Vth World Parks Congress, 8-17 September 2003, Durban, South Africa

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Day by Day 8-17 September 2003

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April 30, 2003
BUILDING A SOUTHERN VIEW ON PROTECTED AREAS - A SOUTH AMERICAN REGIONAL CONTRIBUTION TO THE Vth IUCN WORLD PARKS CONGRESS

Buenos Aires. Argentina. (IUCN) - In South America, it is widely recognised that protected areas in the region have increased during the past 10 years, in terms of number, surface and coverage of natural and cultural values. New participation paradigms have flourished and the region now has a wealth of outstanding management processes and case studies that will be shared with the rest of the world during this years’ Vth IUCN World Parks Congress. In preparation for the congress, the IUCN Regional Office for South America organised a regional forum on national parks and protected areas. Some 50 plus participants from 14 countries distilled information on protected areas in the region and came up with some recommendations and a “Buenos Aires Declaration” to take to the congress. The co-management of public protected areas by civil society organizations, the development of numerous Community Conservation Areas, private reserves and networks of such reserves are the norm in South America.

More information
IUCN Regional Office for South America website

April 25, 2003
MÉXICO Y GUATEMALA UNEN ESFUERZOS EN CONSERVACIÓN AMBIENTAL

Volcán Tacaná entre México y Guatemala San José, Costa Rica. (UICN) - Un proyecto de manejo integral de cuencas conjunto entre Guatemala y México arrancó en la zona del Volcán Tacaná, un área protegida en la frontera entre los dos países. El plan, que es auspiciado por la Unión Mundial para la Naturaleza (UICN), busca establecer un manejo apropiado de las cuencas hidrográficas de Suchiate y Coatán, que son compartidas por los dos países mencionados.

En el Proyecto Tacaná, como es conocido, participan diversas organizaciones e instituciones de ambos países y es parte de la Iniciativa Mundial de Agua y Naturaleza, de la UICN. Rocío Córdoba, coordinadora del Área de Humedales, Agua y Zonas Costeras para la UICN en Mesoamérica, indicó que la zona donde se ubican las cuencas de Suchiate y Coatán sufre problemas importantes debido a la sobreexplotación de los recursos naturales.

Comunicado de Prensa
UICN Oficina Regional para Mesoamérica
IUCN Water and Nature Initiative

April 17, 2003
PROTECTING THE PROTECTORS, ADDRESSING THE INCREASING THREATS FACED BY RANGERS

Victoria, Australia. (IUCN) - IUCN and the International Ranger Federation launch an initiative leading up to the Vth IUCN World Parks Congress (Durban, South Africa, 8-17 September 2003)

The job of a park ranger is getting more and more dangerous. All over the world, people working in protected areas face increasing pressures, assaults, and physical violence from poachers, smugglers, rebels and other criminal elements. To respond to these threats, IUCN - The World Conservation Union and the International Ranger Federation (IRF) have joined forces in the "protect the protectors" initiative.

Full Press Release

Rangers on front line
The Age, Australia - 29 Mar 2003
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/03/29/1048653900600.html

FEATURE STORY - April 16, 2003
A ROCKY ROAD TO PEACE IN THE BALKANS

Balkans Peace Park, a transboundary park between Albania, Montenegro and Kosovo. Photo: Antonia Young Gland, Switzerland, 16 April 2003 (IUCN) - We are in one of the most beautiful and untouched areas of mountain wilderness in Europe, surrounded by unique rocky passes, meadows, pinewoods, distinct wildlife such as birds of prey and increasingly threatened brown bears, and also – sometimes – minefields. We are in the Alps of northern Albania, Montenegro and Kosovo/a, a meeting point for three different cultures, religions and ethnicities, a region which has suffered from wars and feuding throughout centuries, and the future site of a transboundary protected area. Since 1999, an array of international and local organizations and individuals, has been working to establish a “Balkans Peace Park”, which aims to protect nature, promote peace, stability and provide employment for local communities. The concept of transboundary protected areas – those spanning international borders – is not exactly new. The idea was first tested between Norway and Sweden in 1914 with the establishment of the Morikulien Peace Monument, which commemorates the peaceful solution of Norway’s demand for independence.

More information - PDF Document - 135KB

April 9, 2003
COUNTESS SETSUKO KLOSSOWSKA DE ROLA PLEDGES SUPPORT TO THE VTH IUCN WORLD PARKS CONGRESS

Countess Setsuko Klossowska, Photo: IUCN Gland, Switzerland, 9 April 2003 (IUCN) - The Vth IUCN World Parks Congress has received strong endorsement from Countess Setsuko Klossowska de Rola, a painter of Japanese origin and a Cultural Patron for the UNESCO World Heritage Convention.

The Countess has graciously accepted to become a World Parks Congress Ambassador and, in this capacity, is proposing to give young people the opportunity to participate in the Congress with an art exhibition, using natural, local materials, which will stand as expressions of the creativity of children and youth of the world. The Countess has a particular interest in the linkage between nature, culture and people, and is closely involved in the UNESCO programme "World Heritage in Young Hands".

The World Parks Congress, a unique 10-yearly event which provides the major global forum for setting the agenda for protected areas, will take place in Durban, South Africa from 8-17 September 2003.

Full press release
Countess Setsuko Klossowska de Rola's biography
Project proposal

April 9, 2003
INTERVIEW WITH ISHWARAN NATARAJAN, CHIEF OF THE NATURAL HERITAGE SECTION, UNESCO WEORLD HERITAGE CONVENTION

Dr Ishwaran Natarajan, Chief of the Natural Heritage Section, UNESCO World Heritage Convention has been with UNESCO for the past 16 years and has held different positions of prestige. Here, in an in-depth conversation with Suvira Srivastav, he dwells on the long-term plans of his organization for India.

India is one of the 12 biodiversity hotspots in the world but it just has a few sites designated under the Natural Heritage section of the World Heritage, UNESCO. Why is that so?

Five sites from Indian - national parks at Manas, Kaziranga, Sundarbans, Keoladeo (Bharatpur), and Nanda Devi - were nominated and included in UNESCO's World Heritage List in the 1980s, a time predating the Rio Conference when notions like 'biodiversity hot spots' were not recognized. Since the last set of Indian protected areas was inscribed on the List (Sundarbans and Nanda Devi in 1987), no new sites have been successfully nominated for designation as World Heritage Sites. Various nominations submitted by India, like the Rann of Kutch, the Gir Wildlife Sanctuary, and Silent Valley National Park, were returned either for re-consideration, or for expanding the nominated area or, because the case for '"outstanding universal value' had not been adequately projected. However, I feel that India has the potential for successfully nominating many more of its nature reserves as World Heritage Sites.

What are UNESCO's future plans for developing countries like India?

UNESCO, as a whole, cooperates with India in many areas of its work. Speaking of natural heritage, I think India, despite being frequently referred to as a 'developing country', has considerable success stories to tell. The success of rhino conservation in Assam is one example. It also has a highly dedicated cadre of protected area professionals whose commitment and services to protecting the nation's biodiversity must be better recognized and rewarded. Our plans for cooperation with India at present focus on how the prestige of the World Heritage label could be used to show innovative ways of using an international Convention to enhance the protection of biodiversity and raise the image of protected areas professionals in India.

Do you foresee active assessment and participatory role for NGOs in these plans?

Yes, we do believe that the future of protected area management in India and other 'megadiversity nations' will depend on capacity development based on government-NGO alliances and public-private partnerships. We feel that the role of NGOs is not only in carrying out active assessments of the potential for prospective sites to meet World Heritage criteria and conditions and other related studies and analyses. NGOs should become long-term, active partners in supporting the building protected area infrastructure and capacity and stand shoulder-to-shoulder with government to face the numerous challenges faced by the protected area management profession.
Financing protected areas management and tools, funding R&D activities, and supporting community initiatives-these are the three major requirements of wilderness areas across the globe.

How does your organization intend to address these?

We are increasingly trying to partner with philanthropic foundations, bilateral and multilateral donors, and a variety of other partners to design, develop, and launch country-level World Heritage Biodiversity Programmes where these concerns could be addressed in a systematic way over the medium to long terms. We have just started a project, financed by a planning grant of $ 50 400 provided by the UN Foundation, to design such a programme for India. We are cooperating with India's Ministry of Environment and Forests as well as a number of institutions and NGOs to develop this programme. Focusing on designated and potential World Heritage Sites in India, the programme will try to develop conservation financing schemes, research and development cooperation to enhance management effectiveness of protected areas, and collaboration with a number of donors and grass-roots organizations to design and launch community-based projects that will directly benefit protected area management and biodiversity conservation.

The clock has started ticking for the World Parks Congress 2003. What do you hope to achieve from this event?

The international steering committee for World parks Congress has already recognized world heritage as one of the cross-cutting themes. We are working with the IUCN (The World Conservation Union) and other partners to convene several preparatory activities where world heritage contributions to substantive stream topics of the Congress, such as conservation financing and management effectiveness, could be analysed and specific publications and products developed for showcasing at the Congress. We also intend to find resources to sponsor a significant number of World Natural Heritage Site personnel to attend the Congress and will probably have special events during the Congress around the world heritage theme and related subject.

What are the lessons learnt from the WSSD (World Summit on Sustainable Development), the much-hyped mega event on environment and sustainable development?

Mega events, like the WSSD and the World Parks Congress (the principal mega event for protected area professionals that will be convened in Durban, South Africa, in September 2003), are important occasions for networking and developing new ideas and insights. What we need to do, as many of the leading voices at WSSD repeatedly emphasized during its sessions, is to put an equal focus on converting those networks, insights, and ideas into action and make detectable improvements in actual lives of people and ground realities. We hope that World Heritage Sites could become priorities for such pilot actions and projects for the international community drive to promote biodiversity conservation and effective protected area management. What mega events should force us to take up is targeted and committed action to change things on the ground in the intervening period between these mega events. In this way, such events become useful and necessary forums for exchanging experience and learning lessons.

What role will UNESCO World Heritage play in the World Parks Congress?

In addition to my responses to a related question above, let me say that the UNESCO World Heritage Centre places a very high importance on the successful outcome of this event. The main architects of the Congress, namely IUCN and its World Commission on Protected Areas, are partners and principal technical advisors to the World Heritage Centre and the World Heritage Committee. So we will support IUCN in all possible ways and contribute towards making the Congress a success.