Mr Trevor SANDWITH
Co-Task Force Leader Project Coordinator
WCPA Deputy Chair
CAPE Action for People and the Environment
Private Bag X7
Claremont
Western Cape 7735
South Africa
Tel: ++27 (21) 799 8790
Fax: ++27 (21) 797 3475
Email: sandwith@sanbi.org

Mr Charles BESANCON
Co-Task Force Leader
Head, Protected Areas Programme
United Nations Environment Programme
World Conservation Monitoring Centre
219 Huntingdon Road
Cambridge CB3 0DL
United Kingdom
Tel: +44 1223 277 314 extension 232
Fax: +44 1223 277 136
Email: Charles.Besancon@unep-wcmc.org

Programme

This Global Partnership will build on the experience and work on this issue by IUCN, the Peace Parks Foundation, WWF-International and the University for Peace. These three institutions are playing a leading role on the promotion and implementation of TBPAs and Peace Parks. However there is so much to be done on the interpretation, promotion, and application of this concept that it would be difficult for institutions working in isolation to succeed.

The objectives of this initiative are: 

• To catalyse the creation of new Peace Parks and to strengthen existing ones in a number of regions, giving priority to areas declared by UNESCO as World Heritage sites.
• To empower, through capacity building, local communities and indigenous peoples organizations to actively participate in the development and implementation of Peace Parks initiatives
• To develop, adopt, test and disseminate Best Practice Guidelines and a Code of Conduct on TBPAs to facilitate their wider acceptance and application.
• To facilitate the exchange of data and information, provide outside expertise, capacity building as well as legal and technical assistance for planning and implementing the Peace Park concept, through development of the TBPA Resource Centre.
• To develop a Peace Parks Council to promote recognition and application of the Peace Park concept, including creation of a UN International Award for Peace Parks.

A project proposal to support this initiative has been prepared for submission to the UN Foundation. This project is the result of a process of consultation with all partners involved on this initiative at global and regional levels. If this project is granted a programme of work will be developed for the next three years. 

Key Issues

Protected areas are a central part of national policies and efforts for the conservation of biodiversity and natural and cultural values. This is recognised by Article 8 of the Convention on Biological Diversity, which calls for the strengthening of national systems of protected areas. National governments and NGOs are dedicating substantial efforts toward the establishment and management of protected areas and their number is growing world-wide. At present there are over 30,000 protected areas covering around 8% of the Earth surface, the size of India and China together.

There is also growing recognition that effective biodiversity conservation depends on an ecosystem management approach that integrates protected area management into wider land- and water- use planning. Ecosystems and species do not recognise political borders, which were usually defined for historical and geo-political reasons, without reference to ecological functions or processes. Protected areas that are established and managed across borders - Transboundary Protected Areas- can therefore provide an important tool for coordinated conservation of ecological units and corridors.

The benefits of transboundary protected areas can go well beyond biodiversity conservation. Such areas can also play a major role in promoting cooperation and confidence building between countries and within regions. This is particularly important because the second half of the 20^th Century has seen a proliferation of nation-states. In 1950 the United Nations had only 58 members, compared to over 187 in 2000. The number of borders between nations has already increased considerably and it seems likely that will continue to grow in the future.

Several factors have contributed to an increase of tension throughout the world. They include struggles for independence after colonial rule, the break-up of nations due to ethnic or religious conflict and competing claims for access to or control of natural resources, including water. The number of disputes or armed conflicts in or between countries has risen steeply. Some of the most savage ethnic and religious conflicts took place after the break-up of the Soviet Union and the disappearance of the eastern block.

Some regions of the world have emerged from a violent history of armed conflict and wars of independence and taken positive initiatives to promote peaceful conditions and enhanced cooperation. This is the case, for example, of Central America and Southern Africa.

The Central American region has embarked on a pacification process that has led to democratic governments in all countries, processes of national reconciliation and a renewed regional commitment to sustainable development. Border parks have been created in almost all countries and the regional vision of the Meso-American Biological Corridor is developing to include both protected areas and participatory management of many of these areas.

In Southern Africa, the fall of the apartheid regime and the transition to democratic rule has been a powerful influence in strengthening regional cooperation and joint conservation efforts. The Peace Parks Foundation, created in 1997, is already actively involved in facilitating and funding the development of eight "Transfrontier Conservation Areas", which is the preferred term for TBPAs used in that region.

The number of Transboundary Protected Areas (TBPAs) is now growing around the world. In 1988 there were only 59 such areas, mainly concentrated in Europe and North America: by 1997 this figure had grown to 136, distributed through all regions of the world (World Conservation Monitoring Centre (WCMC, 1998)). Several factors have influenced this growth, including greater support from donors and international assistance for the establishment of TBPAs to enhance biodiversity conservation and sustainable resource use at an ecosystem scale.

Some TBPAs are designed to fulfil another very important role: that of building confidence, trust, conflict resolution and cooperation across boundaries. This is not a new concept. The idea of establishing an International Park between Mexico and USA to solve border conflicts started in 1935. After many years of political and technical discussions and negotiations, the binational park of Maderas del Carmen and Canyon de Santa Elena/Big Bend National Park was established and cooperation has deepened steadily over the years. The idea of establishing the La Amistad International Park between Costa Rica and Panama was launched in the mid-1970's.

These are just a few examples of a special type of TBPAs, now often referred to as Peace Parks. An IUCN/WCPA working group has defined Peace Parks as "transboundary protected areas managed through legal or other effective means, which are dedicated both to the conservation of biological and cultural diversity and the promotion of peace and cooperation. Peace and cooperation encompasses building trust, understanding and reconciliation between nations, the prevention and resolution of conflict, and the fostering of cooperation between and among countries, communities, agencies and other stakeholders".

In recent years, the Peace Park concept has received increasing attention as a tool that can be used in high-level negotiations on peace processes. Peace Park provisions were incorporated into the treaty resolving the territorial dispute between Peru and Ecuador. The concept has been used in negotiations between Israel and Palestine, and its application was proposed for the Demilitarised Zone between North and South Korea. At the present time, there are several planned or ongoing TBPA projects in Africa, Asia and Latin America that could lead to the establishment of TBPAs as Peace Parks. It is a concept "whose time has come" and which has enormous potential for linking the biodiversity conservation, peace and humanitarian global agendas

News

IUCN FOSTERS TRANSBOUNDARY COOPERATION IN PROTECTED AREAS IN THE BALKANS

The new IUCN Programme Office for South-Eastern Europe will become the information centre for transboundary protected areas in the Balkans. This is one of the outcomes of an international workshop "MAB Biosphere Reserves and Transboundary Cooperation in the South-Eastern European region," held from 13-17 June in Belgrade and Tara National Park, Serbia and Montenegro. IUCN and UNESCO, in cooperation with the Institute for Nature Conservation of Serbia and Swiss Development Cooperation (SDC), jointly organized the meeting to foster transboundary cooperation in protected areas in the Balkan region. The meeting confirmed the need for IUCN's presence in the region, especially on issues like transboundary cooperation.

About 100 regional and international experts from public and academic sectors, NGOs, governmental and international organizations discussed the need for transboundary cooperation and its benefits in the region. Biosphere Reserves have a strong potential to facilitate this process. Case studies of already existing transboundary protected areas such as the Skadar Lake on the border of Serbia, Montenegro and Albania were presented at the meeting. In addition to transboundary cooperation in protected areas, the workshop discussed the regional importance of biodiversity conservation and local socio-economic development, through co-management processes, innovative processes in research and challenges of diverse institutional frameworks.

Click here for more information, or contact
Maja Zitkovic from the IUCN Programme Office for South-Eastern Europe

TURNING THE IRON CURTAIN INTO THE EUROPEAN GREENBELT

Ten years after the Berlin wall came down the former Iron Curtain might become the 'Pan European Greenbelt' - a transboundary ecological network connecting people and nature from the northernmost end of the former Iron Curtain between Finland, Norway and Russia down to the Balkans and the Black Sea. IUCN's Regional Office for Europe is the secretariat for the Greenbelt.

The Greenbelt is most developed in Germany and along the border between Russia, Finland and Norway - the 'Fennoscandian Greenbelt'. The 'Fennoscandian Greenbelt' boosts a network of existing and proposed protected areas with a total length of 1000 km and an average width of 20 to 30 km. In Germany, the former Iron Curtain has been transformed into a 1400 km-long ecological corridor. Expanding the corridor towards the northern and southern Europe is now planned.

The Greenbelt could also become a means for the ten new EU member countries to fulfill their commitments to the EU Nature directives, as it directly implements the EU Habitats and Birds Directive. The Greenbelt will provide a bridge between different protected area legislations by incorporating Natura 2000 sites, Emerald network sites and national parks with multi-use and buffer zones. It is also hoped that the Greenbelt will foster transboundary cooperation between countries that have been separated by this strip of land for several decades.

To move the project forward, IUCN's Regional Office for Europe and the German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN) are jointly organizing the first Greenbelt Working Group Meeting, taking place in Hungary in September this year. The meeting will gather states and NGOs involved in the project, such as WWF, Euronatur and BU Bayern. The aim is to discuss the status of the Green Belt in each country, to decide on national and regional projects to implement the Belt and determine sources of funding.

LINKS
Greenbelt Fact sheet (pdf 606 KB)
Conference "Perspectives of the Greenbelt" (Proceedings) (pdf 2,42 MB)
WCPA News on the Fennoscandian Greenbelt

SIACHEN PEACE PARK GAINING MOMENTUM

The Siachen glacier between India and Pakistan is the longest mountain glacier in the world - and the world's highest battlefield. Since 20 years, the armed forces of India and Pakistan have fought on the Saltaro Ridge, south of the Siachen Glacier, with at least 15,000 casualties - mainly from altitude and weather - and devastating the unique glacier environment. 1000 kg of human waste per day are dropped into crevasses on the Indian side alone. Causing pollution and degradation in the mountain area, all this garbage will eventually end up in the Indus River, on whose waters millions of people depend.

Turning the entire area into a Transboundary Peace Park may help resolving this conflict. This park would enable both parties to withdraw under conditions of honour and dignity; it would save thousands of lives and billions of rupees; and it would stop further degradation of a magnificent mountain area. Transboundary Peace Parks aim to foster cooperation and peace between countries and to conserve ecosystems which do not recognize national borders. The number of Transboundary Protected Areas, more than 169 today, has doubled since 1990.

An informal group of the World Commission on Protected Areas, together with a range of international organisations, is promoting the Siachen Peace Park. This includes an active group in the USA, based at the University of Vermont. IUCN - The World Conservation Union joined with the mountaineering group of the International Mountaineering and Climbing Federation (UIAA) in 2002 to sponsor a series of summit climbs in Switzerland as symbolic Peace Climbs involving Indian and Pakistani mountaineers. Under the Italian "K2 2004 - 50 years later" project, the idea of the Siachen Peace Park was presented at the Vth IUCN World Parks Congress, with representatives from Indian and Pakistani non-governmental organisations amongst the audience.

At this year's International Environmental Security conference in The Hague, international organizations expressed their will to help in funding and supporting the Siachen Peace Park. For September this year, a workshop "Save the Siachen: an Environmental Initiative" is planned after the meeting of the Foreign Ministers of India and Pakistan, with some 80 diplomats, celebrities and researchers expected to attend. However, the success of all activities is dependent on the military negotiations first, that are only recovering slowly after the major crisis caused by terrorist attacks in 2001 and 2002.

Mountain Research and Development, Vol 22, No 4 (abstract)
The IUCN/UIAA Peace Climb
Siachen Peace Park Presentation at Vth IUCN World Parks Congress