outreach to the wider communi-ties of interest whose aspirationsand motivation worry us andwhose policies, programmes, insti-tutional cultures, resource alloca-tion and actions have profoundeffects on the long-term health ofprotected areas.

! Outreach to the far-off communi-ties who benefit from the very ex-istence of protected areas butwhose patterns of consumptioncan have a detrimental effect.

The Accord and Action Plan remindus that, as we reach out to other con-stituencies, we have to understandtheir position and speak in languagethey understand. Communication,negotiation and conflict resolutionwill have to become an even greaterpart of our toolkit in the future. HenceOur Pledge

“Our strongest commitmentswill fail if we neglect to maintainavenues for open dialogue. Suchdialogue thrives in a climate ofhumility, credibility and trust.Towards this end we pledge tofacilitate understanding andcollaboration. We pledge to en-gage and embrace all constitu-encies. We pledge to share ourvision that a sustainable futurefor humankind depends on acaring partnership with nature.We pledge to bequeath pro-tected areas, as precious herit-age, to future generations.”

Many people have contributed tothe development of the Accord andthe Action Plan. My thanks to them all,and especially to my colleagues andfriends on the Working Group and toScottish Natural Heritage.

The Durban Accord and ActionPlan present a compelling case forjoint action needed to achieve the newparadigm. Now is the time to sign thePledge and reach out to all constitu-encies to promote the benefits and toact on this challenging agenda. In10 years we will assess how well wehave progressed.

Roger Crofts, Chair,Durban Accord Working Group

Recommendations

A bold stepSteve Edwards

The Durban Recommendations rep-resent a bold step toward addressingand resolving some of the major con-troversies and conflicts confronted byprotected area professionals.

If you take a broad view of the Dur-ban recommendations, two patternsemerge. The first reflects the need toengage fully with those people livingin and around protected areas, andwhenever possible include them inmanagement decision-making. Thesecond signals the collective recogni-tion that protected areas play a rolethat goes far beyond traditional bio-diversity conservation to include theirdirect contributions to maintainingthe quality of our soil and water, pre-serving whole ecosystems, providingessential economic resources, provid-ing spiritual sustenance and promot-ing peace between nations.

As for what made news in Durban,I would point to four recommenda-tions that stand above the rest andrepresent breakthroughs in our ap-proach to protected areas.

(1) Marine protected areas. Per-haps the single most influential rec-ommendation will turn out to be thaton High Seas Protected Areas, whichsets the stage for addressing enor-mous areas of the planet which lie be-yond national jurisdictions, andwhich confronts the overarching is-sues of deep sea fisheries, depletion ofmarine resources and extraction of

seabed minerals. Although the Con-gress backed away from setting spe-cific targets, it did launch a processthat recognises the value of high seasecosystems, bolstered by the weightand authority that comes from havingbeen produced by technical expertsfrom government agencies, NGOs andparks authorities all over the worldacting in their personal capacity.

(2) Community conserved areas(CCAs). Such areas as traditionalhunting grounds or sacred sites whichhave not been formally gazetted bygovernments may have enjoyed localprotection for centuries, so that as-signing them protected area statuswould simply be formalizing long-standing practice. But some govern-ments fear that these sites might drawresources from state-financed parks,while other sectors of the PA commu-nity worry that recognising them isbut a first step toward the wholesaleprivatization of protected areas.

The recommendation recognisesthat communities need support andfacilitation to respond to the threatsto their CCAs, and the need to em-power people to formalize their com-mitment to maintain natural areas asa component of their community life.

(3) Mining proved to be a polariz-ing issue, as always (see page 19).Nevertheless, the Congress adopted arecommendation prepared inconsultation with protected area

Making waves: in perhaps its most influential decision, the Congress set the stage forconservation of the high seas.

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Categorizingprotected areasNigel Dudley and Sue Stolton

professionals and the ICMM callingfor continuation of the dialogue be-tween industry and the protected areacommunity. It underscores the valu-able role industry can play in conserv-ing biodiversity and urges greaterengagement of industry with the pro-tected area community. Perhaps givensuch good faith on both sides, this di-visive issue can find some degree ofresolution.

(4) Protected areas and poverty.There are still many protected areaprofessionals who hold strongly to thebelief that the status of people beyondthe immediate vicinity of the pro-tected area is of little or no concern.The recommendation reflects the con-viction that the international conser-vation community must reach out tothese professionals and help themaddress the social issues which affectprotected areas.

We are already firmly implantedwithin the new paradigm of PAmanagement that says the humandimension is an obligatory part ofany conservation strategy if it is tosucceed.

Persuasive professionalismIt remains to be seen what govern-ments and protected area agencies dowith the Durban recommendations.They represent the full force of profes-sional expertise in protected areamanagement, and for this reason theyshould be quite persuasive. If all goes

IUCN has developed a range of differ-ent categories to define the manage-ment of protected areas. But how welldo they work?

Since 1994, IUCN has encouragedgovernments to assign protected areasto one of six categories, distinguishedby their management objectives. Thecategories, agreed after exhaustivenegotiations, are used as the basis forclassification in the UN List of Pro-tected Areas, compiled by the UNEP-World Conservation MonitoringCentre. They cover the range of pro-tected areas, from strict reserves toprotected landscapes where biodiver-sity conservation takes place along-side living communities.

Developing usesFar more than just a statistical tool, thecategories go to the heart of IUCN’smission, laying out the suite of man-agement activities that together de-fine a protected area network, andhelping to integrate this into the widerlandscape. The system is potentiallythe key to promoting internationalunderstanding of protected areas, andcan be used to prioritize actions andraise management standards.

Although they started as a way ofdefining different protected areas, thecategories have since been stretchedinto many other uses: for example asa basis of legislation, a managementtool and for analysing data.

Over the past eighteen months, theSpeaking a Common Language (SaCL)project has been reviewing the catego-ries in collaboration with the WorldCommission on Protected Areas(WCPA), the University of Cardiff inWales and sponsors from both theNGO and industrial sector. The projecthas used a range of case studies to lookat how the categories have been im-plemented in forests, marine areas,with respect to mining, and so on.

Some confusionOne early finding is that use of the cat-egories to define forest protected ar-eas has led to confusion, particularlywith respect to the 2000 Forest Re-sources Assessment carried out by theUN Economic Commission forEurope (UNECE) and the Food and

well they will be institutionalized ininternational instruments such as theConvention on Biological Diversity,and – with the approval of IUCN mem-bers – incorporated into IUCN policyand programmes at next year’s WorldConservation Congress.

Unlike the Caracas Recommenda-tions, which tended to be statements

of vision and intent, the Durban rec-ommendations are strong, precise,focused, action-oriented, and – withvery few exceptions – technically andscientifically rigorous. They don’t justsuggest a direction for the future, butdraw a map and mark the way.

Steve Edwards, IUCN Senior Advisor

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These poverty-stricken villagers in India depend on timber from their forests. TheDurban recommendations call on protected area professionals to take social issuesinto account.



Agriculture Organization of theUnited Nations (FAO), where coun-tries varied widely in their under-standing of what constituted aprotected area in forests. As a result,the IUCN Forest Conservation Pro-gramme is cooperating with WCPAand with interested bodies such asUNECE and the Ministerial Confer-ence on the Protection of Forests inEurope, to develop more precise guid-ance for the use of IUCN’s protectedarea categories for forests. The draftguidelines should be ready byDecember 2003.

United in controversyConcern about mining within pro-tected areas persuaded IUCN mem-bers to propose a recommendation atthe 2000 World Conservation Con-gress which, among other things,asked governments to ban mining inCategory I-IV protected areas (seebox). This would eliminate around sixper cent of the Earth’s land area frommining activities, including fossil fuelextraction. As a result of the recom-mendation, the industry and NGOshave begun talking together far morethan in the past.

In relation to the SaCL project,these discussions have raised anumber of important questions aboutthe use of the categories, including:! Are categories applied correctly

and consistently?! Can category assignments be

challenged?

! Should there be a link between ef-fective protected area managementand the categories?Other issues that have emerged

from this debate relate to fears of abacklash against conservation if therecommendation is too rigidly ap-plied, and questions about how min-ing can be integrated with broad-scaleconservation.

Moving forwardThe role of the IUCN categories was amajor area of discussion at the WorldParks Congress in Durban. As a resulta recommendation (5.19) reaffirmed

Ningaloo Marine Park, Western Australia is categorized as both IUCN Category V (Statejurisdiction) and VI (Commonwealth jurisdiction).

The IUCN categories help define what makes up a protected area – all the way fromstrict reserves to living landscapes, such as the Category V Snowdonia National Park inWales. Pictured: Bryn Cader Faner, one of the finest bronze age monuments in Wales.

the importance of the categories andadvocated the production of a revisedand updated version of the 1994guidelines, which would include astronger framework for assignmentand verification of the categories. Therecommendation also suggested thedevelopment of awareness raising/ca-pacity building and monitoring/re-search programmes and called for theConvention on Biological Diversity torecognise the IUCN categories as thebasis for national data collection andreporting.

The SaCL project is currently final-izing its report, which will includerecommendations for a programme ofwork to be considered at the 3rd IUCNWorld Conservation Congress in 2004.If you would like to comment on thecategories or the project’s findingsplease visit the project web site (seebelow).

Sue Stolton and Nigel Dudleyare environmental consultants.

Visit: [email protected] details of the study and case

studies can be found atwww.cardiff.ac.uk/cplan/sacl/

The categories are defined indetail in Guidelines for ProtectedAreas Management Categoriespublished by IUCN in 1994. Seehttp: / /www.unep-wcmc.org/protected_areas/categories/

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Events and awardsThe Durban Congress served as a catalyst and launching padfor a number of major protected area initiatives and products.

Participants enjoyed a traditional Fijian communitymeeting “Kava Chat”.

Journalists in the making

Twelve journalists from twelve countries across the globe participatedin a training course on environmental reporting held at the DurbanCongress and sponsored by the Reuters Foundation, IUCN, and theGerman-based Bellagio Forum for Sustainable Development.

Biosafety Protocolin force

On 11 September HamdallahZedan, Executive Secretary ofthe Convention on BiologicalDiversity, presided over acelebration of the entry intoforce of the CartagenaProtocol on Biosafety, the firstlegally binding internationalagreement governing thetransboundary movement ofliving modified organisms.

Cooperation on migratory species

IUCN Director General Achim Steiner and Arnulf Müller-Helmbrecht, Executive Secretary of the Convention onMigratory Species, signed a landmark agreement thatprovides a framework for IUCN’s contribution toimplementing the Convention.

Hospitality

A Bedouin tent atthe conferencecentre treated

delegates to teaand performancesof their traditional

dances.

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Book launch

The new edition of the book Linkages in theLandscape: The Role of Corridors and

Connectivity in Wildlife Conservation,published by the IUCN Forest Conservation

Programme, was launched at theCongress. On the left is Hillary Masundire,

Chair of the IUCN Commission onEcosystem Management.

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Congress Expo

The exhibitions treated visitors to amyriad of colours, scents andsounds. Left: IUCN’s Miguel Araujoand actress Hayden Panettière, thenew Ambassador for the IUCN RedList Collection.

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New protected areasThe President of Madagascar committed to an increasein the total area protected in Madagascar from 1,700,000to 6,000,000 ha in the next five years by strengtheningthe existing system and creating numerous new sites.This will bring the area under protection to 10% in 2008.

The Government of South Africa will exempt all formallyprotected areas from land taxes, is working with privatelandowners to bring private conservation land undergovernment protection, and plans to establish five newnational parks bringing another 130,000 ha under pro-tection.

The State government of Amazonas, Brazil, announcedthe creation of six new protected areas totaling an areaequivalent to Belgium or Costa Rica.

The MAVA Foundation pledged EUR5 million to build anetwork of protected areas on West Africa’s coast.

The Brazilian state of Amapá announced the creation ofa 10 million ha Biodiversity Corridor that covers 71% ofthe state, aided by an investment of US$1.6 million fromConservation International.

Senegal announced the creation of four marine pro-tected areas in Senegal’s coastal zone covering morethan 7,500 sq km, to sustain fisheries and protect biodi-versity.

Six Latin American countries have joined forces withIUCN and other partners to preserve the highland routeknown as the Great Inca Trail. The network of protectedareas will conserve the cultural and natural heritage ofthe ancient empire and sustain the livelihoods of An-dean communities.

Awards for contributions to conservationA number of awards for conservation were presented at the Congress by Kenton Millerand David Sheppard, in deep appreciation of the vision, energy and commitmentshown by individuals in safeguarding the world's protected areas. These includedawards to Gerardo Budowski (left), and to Enrique Beltran Sr, accepted on his behalfby his son (right). Hugh Logan (not pictured) accepted a posthumous award on behalf

of Bing Lucas.

Award to Rangers

To a standing ovation, John Makomboaccepted an award on behalf of allrangers who have lost their lives in theline of duty.

Marine events

An expert panel convened by the IUCNSpecies Survival Commission (SSC) andGlobal Marine Programme introduced a newproject to overturn the myth that marinespecies are less vulnerable to extinction thanterrestrial species. Another side event onAntarctic marine protected areas discussedthe value of protecting some of the leastdisturbed ecosystems on the planet.

Groupers,like the redhind, arebeingoverfishedaround theworld.

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Fire partnership

IUCN, The Nature Conservancy and WWFInternational joined efforts to establish aGlobal Fire Partnership to preventdestructive forest fires.

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The Government of South Africaannounced at the Congress that it willexempt all formally protected areas fromland taxes. Pictured: Golden GateHighlands National Park.

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Martha Chouchena Rojas

In most countries, establishment ofprotected areas has been the mainstrategy for conservation of biodiver-sity. Since the IVth World Parks Con-gress in 1992 the area underprotection has expanded to cover11.5% of the Earth’s land surface. Thisshould mean that biodiversity is muchbetter protected than it was a decadeago.

But it’s not, because only a smallfraction of the area in question is ef-fectively protected, and there are stillserious gaps in the coverage of someecosystems and species.

The challenges are immense giventhe direct threats to protected areasresulting from habitat loss, fragmen-tation, unsustainable exploitation,and invasive species.

Moreover, there is an overwhelm-ing lack of the capacity, policies, in-centives and mechanisms to bringabout an equitable distribution ofcosts and benefits necessary to ensurethat protected areas are effectivelymanaged and conserved in the longterm, particularly in the face of globalchange.

New opportunitiesOur opportunities to address thesechallenges are unprecedented, nowthat the international community hasformally acknowledged the key role ofbiodiversity and protected areas forthe well-being of people and, morebroadly, for sustainable development.

Message to the CBD:

A call for commitment

The Conference of the Parties to theCBD set an ambitious goal of achiev-ing by 2010 “a significant reduction ofthe current rate of biodiversity loss atthe global, regional and national lev-els, as a contribution to poverty alle-viation, and to benefit all life on earth”.This goal was reiterated in the Johan-nesburg Plan of Implementationagreed upon at the World Summit forSustainable Development (WSSD).

The plan more specifically identi-fied the creation of a representativenetwork of marine protected areas by2012 and confirmed the essential roleof protected areas in achieving the2010 target and in contributing to sus-tainable development.

The importance of protected areasfor sustainable development is furtherrecognised in the Millennium Devel-opment Goals (MDGs), where the ex-tent of protected area coverage hasbeen established as one of the indica-tors for achieving Goal #7, EnsuringEnvironmental Sustainability.

The focus of the 7th Conference ofthe Parties to the CBD (COP7), to beheld in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 9-20February 2004, provides a unique op-portunity to implement these goals.

Ambitious targetsCOP7 will focus directly on protectedareas, providing an important oppor-tunity to take specific action to imple-ment these key internationally agreedtargets and objectives, and especiallythe 2010 target. This will be the firstchance for the Parties to directly ad-dress implementation of the CBD’sprovisions on protected areas.

The Durban Congress is sending astrong statement of support to COP7,and the message that a representativeand effectively managed protectedarea system is crucial to achieve theobjectives of the Convention. It urgessignatory States to make a strong poli-tical commitment to contribute effec-tively to achieving the 2010 target.

In particular the Congress asks theCBD to:(1) identify and fill-in the existing gaps

in the global protected area systemon the basis of sound science andtake action to promote the devel-opment of ecological networks,corridors and transboundary pro-tected areas, and to link with effortsto conserve and sustainably usebiological diversity across thebroader landscape/seascape;

The Congress called on the CBD to ensure equitable sharing of the benefits ofprotected areas, particularly with indigenous and local communities. Pictured: wildlifefrom protected areas are important commodities in local markets throughout Asia.

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PALNetThe Protected Areas Learning Network(PALNet), launched at the Congress, will bean interactive, web-based knowledge man-agement tool for protected area managersand stakeholders. In addition to serving PAstakeholders around the world, PALNet willsupport the Convention on Biological Diver-sity in its work relating to protected areas.Find out more at http://www.iucn.org/themes/wcpa/wpc2003/english/outputs/palnet.htm



A few weeks before the Parks Con-gress, an event took place that couldnot escape the attention of the inter-national press and conservation or-ganization. On 20 August 2003 theInternational Council on Mining andMetals (ICMM) – comprised of 15 ofthe world’s largest mining and metalproducing companies – announcedthat its corporate members have com-mitted ‘not to explore or mine in WorldHeritage properties’ and to take allpossible steps to ensure that opera-tions are not incompatible with theoutstanding universal values of WorldHeritage properties.

This was an important and auspi-cious step on the road to private sec-tor environmental responsibility. Tomany in the conservation world, itbrought welcome cheer and renewedoptimism. Others responded moreguardedly. They argued that it shouldhave happened anyway and long ago,and that many critical issues includ-ing those of legacy and restitution re-mained to be addressed.

Everyone, however, appreciatedthis statement of commitment anddemonstration of leadership by ICMMand hoped that it would set theindustry on a steady path towards

environmental excellence. In thewords of Achim Steiner, Director Gen-eral of IUCN, “the ICMM recognitionof the World Heritage sites is a wel-come beginning,” which alluded tothe long journey ahead.

Recognising the needsThe negative effects of mining on theenvironment have been long recog-nised. Hundreds of thousands ofabandoned mine sites have left thelandscape scarred and charred. Otherassociated negative impacts includepollution of waterways and sea beds,damage to forests and social displace-ment and deprivation. Repairing thedamage takes a lot of time, financialresources and political capital. There-fore these environmental costs arebetter avoided than compensated af-ter the damage is done.

What is less recognised is the de-sire of the leading mining industriesto improve their environmental per-formance, and to make a positive con-tribution to biodiversity conservationand economic and social develop-ment in the communities in whichthey operate. This desire stems froma combination of pressure and moti-vation. The pressure is largely com-ing from the conservation advocacyorganizations demanding the indus-try to stay away from sensitive envi-ronments and ensure net biodiversity

Conservation and the mining industry:

Durban’s vote of confidenceMohammad Rafiq

Environmental damage is inherent in mineral exploration and extraction. Spurred bypressure and motivation, the mining industry is starting to change.

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(2) put in place mechanisms to ensurethe necessary participation and eq-uitable sharing of the benefits ofprotected areas, particularly withindigenous and local communities,and

(3) create the necessary enabling con-ditions, including the developmentof institutional and human capac-ity, supportive policy and legalframeworks that cut across all sec-tors, assessment mechanisms, andmost importantly, the financialsupport to make all this happen.

A sense of urgencyThe CBD promotes the integration ofbiodiversity conservation into eco-nomic development and is thus animportant instrument to promote theeffective conservation of protectedareas. Indeed the Congress has pro-vided a new paradigm in which pro-tected areas are inextricably linked tosustainable development. The CBDprotected area programme of workwill guide national action of the 180parties to the Convention. But na-tional action will not be sufficient. A

global commitment is needed to en-sure that an international enablingenvironment is developed that sup-ports nations’ efforts, especially indeveloping countries, through theprovision of financial resources, tech-nology and the information necessaryto effectively manage the world’s pro-tected areas systems in the long term.

Martha Chouchena Rojas, Head,Policy, Biodiversity and InternationalAgreements Unit. The full text of the

message to the CBD may be found onthe Congress website.



Scenario planning

Stories to tellJeffrey A. McNeely

the primary driving forces that influ-ence them. These included such forcesas economics, social dynamics, demo-graphic changes, politics, technology,and environmental processes.

Scenarios are not predictions or ac-tion plans, much less desired futures,but are devices to stimulate newthinking about the uncertainties we allface. They look beyond the urgent cri-ses that tend to occupy the minds ofprotected area managers on a day-to-day basis, to consider the bigger pic-ture of the many forces that affectprotected areas. Ideally, they will helppolicy makers to devise solutions thatare robust across a wide range of pos-sible futures, rather than simply gen-erate a projection of recent trends.

On this basis, and with input fromquestionnaires sent to a wider net-work of experts, our teams came upwith a few ‘stories to tell’ about possi-ble futures in the year 2023. Ratherthan describe these in more detailhere, I would like to summarize whatI feel are some of the most interestingresults of our discussions.

Sir Winston Churchill told us that “truegenius resides in the capacity forevaluation of uncertain, hazardous,and conflicting information.”

The future inevitably is uncertain,and it looks more hazardous all thetime. But in the absence of genius, wehave on hand some useful planningtools to help us address the challengesthat protected areas will face in thecoming decades. One of the mostproductive of these tools is scenarioplanning.

In April 2003, IUCN convened ameeting to review the major eventsthat have affected protected areas overthe past three decades, and identified

benefits of their operations elsewhere.The motivation comes from the envi-ronmental consciousness of theshareholders and management ofmining companies as a part of the ris-ing societal concern and appreciationfor the environment.

Greater environmental responsibil-ity also appears to be making businesssense as society begins to reward en-vironmental performance of busi-nesses. This recognition eventuallyled to several of the mining businessesand conservation organizations col-laborating on a major study of the sec-tor undertaken by the InternationalInstitute for Environment and Devel-opment (IIED): Mining, Minerals andSustainable Development – BreakingNew Ground which came in time forthe 2002 World Summit on SustainableDevelopment ( WSSD) at Johannes-burg and which inspired many actionsin the lead-up to the summit andthereafter.

A dialogue opensOne such action was an agreement byIUCN and the International Council ofMining and Metals (ICMM) to a dia-logue on discussing a full range of is-sues with the objective of enhancingthe contribution of the mining indus-try to biodiversity conservation andprotected areas.

The August announcement byICMM promising to put World Herit-age sites off-limits to mining was a keyoutcome of the dialogue process. Inthis announcement, ICMM also com-mitted to working with IUCN tostrengthen its system of protected ar-eas, and stated that improvements inthis system will lead to recognition ofother categories of protected areas as‘no-go’ areas. The ICMM is also will-ing to work with IUCN, governments,NGOs and others to develop transpar-ent and fair science-based decision-making processes and assessmenttools that better integrate biodiversityconservation and mining into land-use planning and managementstrategies.

Earlier in May, ICMM adopted itsnew Sustainable Development Frame-work/Principles that, besides includ-ing principles related to environmentand biodiversity conservation, also

included a commitment to independ-ently verified reporting. Moreover,work is in hand on developing imple-mentation guidance for the ICMMmember companies to operationalizethe ICMM sustainable developmentprinciples related to environment andbiodiversity.

WPC: more is neededThe mining and protected areas de-bate and by extension the debatearound the IUCN-ICMM dialogueduring the World Parks Congress(WPC) was a stark reminder of theconcerns for environmental damagefrom mining and the desire for themining industry to be more respon-sive to the calls for conserving theworld’s nature. The conservation is-sues in extractive industries were

among the most debated ones at WPC.The discussions ranged widely, someparticipants questioning the veryvalue of a dialogue between the con-servation community and the indus-tries while others were seeking theiractive involvement and financing ofthe protected areas work.

The collective wisdom of the Con-gress is reflected in the Durban Ac-cord, Recommendations and DurbanAction Plan. These documents notonly recognise the continuing needfor a constructive engagement withthe private sector but also expect it toplay a major role in securing the fu-ture of protected areas and the world’sbiodiversity.

Mohammad Rafiq is IUCN SeniorAdvisor, Special Projects.

The Congress on-lineGet a day-to-day summary ofevents at the Vth IUCN WorldParks Congress from theInternational Institute forSustainable Development. Seeh t t p : / / w w w . i i s d . c a / s d /worldparksV/



Stubborn questionsOne striking result, although not re-ally a surprise, was how stubborn ourignorance has proven as it relates tothe major events that will determineour future. Our scenarios exercise leftus barely closer to answering thesequestions:! Will the gap between the rich and

the poor continue to grow, and if so,what are the likely economic andsocial consequences?

! How will societies respond to in-creasing insecurity, whether real orperceived, and how will this influ-ence protected areas?

! Will the benefits from globalizationoutweigh its costs and will the ben-efits be equitably shared?

! How will an increasingly urbanizedpublic perceive the value ofprotected areas, and ‘nature’ ingeneral?

! What scientific discoveries lieahead and will their contributionbe beneficial or ‘inappropriate’?

! What does climate change hold instore for us, and how can protectedareas be best designed and man-aged today to enable them to adaptto possible future change?

! Will any of these potential develop-ments have positive or negative im-pacts on protected areas, and canresponsible agencies take steps topromote the positive elementswhile avoiding the negative ones?

Some emerging conclusionsRegardless of these uncomfortableuncertainties, the scenario makersagreed that a better understanding ofbiodiversity is essential to ensure thatwe can adapt appropriately to chang-ing conditions. Moreover, conservingbiodiversity will depend in part on thesound management of land and wa-ters outside the formal protected areasystem.

The survival of many protected ar-eas may well depend on greater equity,so that the general public is able tobenefit from the protected areasrather than watching them serve asplaygrounds for the wealthy and thosewith no stake in the local community.

Protected area agencies need towork on their self-image, and try to seethemselves as service providers to

society. They need to be much morebusinesslike in their operations, andmore skilled in attracting new re-sources and negotiating with land-owners to ensure that land-usepractices are ecologically compatiblewith protected area objectives. Pro-tected area management should in-creasingly be based on the “user pays”principle, complemented by such in-novative sources as payment for eco-system services, yet ultimatelyunderpinned by a ‘security blanket’ ofpublic funding.

Overall, the exercise demonstratedthat scenario planning can be a use-ful tool in an uncertain world, liftingthe discussion above short-term

Scenarios for 2023

THE TRIPLE BOTTOM LINE: aslocal as possible, as global asnecessary. The global commu-nity has finally understood thatits self-interest will best beserved through considering theplanet to be one world.

THE RAINBOW: local interestdominates. The move towardglobalization has reversed, andprotected areas are managed forthe benefit of local communitieswith both positive and negativeimplications.

BUY YOUR EDEN: privatization for a fortunate few. Economics is thedominant theme in a resource-starved world. The gap between rich andpoor has widened. Many protected areas have been privatized, andmultinationals are competing for the prosperous international ecotourismmarket.

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politics in favour of long-term strate-gies for securing environmental integ-rity. It works best when catalytic,free-thinking groups can look at dif-ferent strategies in “risk free” settings,where protected area managers canmeet with other interest groups to testnew ideas and new approaches, voicecontrasting views and generate inno-vative ideas for facing the unknown.

At its best, it may even producemoments of genius.

Jeffrey A. McNeely isIUCN Chief Scientist.

The full report of the ScenariosWorking Group is available from Jeff

McNeely at IUCN Headquarters.

The ‘Rainbow’scenarioforesees thedomination oflocal interests(left). The ‘Buyyour Eden’scenarioanticipates theprivatization ofprotectedareas for thebenefit ofprosperoustourists(below).


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1The Parks Congress workshops were organized into sevenstreams and three cross-cutting themes (see boxes thissection). Based on their discussions, this is how theywould answer the ‘ten greatest challenges’ posed by thelast Parks Congress in Caracas a decade ago.

1. How have we embraced diversity in our approach toprotected areas?

We have come to appreciate more fully the many differentroles protected areas play in keeping us – and our planet –healthy. These multiple roles have led to a wider diversityof supporters and more sources of financing, thanks to anew awareness of the many benefits of protected areas toa wide variety of additional constituencies, learning fromthe natural resource management systems created byfarming, hunting, gathering, fishing and pastoral commu-nities.

We have seen growth in the diversity of new governancemodels for protected areas, which go well beyond tradi-tional management by a government agency to includeprivate land owners, communities, indigenous peoples,and even the military.

The workshops: what did we learn?Managing diversity

Protected areas are plagued by many new manifestationsof global change, from climate change to demographicupheavals. These pressures are set to increase, and cur-rent management structures – designed decades ago un-der different conditions – are often unable to adapt. Weneed to diversify governance structures, policies, laws (in-cluding customary laws), planning and management in-struments, embracing new ways to manage effectively.

Making management more effective requires bettermanagers, greater capacity of institutions and sufficientresources. We also need to monitor and evaluate our ef-fectiveness so that we can learn and adapt, and becomemore accountable to our constituencies.

We need to build broader support for protected areasby establishing new relationships with new actors: politi-cians, international organizations, training institutions,and other organizations.

2. What innovations have we developed to deliver qual-ity in protected area management?

To deal with the sheer variety of management approachesused in the world, WCPA has developed a management ef-fectiveness evaluation framework that matches assessmentmethods to needs and circumstances of sites and regions.This approach involves appropriate stakeholders includ-ing indigenous and local communities, on-ground parkstaff, NGOs, and experts.

Setting standards

The Congress debated the prospect of minimum stand-ards for effective management and a voluntary certifica-tion system for protected areas. We are also investigatingoptions in cooperation with the private sector, indigenousand local communities and international bodies such asthe UNESCO World Heritage Centre.

We need to encourage organizational cultures that areopen, transparent and flexible. This requires systematicmonitoring, as well as the involvement of communities to-gether with their indicators and methods.

Threats to the integrity of protected areas, to the healthof the wider landscape and to neighbouring communities– such as those posed by unsustainable hunting, alieninvasive species, and climate change – require ourattention.

The IUCN category system (see page 9) has proved itsworth, but further guidance on its application is neededso that it can be more broadly applied.

3. What have we done to empower local people and com-munities?

The participation of indigenous people and local commu-nities is now accepted as a key element for protected areamanagement success. New governance models thatembrace local decision-making not only provide conser-vation benefits, but offer the important social benefit of

Linkages in the Landscape

This workshop stream produced a clear view that thekey to linkages is that Parks exist not as unique islands,but as places in a matrix. A major conclusion was thatPark managers need to focus on the ecological,biophysical and bio-cultural linkages happening onland and sea, because ignoring the matrix is the mostdangerous part of trying to ensure long termconservation. A second conclusion was that protectedareas both need and can provide for ecological,cultural and social resilience if managed in anecologically sustainable land/seascape, and that theyare the “resilience parachutes” of the world,concentrates of biological and cultural diversity.

Peter Bridgewater, Stream Leader

Ria de Mundaka-Guernika is a Ramsar site in the UrdaibaiBiosphere reserve, northern Iberian peninsula, and a classicexample of linkages in action. See www.ramsar.org

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community empowerment. Supporting the conservationobjectives of protected areas, these models should incor-porate respect for collective and human rights, traditionalcultural and religious practices, indigenous languages, tra-ditional knowledge systems and customary laws.

Decentralizing democracy

A remaining challenge is to recognise these rights withindecentralized and democratized governance institutionsfor protected areas, as well as in broader legislation andnational constitutions. Workshops recognised that com-munities will only be empowered equitably when the cur-rent disparities in political power and consumption levelsare redressed, though the impacts on protected areas re-main to be seen.

The new approach also implies that we need to developthe capacities of communities around protected areas toidentify and solve their own problems and take advantageof opportunities related with protected area issues, as wellas develop capacities of other stakeholders to deal withcommunity issues. That means that we need to empowerall stakeholders to fulfil their role in protected area man-agement by:! Building ‘learning organizations’! Supporting learning exchanges for all stakeholders

! Developing “communities of practice” for protectedarea management

! Promoting learner-centred approaches.

4. What steps have we taken to ensure equitable sharingof costs and benefits? And how are we raising the moneywe need?

We have made great progress in recognising that protectedareas provide important goods and services that are of cru-cial importance at all levels – from communities to regionsand the global community. According to some estimates,these benefits can exceed US$3 trillion annually. We neednow to design compensation schemes, profit sharing ar-rangements and payments for ecological services.

Still searching for 80%

The financing of protected areas is woefully inadequate,with only about 20% of identified costs being met and mas-sive shortfalls in management costs across all countries.

We propose an increase in funding to at least US$15 bil-lion over the next five years. Innovative funding mecha-nisms are necessary to meet the costs of managing a globalsystem of protected areas.

Governance

This workshop stream produced a new awareness ofthe need for conservationists and others to collaboratetowards meeting conservation and social equity goals.Governance, with its focus on how decisions are made,who holds power and how that power is shared, is aunifying concept for partnerships which benefit bothconservation and people. It brings accountability andtransparency to protected area management, improvesconservation and provides a means to more equitablyshare benefits. The Congress adopted principles ofgood governance, as well as a governance typologythat adds a new dimension to the IUCN protected areacategories, and called for creation of a multi-Commission task force to advance the governanceagenda.

Jim Johnston, co-Stream Leader withGrazia Borrini-Feyerabend

A meeting to discuss management issues for a communityconserved area in the village of Urok (Bijagos archipelago,Guinea Bissau).

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Spiritual nourishment: a sacred river and its fish are protected bycommunities at Sringeri, Karnataka, southern India.

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Building broader support for protected areas

This workshop stream demonstrated that virtually allparts of human society are earning benefits fromprotected areas, even if these benefits sometimes gounrecognised. Particularly striking was the specialevening session demonstrating that people in all partsof the world and from all walks of life gain spiritualnourishment from the experience of protected areas.We also had a workshop that showed the incrediblefortitude of protected area managers who arecontinuing to serve even when civil war is swirlingaround them, often putting their lives on the line. Butperhaps the main lesson we learned was that buildingsupport above all means making friends withneighbours.

Jeffrey A. McNeely, Steam Leader



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We must also pursue innovation in the funding supportfor management, including the use of environmentalfunds.

The private sector and society at large need to share thecost burden with the agencies responsible for the man-agement of protected areas. We also see a huge potentialto expand on these arrangements with new options, whichinclude carbon financing, bioprospecting and paymentsfor water and watershed protection. Important also willbe the removal of policy and institutional barriers whichprevent the flow of finances to protected areas.

5. What lessons have we learned about building partner-ships, and who have been the key partners?

Many protected areas exist as fragments in a disturbed ordegraded land and seascape. Biodiversity won’t prosper inisolated fragments. It is necessary, then, to strengthen thepartnership with all neighbours of protected areas to in-clude them in the planning, management, monitoring andevaluating processes.

Some partners not only help protected area managersbut also have wider benefits. For example, the MarineAquarium Council initiative ensures aquarium fish comefrom sustainably managed sources, thereby helping pro-tect fish and habitats in many places. World Heritage siteshave established lasting cooperation between variousUnited Nations agencies and conservation interestsworldwide.

6. What have we done to fill the gaps in the system, andwhat gaps remain?

The world has now succeeded in placing nearly 12% of theEarth’s surface under protection. But the global networkis far from complete. Many gaps remain, at all levels ofbiodiversity (species, habitats, ecosystems) and at a diver-sity of scales (global, regional and national).

But now, more than ever, we have the incredible oppor-tunity to help build a comprehensive global system. Thisis made possible by extraordinary progress in data compi-lation, development of conservation planning tools, andestablishment of institutional partnerships.

Filling gaps requires a strategic approach that makes thebest use of scarce resources. Conservation science pro-vides the assessments, analyses and targets to inform thesestrategic choices.

We must focus on biodiversity-based targets, such ashighly threatened species and habitats identified throughinitiatives like the global gap analysis, key biodiversity ar-eas and the Alliance for Zero Extinction. We also need toaccommodate a diversity of options to increase protectedarea coverage, especially in the tropics where the incred-ibly high species endemism is poorly reflected in existingnetworks.

Developing the capacity to manage

Our discussions centred on the conviction thatconservation will only succeed if we can build stronglearning institutions, organizations, and networks withthe aim of empowering all stakeholders – communitymembers, indigenous peoples, institutional staff,trainers, experts, park managers, and trainees – to fulfiltheir roles in protected area planning and management.Workshop participants were particularly heartened bythe planned establishment of the Protected AreasLearning Network (PALNet) which will enable managersto share their knowledge and experience more effi-ciently, and to obtain up-to-date guidance from scienceand traditional knowledge for enhancing their work.

Julia Carabias, Stream Leader

Many rural communities depend on wild resources. Theirtraditional knowledge can provide valuable guidance forprotected area management.

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Evaluating management effectiveness

The global conservation community has delivered onthe call from the Caracas Congress to develop systemsfor evaluating management effectiveness of protectedareas. Many examples of evaluation systems that havebeen developed to meet a diversity of needs werepresented in the workshop, demonstrating howmonitoring and evaluation can provide the informationneeded to adapt and improve the way in which wemanage our protected areas. Workshop participantsaffirmed the view that effectiveness evaluation will becentral to the coming consolidation phase for protectedareas.

Mark Hockings, Stream Leader

Rangers at Bwindi National Park in Uganda enter monitoringdata into a computer.

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7 a clear example of this, with the Meso-America BiologicalCorridor an interesting illustration.

We need to develop capacities at the institutional levelby developing mechanisms to include different sectors, notonly those with the responsibility of managing protectedareas but also the sectors with economic and socialagendas.

9. How have we been able to use the new technologies toimprove our management of protected areas? Do sometechnologies pose threats?

The technological revolution has paid off in a big way forprotected areas. Protected area managers more than everhave access to the latest tools for data gathering and analy-sis for effective monitoring. For example, the use of glo-bal positioning system devices now makes it possible forrangers to record and analyse field observations muchmore efficiently. With access to information technology,such data can be made readily available for managementas well as shared with the global community. The devel-opment of a protected areas learning network (PALNet) byIUCN/WCPA is a vital step in this regard (see box).

Tremendous advances have been made in the use oftechnology for conservation planning that can be appliedat spatial scales ranging from global planning to site-levelimplementation. The combination of systematic planning

The marine gap

While many gaps remain in the terrestrial network ofprotected areas, the situation with the marine realm isvastly worse. Indeed, despite the fact that the world’soceans represent more than 70% of our planet, less than1% of these are in Marine Protected Areas (MPAs). In themean time, most of the world’s fisheries are in decline orhave already collapsed. The urgency to move quicklytoward the comprehensive global marine protected areasystem noted at WSSD was a major highlight of thiscongress. We have agreed to develop a set of principles forthe design and implementation of this system. We alsorecognised the need for a targeted approach to protectingfreshwater systems, for example through the RamsarConvention, and to ensure that such approaches are fullyintegrated into wider landscape planning andmanagement.

Despite the remarkable progress in recent years, hugegaps still remain in our knowledge of biodiversity patternsand process, particularly regarding groups such as plantsand invertebrates. Such data are crucial for guiding thestrategic expansion and consolidation of the protectedarea systems. Data on species, in particular, has been dem-onstrated as a fundamental tool for refining biodiversitytargets on an ongoing basis. Finally, gaps remain in facili-tating the recognition and use of local and traditionalknowledge in measuring biodiversity and ensuring a cen-tral role of all local stakeholders in building a comprehen-sive protected area system.

7. What innovations have we developed to manage forchange, to deal with dynamic conditions and tomorrow’sgaps?

Since Caracas, we have recognised the crucial implicationsof global change (biophysical, socioeconomic and insti-tutional) for managing protected areas in the 21st Century.Changes in institutions and governance can have signifi-cant impacts on the way managers deliver quality in pro-tected areas. Similarly, we have learned that the forces ofglobalization such as changes in markets can create newchallenges for effective management.

Emerging technologies like new satellite capabilities toenhance remote sensing and fire detection tools are nowreadily available to the scientific and conservation com-munities, making it easier to integrate proactive strategiesinto our management regimes. By deploying these toolsmore widely and providing training in their use, we canensure that early warning systems are developed in themanagement of protected areas in the dynamic world weincreasingly face.

8. What are the most important steps we have taken tolink protected areas to the larger development agenda?

There have been some important efforts in certain coun-tries to build a coherent national framework for conserva-tion of biodiversity and protected areas as part of nationaldevelopment. But much more still needs to be done here.

Some countries have started to prepare regional devel-opment plans which include protected areas. Corridors are

Building comprehensive protected areasystems

Our discussions revealed that the world's protectedarea system is still far from complete in terms of bothits coverage and representation of global biodiversity(species and habitats), and that much more is neededto ensure its effectiveness in stemming the growingthreats from global change. Fortunately, our increasedunderstanding of biodiversity patterns coupled with theavailability of new tools for identifying gaps leaves theglobal community in a better position than ever to effec-tively design and manage protected areas based onsound science.

Mohamed Bakarr, Stream Leader

Golden-crownedsifaka Propithecustattersalli, endemic tothe Daraina region,NorthernMadagascar.Formerly unprotectedin any part of itsrange, this specieswill benefit directlyfrom the expansion ofthe network ofprotected areasannounced at theWorld ParksCongress byMadagascarPresident MarcRavalomanana. Manyother species acrossthe world are stillwithout anyprotection.H

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and expert judgment has opened new doors in our drivetoward integrating protected areas across broader land-scapes, as well as refining biodiversity targets at increas-ingly finer scales.

The new technologies also carry some hidden dangers.For example, coltan – a mineral used in electronic devices– is being mined in protected areas in Central Africa, dam-aging some protected areas. And most technologies thatcan be used to support conservation can also be misusedto facilitate over-exploitation. We must put into placemechanisms to minimize these impacts.

10. What have we done to strengthen internationalcooperation?

Some environmental conventions have more relevance toprotected areas than others, but all of them will be betterimplemented if protected areas can play their proper role.That is why the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)is a major international instrument, and we have prepareda specific message to COP7 of the CBD (see page 18).

Conflict is another big issue. Continued conflict acrossborders in many parts of the world has threatened the bio-diversity values of some protected areas. One response hasbeen an exponential increase in the number oftransboundary conservation initiatives and support fortheir establishment and development. The designation of

transboundary World Heritage sites and Biosphere Re-serves offers a politically neutral entry point for dialogueand mitigation measures.

IUCN and its partners are seeking to develop a globaltransboundary conservation network to support and fur-ther refine such approaches.

Networking is key

We need to further build our networks, which are impor-tant instruments for international cooperation, throughsharing skills and experiences. We should promote theestablishment and strengthening of regional networks oftrainers and training institutions for capacity developmentin protected area management. World Heritage sites, andtransboundary parks, should play a larger role in dissemi-nating worldwide any benefits they receive due to theirstatus within the broader national protected area systemin which they operate.

Sustainable finance

We take three main lessons from the work of thesustainable finance stream. First, the funding gap is verylarge. We will need about US$30 billion/year to establishand support a global protected area system thatincludes 15% of the land and 30% of the sea. But weare currently spending about US$7 billion. Second,there are a vast number of options to generate revenuefor protected areas. Many of them, however, performbelow their potential because ecosystem goods andservices remain undervalued. And third, we need toinvest in capacity building. There are simply not enoughprofessionals out there that can apply state-of-the-artbusiness and financial skills to bridging the funding gapfor the support of protected areas.

Carlos E. Quintela, Stream Leaderand Lee Thomas, WCPA Deputy Chair

Ecotourism activities provide a key revenue source for the longterm financing of Komodo National Park in Indonesia.

Emerging Issues

The Durban workshops and cross-cutting theme dis-cussions identified issues of significance to protectedarea management that demand our attention.

1. Ecological restoration as a means to addressproblems associated with degraded areas andagricultural lands in and around protectedareas.

2. Building support for protected areas throughsite-based planning to minimize destructiveindustrial practices.

3. Addressing the problem of disease in wildlifeand domestic animals as it relates to humanhealth and livelihoods.

4. The contribution of sustainable hunting, fishingand other wildlife uses to financing biodiversityconservation.

5. The use of private protected areas as a tool toprotect biologically important habitat.

6. The threat to the biodiversity of protected areasfrom unsustainable hunting for trade andsubsistence.

7. Invasive species, an issue to be mainstreamedinto all aspects of protected area management.

8. Gender equity in protected area managementand conservation based on gender analysis ofresource use and conservation knowledge andskills.

9. Amending the IUCN definition of Marine Pro-tected Areas to improve reporting.

10. A moratorium on deep sea trawling in high seasareas with seamounts and cold water coral reefcommunities until they are legally protected.

11. The HIV/AIDS pandemic in Africa as it relates toconservation, and its future impacts on next-wave countries such as Russia, China, India andEastern European countries.

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Cross-cutting themes

World Heritage

Durban opened a lot of doors for the UNESCO World HeritageConvention. World Heritage site managers, UNESCO World HeritageCentre staff and other UN agency representatives gave 39 WorldHeritage-related presentations to showcase the natural areas beingprotected under the Convention and provide a forum for building new

conservation partnerships.We will use the momentum generated by

the Congress to attract more partners, likethe UN Foundation; to target World Heritagesites for pilot conservation projects; and touse World Heritage sites to leverage greatersupport for national protected areas. We areworking closely with IUCN and otherconservation NGOs to develop a vision forwhat the natural and mixed World Heritagenetwork should look like in 10 years.

Natarajan Ishwaran, Chief, Natural HeritageSection, World Heritage Centre, UNESCO

Communities and equity

I was struck by the degree to which the issues of Communities andEquity became central to the conservation agenda in Durban, inspite of continued resistance by a few participants. The mostexciting aspect was the presence of so many indigenous, mobile,and other local community representatives. For once, there was

an international seminar where three-piece suits were not the only dress onesaw, where a couple of dozen languageswere spoken, and where the conventional'experts' had to frequently share the stagewith the traditional experts.

The recognition of CommunityConserved Areas as a phenomenon withgreat conservation value, was to me themost significant breakthrough of theCongress.

Ashish Kothari, Founder-member,Kalpavriksh (India)

Marine

The Congress declared that the ambitious WSSD goal to establishrepresentative MPA networks is achievable by 2012. It identified theneed to set up new sites for under-protected marine ecosystems,including expansion into EEZs and the high seas. It recommendedincorporating MPAs into a wider mosaic of integrated ocean andcoastal governance; engaging newconstituencies – for example fishers; applyingnew tools to improve managementeffectiveness; building sustainable financeportfolios for protected areas; and promotingresilience to global change.

Urgent action is required to move from thesome 4000 MPAs today to a true global MPAnetwork, in the context of an integratedgovernance strategy to conserve marinebiodiversity.

Charles N. Ehler, Vice Chair WCPA-Marine, andDirector, International Program Office, National

Ocean Service – NOAA (USA)Pacific coral reef. Less than 1% of the world'smarine ecosystems are protected.

The people of Shankar Ghola, a village in north-eastern India, protect forests which harbour thethreatened golden langur.

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The recently listed Phong Nha-Ke Bang WorldHeritage Area in Viet Nam, which has transborderecological and landscape continuity with the HinNam No National Protected Area in Laos.

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Caught up in problems of economicdownturn, civil unrest and sometimes war,governments, aid agencies and evenprivate foundations need to be remindedthat protected areas are an importantplatform for addressing a host ofconservation and sustainable developmentissues, not to mention their invaluable roleas guardians of incalculable naturaltreasures.

Chief Emeka Anyaoku (Nigeria),President WWF International

…mobile peoples and pastoralistcommunities can be some of your strongestallies for conservation. Please, however,talk to us, refuse to understand us bystereotypes, involve us in decisions, andhelp us to help you. We…, with our vastand invaluable indigenous knowledge of theland and resources and biodiversity we allcare about, are prepared to dedicateourselves to conservation if we are let to.Are you prepared to join us?Aghagia Rahimzadeh, on behalf of SayyaadSoltani and Kuhi sub-tribe of the QashqaiTurkic Nomadic Confederation of Tribes (Iran)

Changing attitudes meanspresenting workable alternativesfor improving livelihoods. It is myhope and vision that we craft anAfrica which is committed atevery level to conservation andsustainable economic and socialpolicy.

HM Osagyefuo Amoatia OforiPanin, King of Akyem Abuakwa

and Presidential Advisor onEnvironment, Ghana

…we share the dream thatsomeday the percentage of theocean that is protected – now afraction of 1% – will at leastmatch the amount that we areprotecting on the land……maybe the rest of the worldwill catch up with Indonesia’scommitment to protect 20% oftheir coastal marine waters.

Sylvia Earle, Explorer inResidence for National

Geographic, former IUCNCouncillor

I have been taught that this is the land of thefirst light, that all life began in Africa. What

befalls Africa befalls all humankind and lifeas we know it. A simple act of connectingwith this simple teaching can change the

direction and avoid the further destruction ofthose life forms needed for the very survival

of all.

Mike Leach, Tribal Chief of theTit’qet St’at’imc Nation

Traditional practices and wisdom havebeen ignored for too long with negative

consequences. We are just starting torecognise their enormous value. Not only assources of protection of nature, but also as

the spiritual and practical traditions thatshow how to live in close and constant

contact with nature. To be part of all life.Irene van Lippe-Biesterfeld, Princess of the

Netherlands and founder and chairperson ofthe Foundation Nature College

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Changing course



The Durban Congress left us with our feet firmly plantedin our ‘new paradigm’ for protected area management anda set of clear instructions to guide us on our way.

In practical terms, the Congress instructed us to hearand honour the voices of indigenous peoples and localcommunities; to ensure that protected areas are linkedwith the broader landscape and seen as essential buildingblocks for sustainable development; and to incorporate theinterests of protected area stakeholders into every aspectof our work.

The Congress also told us to place more emphasis onmarine protected areas, and issued a number of practicalrecommendations to implement the 2002 target of theWorld Summit on Sustainable Development to establishrepresentative Marine Protected Area networks by 2012.

Although the Congress was a remarkable accomplish-ment, there is no time for self-congratulation. We have sovery far to go, and the remainder of our journey together

Where do we go from Durban?David Sheppard

But along with these challenges come new opportuni-ties. The growing use of technology is opening up newprospects for capacity development and environmentalmonitoring; there are moves toward substantial engage-ment with youth; partnerships are emerging with manynew groups; there is increased interest and action on thepart of the global community; and we are developing reli-able and consistent mechanisms to evaluate and improvethe effectiveness of protected area management.

So we left Durban buoyed by a clear vision of protectedareas as critical links in a vast web of life that encompassesthe whole natural and human environment. Our hope isrenewed, our pockets are filled with new managementtools, and – above all – we are joined by new partners andsupporters. The key task in front of us is to transform thisvision into a clear programme of work to be implementedby IUCN, its Commissions, networks and partners.

We look forward to reporting to the next IUCN WorldConservation Congress (Bangkok, November 2004) and tothe VIth World ParksCongress in ten yearsthat significant progressis being achieved inaddressing the chal-lenges posed to us bythe Congress.

David Sheppard is Headof the IUCN Protected

Areas Programme andSecretary General

of the Vth IUCN WorldParks Congress.

is full of obstacles. Much of what we feared at the IVth WorldParks Congress in 1992 has come to pass: accelerating glo-bal change, disheartening steps backward in areas of warand conflict, and the rapid loss of priceless ecosystems todeforestation, desertification and innumerable other natu-ral and human forces.

Many protected areas are the last strongholds ofnature, and now global changes driven byhumans are battering their doors. We must findways to adapt to these changes to ensure thelong-term sustainability of our parks and protectedareas.

Kenton Miller, Chair of IUCN’s World Commission onProtected Areas (WCPA) and Vice President for Conservation

of the World Resources Institute (WRI)

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In 10 years time...

Those gathered at the Vth IUCN World Parks Con-gress called for action to achieve the following out-comes over the next decade:

(1) Protected areas’ critical role in globalbiodiversity conservation fulfilled

(2) Protected areas’ fundamental role in sustain-able development implemented

(3) A global system of protected areas linked tothe surrounding landscapes and seascapesachieved

(4) Improved quality, effectiveness and reportingof protected area management in place

(5) The rights of indigenous peoples, mobilepeoples and local communities recognisedand guaranteed in relation to natural re-sources and biodiversity conservation

(6) Empowerment of younger generationsachieved

(7) Significantly greater support for protectedareas from other constituencies achieved

(8) Improved forms of governance, recognisingboth traditional forms and innovative ap-proaches of great potential value for conser-vation, implemented

(9) Greatly increased resources for protectedareas, commensurate with their values andneeds, secured

(10) Improved communication and education onthe role and benefits of protected areasachieved



Aboriginal and Torres Strait IslanderServices

Agence intergouvernmentale de laFrancophonie

Andreas Stihl FoundationAugusto DammertAustralian Government – Australian

Agency for InternationalDevelopment

Australian Government – Departmentof Environment and Heritage

BirdLife InternationalBPCalifornia Institute of Public AffairsCanadian International Development

AgencyCanonCenter for Applied Biodiversity Science

at Conservation InternationalConservation InternationalCouncil of Agriculture, Forestry

Department, Taiwan, Province ofChina

Countryside Agency, UKCRC Reef Centre LtdDepartment of Environmental Affairs

and Tourism, South AfricaDepartment for Environment and

Heritage, South AustraliaDepartment for Environment, Food and

Rural Affairs, UKDirectorate of Nature, NorwayEquator InitiativeFauna & Flora InternationalFederal Ministry of Agriculture,

Forestry, Environment & WaterManagement, Austria

Ford FoundationGerman Federal Agency for Nature

ConservationGirringun Aboriginal CorporationGlobal Dimension TrustGlobal Environment FacilityGovernment and people of South

AfricaGroundwork UKGTZ – German Technical Cooperation

International Ranger FederationInternational Tropical Timber

OrganizationInWEnt, Capacity Building

International, GermanyJohannesburg Climate Legacy 2002 –

Our Climate Our LegacyMacArthur FoundationMinistry for Foreign Affairs, FinlandMinistry of Environment and Protection

of the Territory, Nature ConservationService, Italy

Ministry of Foreign Affairs, FranceMinistry of Foreign Affairs, The

NetherlandsMinistry of Foreign Affairs, Department

for Development Cooperation(DGCS), Italy

National Botanical Institute of theDepartment of Environmental Affairsand Tourism, Republic of SouthAfrica

National Geographic SocietyNational Parks and Conservation

Association (NPCA)National Recreation & Parks

Association (NRPA)Nationwide Building Society, UKNatural Resources Council of America

(NRCA)Nature Conservation Bureau, JapanNetherlands Centre for Indigenous

PeoplesNSW National Parks & Wildlife ServiceOAPN - Organismo Autónomo De

Parques Nacionales, SpainOPEC Fund for International

DevelopmentParks CanadaParks Victoria, AustraliaPeace Parks FoundationPROFONANPE - Peruvian Protected

Areas FundQuebec Labrador FoundationQueensland Government,

Environmental Protection Agency,Queensland Parks and WildlifeService

Ramsar Convention on WetlandsSanta Monica Mountains ConservancySecretariat of the Convention on

Biological DiversityShell InternationalSouth African National Parks

Swedish International BiodiversityProgramme

World Parks Congress

Swedish Society for NatureConservation

Swiss Agency for Development andCooperation (SDC)

Swiss Federal Office of theEnvironment, Forests andLandscape

Terralingua

The Commonwealth Foundation, UK

The International Ecotourism Society

The J.M. Kaplan Fund

The Mountain Institute

The Rainforest Alliance

The Rainforest Cooperative ResearchCentre

The World Bank

TNC-The Nature Conservancy

TransGrid

Turner Foundation

UNESCO

UNESCO World Heritage Centre

UNEP World Conservation MonitoringCentre

United Nations DevelopmentProgramme

United Nations EnvironmentProgramme

United Nations Foundation

University of Aquila, Italy

University of Montana, US

University of Queensland, Australia

University of Torino, Italy

University of Waterloo, Canada

University of Western Sydney, Australia

US Agency for InternationalDevelopment

USDA Forest Service

US Department of State (Bureau ofOceans and InternationalEnvironmental and Scientific Affairs)

US Environmental Protection Agency(EPA)

US Fish and Wildlife Service,Department of the Interior

US National Oceanic and AtmosphericAdministration

US National Park Service, Departmentof the Interior

Yale School of Forestry &Environmental Studies

Wildlife Conservation Society

WRI – World Resources Institute

WWF International

WWF UK

SupportersThe Vth World Parks Congresscould not have been held, andIUCN’s work in protected areascould not proceed, without thegenerosity of partner and donororganizations:



We are heralding a new era in which weseek synergies between conservationand development agendas. It is an erain which protected areas play a vitalrole in achieving this synergy andintegration, and provide benefits beyondboundaries – beyond their immediateboundaries, boundaries of nation states,and across societies, cultures andgenerations. The Congress has laid thefoundation for this new paradigm.

South African Deputy President JacobZuma (Closing Address)

Packard Awards

Kenton Miller, WCPA, and David Sheppard, IUCN, presentedFred M. Packard International Parks Merit Awards to:Richard Cellarius, on behalf of Michael McCloskey; SusanMatambo and Boitumelo Rampeng on behalf of all youngconservationists (above); Yvonne Stewart and Lorna Kellyon behalf of all those involved in the Arakwal IndigenousLand Use Agreement, Australia (below); Liza Gonzalez, onbehalf of Jaime Incer; Marshall Murphee; John Makombo,on behalf of all rangers who have lost their lives in the call ofduty; Carmen Miranda; Bruce Amos on behalf of theCanadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétien; and MavusoMsimang, outgoing CEO of SANParks.

IUCN Director General Achim Steiner closes the Congress with warm thanks toIUCN and South African staff who worked so hard behind the scenes.

Farewell

A musical sendoff.

This is the end of themeeting but the

beginning of ourjourney.

Estherine LisingeFotabong, WWF and

WCPA, presenting theDurban Accord

IISD

IISD

IISD

IISD

IISD

IISD


Vth IUCN WORLD PARKS CONGRESSIN

PR

INT

Management Guidelines for IUCN Category V Protected Areas:Protected Landscapes/SeascapesAdrian Phillips

The Protected Land-scape (Category V )model encourages theconservation and sus-tainable use of naturalresources in places thathave been shaped bypeople over long peri-ods of time, andsupports human com-munities that haveadopted sustainablepractices. The specificaim of these Guidelinesis to advise all those withresponsibilities for pro-tected areas on the plan-ning and managementof Protected Land-scapes. ISBN 2-8317-0685-8, 2002. xv + 122pp. £15, US$22.50. B1178

Guidelines for Management Planning of Protected AreasLee Thomas and Julie Duff

A Management Plan sets out a management approach, goals, and a frame-work for decision-making for a protected area. Critical to the plan is the wid-est possible consultation with stakeholders and development of objectives thatcan be agreed and adhered to by all interested parties. These Guidelines, basedon global best practice, represent an adaptable working framework for pro-tected area planners. Best Practice Protected Area Guidelines Series No. 10.ISBN 2-8317-0673-4, 2003. ix + 79pp. £15, US$22.50. B1178

PARKS, the international journal forprotected area managers, is pub-lished three times a year by the IUCNWorld Commission on ProtectedAreas. Subscriptions are availablefrom: Parks, 36 Kingfisher Court,Hambridge Road, Newbury, G14 5SJ,UK. Tel: +44 1635 550380. Visit:www.iucn.org/themes/wcpa/pubs/parks.htm

In press

How is Your MPA Doing?

A new guidebook of natural andsocial indicators to help evalu-ate the management effective-ness of Marine Protected Areas

Guidelines have also beenpublished on:

" Guidelines for Protected AreaManagement Categories

" National System Planning forProtected Areas

" Guidelines for Marine ProtectedAreas

" Economic Values of ProtectedAreas

" Indigenous and TraditionalPeoples and Protected Areas

" Financing Protected Areas" Evaluating Effectiveness: A

Framework for Assessing theManagement of Protected Areas

" Transboundary Protected Areasfor Peace and Co-operation

" Sustainable Tourism in ProtectedAreas

" Management Plans for ProtectedAreas.

Visit: www.iucn.org/themes/wcpa/pubs/guidelines.htm

2003 United Nations List of Protected AreasCompiled by Stuart Chape et. al.

The UN List is the thirteenth produced since 1962 andthe first version to attempt a comprehensive presen-tation of all the world’s known protected areas, list-ing 102,102 sites covering 18.8 million sq. km. It is anessential reference document for all who want to un-derstand the progress made in responding to thechallenges of biodiversity loss and other environ-mental threats around the world. Published in col-laboration with IUCN WCPA, UNEP andUNEP-WCMC. ISBN 2-8317-0746-3/92-807-2362-6, 2003. ix + 44pp., CD-ROM. £30, US$45. B2029

One of the objectives of WCPA is “to strengthen capacity and effectiveness ofprotected areas managers, through provision of guidance, tools and informa-tion and a vehicle for networking.” It does this in part through a series of BestPractice Protected Area Guidelines under the leadership of Series Editor Pro-fessor Adrian Phillips.

Guiding PROTECTED AREA MANAGEMENT

www.iucn.org/bookstore

the iucn bulletin world conservation...2 world conservation 2/2003 cover, centre photo: traditional...

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