Press release | 08 сен, 2009

Looking to the Future of the CBD Programme of Work on Protected Areas

The International Workshop will be held in JejuIsland, Republic of Korea, 14-17 September 2009, and will be focusing on reviewing the CBD Programme of Work on Protected Areas. 

content hero image

Photo: CBD logo

The United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), is the key international treaty focused on sustaining the diversity of life on Earth and in promoting its sustainable use. The Convention since its signature in 1992 have adopted a number of programmes of work one of which is the Programme of Work on Protected Areras (PoWPA) which is considered one of the most influential in promoting key actions on protected areas planning, management and governance issues. POWPA is at cross road as it will be reviewed during the tenth meeting of the CBD Conference of the Parties (CoP X) that will take place in Nagoya, Japan in October 2010.  It is expected that a renewed mandate for strengthening the implementation of POWPA will be adopted by the parties in Nagoya.

 

PoWPA has achieved many sucesses – said Nik Lopoukhine, Chair of the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA)- however protected areas continue to face many challenges with climate change and other emerging issues as added concerns. Accordingly it is imperative that such new challenges and the implementation of POWPA are carefully assessed and on that basis propose targeted recommendations and enhancments for the consideration of the Parties of the Convention. That’s the objective of the meeting at Jeju”. 

 

IUCN is organizing this workshop following the invitation from the CBD/COP9 (Bonnn, Germany 2008) Conference of the Parties requesting IUCN to contribute to the process of reviewing PoWPA leading to its tenth meeting.  The workshop is jointly organized by IUCN/WCPA, the IUCN Protected Areas Programme, the CBD Secretariat, the Ministry of the Environment of Korea, and Korea National Parks Service (KNPS) and its implementation and follow-up is supported by UNEP- Spain Lifeweb Project, The Netherlands, Canada, Finland and Conservation International.

 

The goal of this workshop is to review the CBD/PoWPA as to enhance its effective contribution to achieve the CBD Goals in relation to the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity.  Key objectives of the meeting are to:

 

Ø       Assess key lessons learned on the implementation of the CBD/POWPA – successes and pitfalls

Ø       Identify ways and means and practical actions required at regional, sub-regional and national levels to further enhance its scope and implementation including implementation of COP 9 decision on protected areas.

Ø       Consider key emerging issues – such as those associated to climate change,  and other important issues such as management effectiveness,  programme element  2  of PoWPA and  restoration issues - that need to be further expanded or included in the POWPA or in the COP X decision.

Ø       Agree on a strategy on how to promote a renewed mandate for an enhanced CBD/POWPA to be adopted by the parties of the CBD at CBD/COP X.

 

This workshop provides an important opportunity for approximately 100 experts, mostly members of the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas, from over 50 countries, including many IUCN members to meet and come up with a perspective on the future of the POWPA. The ouctomes of this workshop will inform a further set of regional meetings leading up to into the SBSTTA14 and COP X. As such this workshop represents an important contribution from IUCN and its partners to strengthen the implementation of the Convention on Biological Diversity.

 

About IUCN

 

IUCN, the International Union for Conservation of Nature, helps the world find pragmatic solutions to our most pressing environment and development challenges by supporting scientific research; managing field projects all over the world; and bringing governments, NGOs, the UN, international conventions and companies together to develop policy, laws and best practice.

 

The world's oldest and largest global environmental network, IUCN is a democratic membership union with more than 1,000 government and NGO member organizations, and almost 11,000 volunteer scientists and experts in some 160 countries.  IUCN's work is supported by over 1,000 professional staff in 60 offices and hundreds of partners in public, NGO and private sectors around the world. IUCN's headquarters are located in Gland, near Geneva, in Switzerland.

 

www.iucn.org