IUCN 19 Nov 14;
Sydney, Australia – The IUCN World Parks Congress 2014, the once-in-a-decade global forum on protected areas, closes today with the release of The Promise of Sydney. The Promise sets out an ambitious agenda to safeguard the planet’s natural assets, ranging from halting rainforest loss in the Asia-Pacific and tripling ocean protection off Africa’s coasts to a business commitment to plant 1.3 billion trees along the historic Silk Road.
The Promise includes pledges from governments, international organizations, the private sector, Indigenous leaders, community groups and individuals, with many more still being recorded.
The document highlights the need to invigorate global efforts to protect natural areas, including scaling up the protection of landscapes and oceans. It includes commitments to boost investment in nature’s solutions to halt biodiversity loss, tackle climate change, reduce the risk and impact of disasters, improve food and water security and promote human health. It also aims to inspire people around the globe, across generations and cultures, to experience the wonder of nature through protected areas.
“Protected areas are by far the best investment the world can make to address some of today’s biggest development challenges,” says Julia Marton-Lefèvre, IUCN Director General. “The Congress has propelled major commitments from leaders across all levels of society to secure the benefits protected areas provide to humanity and ensure a sustainable future. Drawing on the collective knowledge of over five thousand top protected area experts – and many others who care about the future of our planet – the Promise of Sydney now captures innovative strategies to protect these exceptional places.”
Organized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and hosted by the Australian and New South Wales Governments, the Congress brought together more than 6,000 participants from over 170 countries.
“Australia is proud to have co-hosted such a successful Congress and equally proud of our own commitments in the Promise of Sydney,” says Greg Hunt, Australian Environment Minister. “They range from banning capital dredge disposal in the Great Barrier Reef and a historic agreement with China to ban mining in Antarctica, to new initiatives to recover the rainforests of the Asia-Pacific and to halt species loss in our national parks. It has been an inspirational Congress – now it is time to deliver the innovative solutions to the challenges facing our planet.”
The Promise of Sydney outlines a pathway for achieving the global target to protect at least 17% of land and 10% of oceans by 2020.
The Protected Planet report, launched in Sydney by IUCN and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), showed that while the world is on track to meet the target, more work is needed to ensure that areas of importance for biodiversity and ecosystem services are well and equitably managed. The Promise of Sydney also called for an urgent increase in ocean protection, including areas beyond national jurisdiction.
The meeting highlighted the need to scale up investment and the quality of governance and management of protected areas. Diversity, quality and vitality of governance emerged as a key prerequisite for ensuring the effectiveness and long-term success of protected areas. Delegates called for a stronger recognition of the rights of Indigenous Peoples through policies and management practices of protected areas. They acknowledged the critical role of traditional wisdom and management systems in long-term conservation outcomes and community well-being.
Best-practice examples of equitable governance were recognized by the IUCN Green List of Protected Areas – the first global standard set to define excellence in protected area management, presented at the Congress. This award was granted to 23 sites in Australia, China, Colombia, France, Italy, Kenya, Spain and South Korea, including a number of Indigenous Protected Areas.
Croatia, Ecuador, Mexico, Nepal, Peru and Russia expressed their commitment to undergo the IUCN Green List assessment in the next phase of the initiative.
The Congress also highlighted the need to ensure that protected areas are established in the right places to prevent further species extinctions. The world’s largest-known earwig was among species declared extinct at the Congress by the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species™, with the Pacific Bluefin Tuna, Chinese Pufferfish and American Eel among those listed as threatened due to the growing appetite for resources.
A key focus was on economic benefits and cost-effectiveness of conserving the world’s natural areas, including their contribution to climate change mitigation and adaptation. It also called for new financing models to maintain them, combining public and private funding. Modern technology emerged as a new player in nature conservation, with the launch of Google’s underwater street view and a tool to track illegal fishing. NASA provided cutting-edge satellite imagery to improve the monitoring of protected areas.
Celebrating parks, the planet and people
WWF 19 Nov 14;
WWF’s conservation experts joined other International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) member governments and organizations, as well as private sector representatives, at the World Parks Congress to discuss protection and management of fragile habitats and ecosystems, many of which are critical to human survival.
“Across the world, millions of people rely on the services provided by the healthy ecosystems in protected areas for their food security, water supply, fresh air, climate stability and employment opportunities. Protected areas are a powerful tool to secure a healthy, diverse and productive environment, which is the foundation to any credible long-term sustainable development agenda,” said Marco Lambertini, Director General of WWF International.
“We are placing biodiversity and natural resources at the heart of our new national development plan,” Madagascar President Hery Rajaonarimampianina said during a WWF even in Sydney last night. “It is possible to effectively tackle poverty while preserving and sustainably using one’s natural capital. Our natural capital is one of our greatest assets: biodiversity, and the protected areas, are engines of our development.”
Since 2003, species-rich Madagascar has tripled the number of protected areas in the country by creating 95 new sites, and established a US$50 million conservation fund for their management. The president pledged to expand even further the country’s marine protected area coverage, and to establish community management of coastal resources.
In total, commitments to 140 million hectares of protected areas were made at WWF’s event, and over US$500 million in conservation funding for management of these parks was announced.
Earlier in the conference, Malaysia, part of the Coral Triangle Initiative, committed to gazette close to a million hectares of ocean in the state of Sabah by 2015. Over 80,000 coastal and island residents of Sabah rely on fishing for their livelihoods. Included in the state’s plans is gazettement of Tun Mustapha Park, an important marine area that needs protection from overfishing, destructive fishing practices and pollution.
Fiji, another Coral Triangle Initiative country, announced plans to increase its number of locally managed marine areas so that communities can make decisions about how best to maximize the benefits provided by their natural resources. Fiji also intends to protect nearly a third of its coastal waters, and Gabon nearly a quarter. Marine protected areas can guard stocks from collapse by giving fish a place to grow, as well as by preventing unsustainable take levels and habitat degradation.
In a landmark terrestrial announcement, the government of Peru joined WWF and other partners to form a new alliance aimed at securing long-term funding for the country’s 76 Amazon protected areas, and at ensuring the inclusion of indigenous communities in natural area management.
Additionally on land, Bhutan said that it has doubled its protected area cover to over 50 per cent, the highest in the world. Bhutan also announced the launch of a US$50 million conservation fund, which is modelled on the Brazilian Amazon ARPA for Life fund. Neighbouring China said has accelerated the roll out of new nature reserves, including the habitats of endangered pandas and tigers.
Globally, protected areas play an essential role in reducing the carbon in the atmosphere, yet they are at risk increasingly from climate change. At the World Parks Congress, WWF presented a new Climate Adaptation Methodology for Protected Areas, known by its acronym CAMPA, which can help bolster parks’ resiliency. WWF also joined eight other organizations in calling for natural World Heritage Sites to be no-go zones for oil, gas and mining exploration and extraction, which is a looming menace with the potential to impact many properties.
“WWF today is renewing its dedication to working with communities, governments and other partners to ensure that protected areas are well-managed, sufficiently-resourced and protected from threats,” Lambertini said. “Much stronger focus and efforts are required particularly to secure protected and sustainably-managed marine habitats, which are lagging behind despite their huge importance for biodiversity and people. Our planet’s extraordinary parks are a success story worthy of celebration, but much more needs to be done in order to secure them for future generations.”
