Recommendation 04
Building Comprehensive and Effective
Protected Area Systems

Economic, cultural, intrinsic, aesthetic and spiritual values of biological diversity are experienced by all people. At the same time the increasing rate of loss of biological diversity will seriously undermine the quality of life of future human generations unless this issue is addressed as a matter of urgency.

Ongoing and extremely rapid human-induced changes, such as habitat loss and spread of alien invasive species, continue to erode biodiversity, and species ranges are shifting due to climate change.

New analyses presented at this Congress have shown that the global PA network is far from finished, with significant gaps in the coverage of Protected Area systems for threatened species, globally important sites, habitats and realms.

These gaps and changes require the expansion of existing, and the strategic creation of new, protected areas while ensuring the connectivity of suitable habitat between them.

A reduction in the rate of loss of biological diversity can be achieved through protected area systems in all ecoregions of the world that are comprehensive, ecologically and biologically viable, representative, and effectively managed. Threatened species, particularly those listed in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, must be effectively conserved in these networks of protected areas.

The target to achieve “a significant reduction in the current rate of loss of biological diversity” by the year 2010, agreed by the 6th Conference of the Parties of the Convention on Biological Diversity (Decision VI/26), restated in the Hague Ministerial Declaration of April 2002, and endorsed by the world’s leaders at the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) in September 2002 remains valid.

The WSSD Plan of Implementation states that biological diversity plays “a critical role” in “overall sustainable development and poverty eradication” and that “biodiversity is currently being lost at unprecedented rates due to human activities”. Protected area systems should ensure that valuable ecosystem services are sustained.

Biodiversity is not evenly distributed across the globe, thus an effective network of protected areas to reduce the rate of loss of biological diversity should be based on an adequate understanding of the patterns of distribution of species, habitats, ecosystems and ecological processes across all scales. Systematic conservation plans and decision-support tools should be used to identify targets for protection based on such understanding.

The World Database on Protected Areas (WDPA) is a vital tool to measure the efforts of governments and civil society to build comprehensive protected area networks. This database is maintained by the UNEP-World Conservation Monitoring Centre with the support and assistance of the WDPA Consortium that includes members of international conservation NGOs and other interested agencies. The importance of the database has been reflected in the UNEP Governing Council decision of 2003, implemented through a MOU signed between IUCN and UNEP at WPC 2003 and supported by the WDPA Consortium.

Many Multilateral Environmental Agreements, notably the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals, Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, the Convention for the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage, and the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance, along with many regional agreements, recognise the importance of protecting biodiversity as a priority for all nations.

With these points in mind, participants in the workshop on Building Comprehensive Protected Area Systems concluded that nations need to consider biodiversity-based targets as a means of maximising the coverage and representation of biological diversity and, in particular, threatened components of biological diversity in their protected area systems.

In addition to the conventional system of protected areas based on IUCN designated categories, a range of opportunities exist for enhancing coverage of protected areas, including community conservation areas, community managed areas, and private and indigenous reserves.

For protected areas to meet their biodiversity conservation and economic development objectives, they must receive adequate financial support. However, it is noted that many countries with the highest levels of biodiversity are challenged by inadequate financial means and by the imperative of poverty alleviation. Many countries therefore compromise on creating and/or effectively managing a comprehensive and effective protected area system even when it is not in the national or global interest.

Therefore, PARTICIPANTS in the workshop stream on Building Comprehensive Protected Area Systems at the Vth World Parks Congress, in Durban, South Africa (8-17 September 2003):

1. URGE governments, non-government organizations and local communities to maximise representation and persistence of biodiversity in comprehensive protected area networks in all ecoregions by 2012, focusing especially on threatened and under-protected ecosystems and those species that qualify as globally threatened with extinction under the IUCN criteria. This will require that:

a. Systematic conservation planning tools that use information on species, habitats and ecological processes to identify gaps in the existing system be applied to assist in the selection of new protected areas at the national level;

b. All globally threatened species are effectively conserved in situ with the following immediate targets:

i. all Critically Endangered and Endangered species globally confined to single sites are effectively conserved in situ by 2006;

ii. all other globally Critically Endangered and Endangered species are effectively conserved in situ by 2008;

iii. all other globally threatened species are effectively conserved in situ by 2010; and

iv. sites that support internationally important populations of congregatory and/or restricted-range species are adequately conserved by 2010;

c. Viable representations of every terrestrial, freshwater and marine ecosystem are effectively conserved within protected areas, with the following immediate targets:

i. A common global framework for classifying and assessing the status of ecosystems established by 2006;

ii. quantitative targets for each ecosystem type identified by 2008; and

iii. viable representations of every threatened or under-protected ecosystem conserved by 2010;

d. Changes in biodiversity and key ecological processes affecting biodiversity in and around protected areas are identified and managed;

e. Regional landscape and seascape planning should consider locally generated maps, and incorporate zoning and management planning processes to assist in designing and enhancing comprehensive protected area networks that conserve wide-ranging and migratory species and sustain ecosystem services;

f. Protected area systems are established by 2006 that adequately cover all large intact ecosystems that hold globally significant assemblages of species and/or provide ecosystem services and processes;

g. Increase the coverage of protected areas in freshwater ecosystems as proposed by the Convention on Biological Diversity Recommendation VIII/2 to establish and maintain a “comprehensive, adequate and representative system of protected inland water ecosystems… using integrated catchment/watershed/river basin management” by 2012; and

h. Create a representative network of marine protected areas by 2012, as stated in the WSSD Plan of Implementation;

2. URGE the Parties to the CBD to make the achievement of the above-mentioned targets possible by adopting a strong program of work and consider legal mechanisms on protected areas at COP7 that ensures the establishment of a representative global network of protected areas. In support of the Program of work, establish an effective mechanism to measure progress towards the achievement of the above-mentioned targets and ensure the provision of adequate financing to support such a network, in accordance with Article 20 and Article 8(m) of the CBD;

3. CALL on governments, local authorities, donors and development assistance agencies, the private sector, and other stakeholders to financially support the strategic expansion of the global network of protected areas as well as the effective management of existing protected areas. Whilst taking appropriate steps to defray the attendant human opportunity costs where appropriate;

4. URGE governments to use international instruments, such as the Convention for the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage and the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance, to enhance the protection given to sites, and pass domestic legislation to implement their convention obligations, with a view to achieving the targets outlined above;

5. CALL on governments to develop and implement innovative plans and legislation involving all stakeholders to conserve biodiversity and ecological processes effectively under various conditions of land and resource ownership and usage rights, as well as across national boundaries;

6. URGE governments, non-government organizations, donors, private sector and development assistance agencies to promote socio-economic and cultural benefits of protected areas to foster support for the expansion of protected area networks;

7. REQUEST the consortium of institutions responsible for maintaining and managing the World Database on Protected Areas to continue the process of enhancing the quality of the data, and making these publicly available and accessible;

8. URGE the Parties to the CBD to request all governments to provide annual updates of information to the WDPA;

9. URGE the private sector to adopt best practices that do not threaten, compromise or thwart the achievement of the aforementioned targets and to assist in the establishment of a comprehensive ecologically and biologically viable and representative network of protected areas;

10. REQUEST the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas to establish a task force on conservation planning to guide countries in the achievement of the targets outlined in this recommendation;

11. CALL on parties to the World Heritage Convention to encourage the nomination of global physiographic, natural and cultural phenomena as large-scale multi-states serial World Heritage Routes to serve as frameworks for local and trans-boundary World Heritage sites and protected areas; and

12. URGE governments, local authorities, private sector, donors and development assistance agencies to ensure that further work towards building comprehensive protected areas systems takes full account of the rights, interest and aspirations of indigenous peoples, as well as of their desire to have their lands, territories and resources secured and protected for their own social and cultural survival.

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