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The
Durban Accord :
Our
Global Commitment
for People and Earth's Protected Areas
Who
We Are // The Rapidly Changing World //
A New Paradigm for Protected Areas //
Cause for Celebration // Cause
for Concern // Call for Commitment and Action
//
Our Pledge // Documents
// Durban Action Plan // Drafting
Schedule
We,
the 3,000 participants of the Vth World Parks Congress, celebrate,
voice concern and call for urgent action on protected areas. We
bear witness to those places most inspirational and spiritual, most
critical to the survival of species and ecosystems, most crucial
in safeguarding food, air and water, most essential in stabilizing
climate, most unique in cultural and natural heritage and therefore
most deserving of humankind's special care. We urge action for the
benefit of protected areas so that their benefits may be conserved
and equitably shared.
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Who
We Are
We are a gathering of resource managers, scientists, civil servants,
and industry leaders. We include leaders of non-governmental organizations-both
large and small, of international bodies and grassroots groups.
We include indigenous and mobile peoples and local communities.
We are men and women of younger and older generations, hailing from
major urban centers and small communities across 154 countries.
We share experience from the Earth's wildest frontiers and its most
degraded lands. We carry the voices of countless concerned people
from every corner of the world.
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The
Rapidly Changing World
All around us we see profound transformations: climate change, fragmentation
of landscapes and seascapes and the spread of invasive alien species.
We see growing populations, globalization, urbanization, decentralization,
and rising demands for food, fiber, fuel and water. We see loss
of biological and cultural diversity and failing ecosystems that
serve as vital organs of the Earth. We see 3,000,000,000 people
in poverty, gripped by daily struggles for survival. We see the
changing faces of global and community leaders, too often too burdened
by societal demands to nurture Earth's life support systems.
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A New Paradigm for Protected Areas
In this changing world, we need a fresh and innovative approach
to protected areas and their role in broader conservation and development
agendas. This approach demands the maintenance and enhancement of
our core conservation goals, equitably integrating them with the
interests of all affected people. In this way the synergy between
conservation, the maintenance of life support systems and sustainable
development is forged. We see protected areas as vital means to
achieve this synergy efficiently and cost-effectively. We see protected
areas as providers of benefits beyond boundaries-beyond their boundaries
on a map, beyond the boundaries of nation-states, across societies,
genders and generations.
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Cause for Celebration
We celebrate the miracle
of the diversity of nature and of cultures that possess the wealth,
the wisdom and knowledge to enable conservation and sustainable
use.
We celebrate protected
areas as places where we conserve biodiversity-for its inherent
value, for its value as a public good and as a local livelihood
resource.
We celebrate protected
areas as providers of ecosystem goods and services, as irreplaceable
sources of fresh water, fish stocks and flood protection and as
buffers against climate change.
We celebrate protected
areas as refugia for life in the face of rapid, perhaps cataclysmic,
ecological shifts.
We celebrate protected
areas as contributors to poverty reduction and economic development
and as creators and sustainers of livelihoods.
We celebrate protected
areas as living classrooms-special places where people connect to
their roots, where cultures, values and knowledge systems carry
on through generations.
We celebrate protected areas
as promoters of friendship and peace, as the common ground for nations
that share in the proliferation of transboundary parks.
We celebrate one of the
greatest collective land use commitments in the history of humankind-a
worldwide system of some 100,000 protected areas and a tripling
of the world's protected areas over the last twenty years.
And we celebrate the
conservation successes of local communities, indigenous peoples,
governments, private individuals and volunteer organizations and
their efforts to make protected areas places of natural, cultural
and spiritual convergence.
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Cause for Concern
We voice concern that
many areas of irreplaceable and immediately threatened biological
diversity have not yet been protected.
We voice concern that
many places which have been conserved over the ages by local communities,
mobile and indigenous peoples are not given recognition, protection
and support.
We voice concern that
wild and natural areas outside of protected areas have shrunk by
half in the last twenty years, and that biological diversity, in
turn, is on the brink of mass extinction.
We voice concern that
many proclaimed protected areas exist more on paper than in practice,
especially in developing nations and in the marine realm.
We voice concern that
while 12% of the world's land area now enjoys protection, less than
1% of the world's oceans, seas and coasts have protected status,
exposing fisheries and rich storehouses of biodiversity to overexploitation.
We voice concern that
freshwater ecosystems-natural reservoirs for a non-negotiable element
for life on Earth-are largely unprotected.
We voice concern that
protected areas are often islands in a sea of degradation, ignoring
natural life lines drawn through river basins, migratory corridors
and fertile ocean currents.
We voice concern that
development plans do not include attention to protected areas.
We voice concern that
many costs of protected areas are borne locally-particularly by
poor communities-while benefits accrue globally and remain underappreciated.
We voice concern that
while conservation funds are promoted as available, they often prove
inaccessible and are sometimes misdirected.
We voice concern that
perverse subsidies encourage overexploitation of resources in and
around protected areas.
We voice concern that
existing protected areas suffer an annual funding gap of some US$25
billion, excluding additional resources required to expand protected
area systems.
We voice concern that
many protected area practitioners lack access to technology, knowledge,
lessons learned and best practice models for effective and adaptive
management.
We voice concern that
the capacity of our younger generations to participate in the new
protected area agenda is insufficient.
We voice concern that
human-induced climate change threatens to reverse our past achievements
and jeopardize future efforts and that the world has not started
substantial reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.
We voice concern that
we face a closing window of opportunity, that if we fail to act
now we will miss our last chance to pass our rich natural and cultural
heritage onto future generations.
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Call for Commitment
and Action
We urge commitment to
the irreplaceable role of protected areas in the implementation
of the Millennium Development Declaration, the Johannesburg Plan
of Implementation, the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Convention
to Combat Desertification, the Ramsar Convention, the World Heritage
Convention and other global agreements.
We urge commitment to
ensure that globalization and trade agreements do not hinder the
capacity of protected areas to achieve their core aims.
We urge
commitment to establish and strengthen policy, legal and institutional
frameworks for protected area systems that are accountable and transparent.
We urge commitment to
expand and strengthen worldwide systems of protected areas, prioritized
on the basis of imminent threat to biodiversity, natural and cultural
heritage.
We urge commitment to
safeguard representative ecosystems, habitats and species, so filling
gaps in conserving the irreplaceable building blocks of Earth's
natural order.
We urge commitment to
build resilience into the selection, design and management of protected
area networks, so insuring their survival in the face of human-induced
climate change.
We urge commitment to
mainstream protected areas within overall development agendas, engaging
support from broad cross-sections of government, communities and
the private sector.
We urge commitment to
the mobilization of financial and technical resources to implement
the African Protected Area Initiative and the African Protected
Area Trust Fund.
We urge commitment by
extractive industries to fulfill their responsibilities for the
careful stewardship of protected areas.
We urge commitment to
the integral relationship of people with protected areas, fully
incorporating the rights, interests and aspirations of both women
and men.
We urge commitment to
involve local communities, indigenous and mobile peoples in the
creation, proclamation and management of protected areas.
We urge commitment to
engage and enlist younger generations in the stewardship of protected
areas, recognizing that they have legitimate stakes in the future
of those areas.
We urge commitment to
ensuring that people who benefit from or are impacted by protected
areas have the opportunity to participate in relevant decision-making
on a fair and equitable basis in full respect of their human and
social rights.
We urge commitment to
protected area management that strives to reduce, and in no way
exacerbates, poverty.
We urge commitment to
protected area management that shares benefits with indigenous peoples
and local communities.
We urge commitment to
innovation in protected area management including adaptive, collaborative
and co-management strategies.
We urge commitment to
recognize, strengthen, protect and support community conservation
areas.
We urge commitment to
the provision of substantial additional financial, infrastructural
and material resources for maintaining and enhancing protected area
systems.
We urge commitment to
the economic valuation of protected areas in recognition of their
significance to local, national and global economies so as to motivate
increased investment and funding.
We urge commitment to
innovative and diversified income generation strategies, thereby
securing predictable financial returns for payment to the stewards
of ecosystems goods and services.
We urge commitment to
redirect perverse subsidies toward support mechanisms for protected
areas.
We urge commitment to
build the capacity of protected area managers, including through
cutting-edge information services and technology transfer.
We urge commitment to
value and use all knowledge systems on protected areas, both scientific
and traditionally based.
We urge commitment to
communications and education to improve and broaden support for
protected areas.
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Our Pledge
Our strongest commitments will fail if we neglect to maintain
avenues for open dialogue. Such dialogue thrives in a climate of
humility, credibility and trust.
Towards this end
we pledge to facilitate understanding
and collaboration.
We pledge to engage and embrace
all constituencies.
We pledge to share our vision
that a sustainable future for humankind depends on a caring partnership
with nature.
We pledge to bequeath protected
areas, as precious heritage, to future generations.
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Durban Accord Documents
The Durban Accord :
Our Global Commitment for People and Earth's Protected Areas
PDF
Document - 60KB // Word
Document - 39KB // HTML
Document - 11KB
El Acuerdo de Durban
: Nuestro compromiso mundial para con la población humana
y las áreas protegidas de la Tierra - (Spanish
version)
PDF
Document - 65KB // Word
Document - 43KB // HTML
Document - 11KB
L'Accord de Durban
: Notre engagement mondial pour l'homme et les aires protégées
- (French version)
PDF
Document - 61KB // Word
Document - 42KB // HTML
Document - 11KB
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The Durban Action Plan
The Durban Action
Plan
PDF
Document - 181KB // Word
Document - 276KB // HTML
Document - 178KB
Spanish version // French
version
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El Plan de Acción
de Durban - (Spanish version)
PDF
Document - 206KB // Word
Document - 308KB // HTML
Document - 224KB
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Le Plan d'action de
Durban - (French version)
PDF
Document - 253KB // Word
Document - 280KB // HTML
Document - 240KB
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Schedule of the WPC Durban Accord and Action Plan
Before
the WPC // At the WPC // After
the WPC
| Before
the World Parks Congress |
12-14 June 2003 : Durban Accord and Action Plan
Drafting Group Meeting to revise draft #1 |
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23 June
2003 : Draft #2 Durban Accord and Action Plan prepared by
Roger Crofts, incorporating comments from Drafting Group, and
placed on WPC web site for public comment |
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23 July 2003 : Closing Date for comments |
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23 July to 6 August 2003 : Review of comments
by Drafting Group |
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15 August 2003 :
Draft #3 Durban Accord and Action Plan and sent to translation.
WPC Contact Group schedule prepared and posted on the web |
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30 August 2003 : Draft #3 Durban Accord
and Action Plan translated, duplicated and distributed
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| At
the World Parks Congress |
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A Durban Accord and Action Plan Committee formed under
the leadership of Roger Crofts and Enrique Lahman and this group
worked on the Durban Accord and Action Plan during the WPC
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The Durban Accord and Action Plan presented to the plenary
on the last day of the WPC. |
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This process included provision for a fully equipped
meeting room(s) for contact group(s) on the Durban Accord and
Action Plan Report back to the final plenary on the morning
session of September 17. Report on the Durban Accord and Action
Plan made by Estherine Lisinge. |
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8th September 2003 : The 1st Drafting
Group meeting at 14:00 |
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9-13th September 2003 : The Drafting Group
met each day at 07:30 to review comments received etc...
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11-13th September 2003 : the Durban Accord
and Action Plan discussed/reviewed in the relevant workshop
streams and comments fed to the Drafting Group. |
|
13th September 2030 - 14:00-17:00 : Drafting Group
met and agreed final text of the Durban Accord and Action Plan
|
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14th September 2003 - 12:00 : Deadline for
the final draft of the Durban Accord and Action Plan |
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17th September 2003 : Durban Accord and Action
Plan translated, duplicated and distributed. Durban Accord and
Action Plan presented by Estherine Lisinge and adopted in plenary.
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| After
the World Parks Congress |
|
" Following the WPC, the Durban Accord and Action
Plan will be incorporated into the Congress proceedings and
also widely circulated. Due Date: 31 October 2003. |
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