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The Vth IUCN World Congress on Protected Areas, or World Parks Congress (WPC), convened in Durban, South Africa, from 8-17 September 2003. More than 2,700 participants attended the meeting, representing governments and public agencies, international organizations, the private sector, academic and research institutions, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and community and indigenous organizations. IUCN - The World Conservation Union organizes the Congress every ten years to take stock of the state of protected areas (PAs), appraise progress and setbacks, and define the agenda for PAs for the next decade. The theme of the 2003 WPC was "Benefits beyond Boundaries."

Over nine days of plenary and workshop sessions, side events and field trips, participants addressed gaps within PA systems by identifying under-represented ecosystems, defined tools to improve management effectiveness, sought new legal arrangements, and identified partnerships.

The Congress produced several outcomes. The three main Congress Outputs are: the Durban Accord and Action Plan, consisting of a high-level vision statement for PAs, and an outline of implementation mechanisms; 32 recommendations, approved by workshops during the Congress; and the Message to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). Other outcomes include: the United Nations (UN) List and State of the World’s Protected Areas, a global report on the world’s PAs; a Protected Areas Learning Network (PALNet), a web-based knowledge management tool for PA managers and stakeholders; outputs on Africa’s PAs, including a recommendation on Africa’s PAs and the Durban Consensus on African Protected Areas for the New Millennium; and a handbook on Managing Protected Areas in the 21st Century, which will collate case studies, models and lessons learned during the Congress, and will constitute the "User Manual" for the Durban Accord.

SECOND WORLD CONFERENCE ON NATIONAL PARKS: The Second World Conference on National Parks (Yellowstone, US, 18-27 September 1972) addressed, inter alia: the effects of tourism on PAs; park planning and management; and social, scientific and environmental problems within national parks in wet tropical, arid and mountain regions.

THIRD WORLD CONGRESS ON NATIONAL PARKS: The Third World Congress on National Parks (Bali, Indonesia, 11-22 October 1982) focused on the role of PAs in sustaining society, and recognized 10 major areas of concern, including the inadequacy of the existing global network of terrestrial PAs, and the need for: more marine, coastal and freshwater PAs; improved ecological and managerial quality of existing PAs; a system of consistent PA categories to balance conservation and development needs; and links with sustainable development.

FOURTH WORLD CONGRESS ON NATIONAL PARKS AND PROTECTED AREAS: The Fourth World Congress on National Parks and Protected Areas: Parks for Life (Caracas, Venezuela, 10-21 February 1992) emphasized the relationship between people and PAs, and the need for, inter alia, the identification of sites of importance for biodiversity conservation, and a regional approach to land management. The Caracas Action Plan synthesized the strategic actions for PAs over the decade 1992-2002 and provided a global framework for collective action. The Plan aimed to extend the PA network to cover at least 10% of each major biome by the year 2000.

SYMPOSIUM: PROTECTED AREAS IN THE 21ST CENTURY: FROM ISLANDS TO NETWORKS: The symposium "Protected Areas in the 21st Century: from Islands to Networks" (Albany, Australia, 25-29 November 1997) concluded that PAs face significant challenges, including the need to: move from an "island" to a "network" view of PAs; mainstream PAs into other areas of public policy; manage PAs by, for and with local communities; and raise management standards through capacity building. It produced five outputs: the Road to Durban 2003 – recommendations for planning and implementing the next WPC; imperatives for PAs; a campaign document for PAs – from islands to networks; new directions for the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA); and PAs and the CBD.

REGIONAL MEETINGS: Numerous regional meetings were held in preparation for the WPC. At the West and Central Africa workshop (Kribi, Cameroon, 27-31 January 2003), participants discussed the need for novel financing and poverty alleviation mechanisms, an effective communications system and the involvement of minority groups and women in decision making.

During the Fourth World Ranger Congress (Victoria, Australia, 21-28 March 2003), IUCN and the International Ranger Federation launched an initiative on "Protecting the Protectors: addressing the increasing threats faced by rangers."

Concluding a series of four workshops, a Mediterranean meeting (Murcia, Spain, 26-30 March 2003) considered different experiences and defined Mediterranean specificities.

In South America, a regional forum on national parks and PAs (Buenos Aires, Argentina, 26-28 March 2003) produced the Buenos Aires Declaration, which stresses the protection and management of natural areas as a component of human development agendas. In North America, a workshop was held during the joint conference of the George Wright Society and the US National Park Service on "Protecting our Diverse Heritage: the role of parks, protected areas and cultural sites" (San Diego, US, 14-18 April 2003). In Central America, a regional forum was held (El Zamorano, Honduras, 27-31 July 2003), to discuss draft resolutions and recommendations for the WPC.

WORKSHOP ON MOUNTAINS: A workshop on mountains was held prior to the WPC (uKhahlamba-Drakensberg World Heritage site, South Africa, 5-8 September 2003). Building on the 2002 International Year of Mountains, the workshop covered issues relevant to mountain PA systems, including: transboundary cooperation and peace parks; cultural and sacred resource conservation; ecotourism; and fire and alien species. The workshop approved a recommendation on strengthening mountain PAs as a key contribution to sustainable mountain development. The recommendation was acknowledged as part of the WPC recommendations by the WPC closing Plenary on Wednesday, 17 September 2003.

Under its overarching theme of "Benefits beyond Boundaries," the WPC held plenary sessions from Monday to Wednesday, 8-10 September, and on Tuesday and Wednesday, 16-17 September. The Plenary addressed: benefits beyond boundaries; a briefing on the workshops; global partners for PAs; a focus on Africa; and the Congress Outputs and their implementation.

Seven workshop streams were held from Thursday to Saturday, 11-13 September. Workshop participants met in plenaries and smaller break-out groups to address: linkages in the landscape and seascape; building broader support for PAs; PA governance; developing the capacity to manage PAs; evaluating management effectiveness; building a secure financial future; and building comprehensive PA systems. Three cross-cutting themes on marine protected areas (MPAs), World Heritage, and communities and equity were also addressed within the above workshop streams.

On Sunday and Monday 14-15 September, participants attended short courses and field trips. Discussion groups on WPC recommendations, the Congress Recommendations Committee and the drafting group on the Message to the CBD also held informal meetings throughout the Congress. Drop-in sessions on the Durban Accord and Action Plan were organized on Thursday and Friday, 11-12 September.

The following report outlines WPC discussions based on the agenda of the Congress, and summarizes the main outcomes.

On Monday, 8 September, Achim Steiner, IUCN Director General and WPC Master of Ceremonies, welcomed all participants, and highlighted the accomplishment in designating at least 10% of the earth’s surface as PAs.

Thabo Mbeki, President of South Africa, drew attention to the UN Millennium Declaration and the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation, identified poverty and under-development as major threats to nature conservation, and commended the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) for combining environmental and social goals.

HM Queen Noor, IUCN and Congress Patron, highlighted the role of ecosystems in sustaining livelihoods, and of transboundary PAs in promoting peace and security.

Nelson Mandela, former President of South Africa and Congress Patron, stressed the need to involve youth in PA management, and to consider PAs’ contribution to poverty alleviation. He said sustainable PAs require partnerships.

A youth representative called for funding for youth programmes related to conservation. Another youth representative stressed PAs’ contribution to the economy, recreation, education, medicine and ecotourism, and called on present generations to manage PAs better for the benefit of future generations.

Klaus Töpfer, Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), delivered a message from Kofi Annan, UN Secretary-General. Noting the vital services provided by ecosystems, Töpfer highlighted the need to address the isolation of PAs, ensure adequate funding, protect indigenous people’s rights, and share the benefits of biodiversity equitably.

Ian Johnson, World Bank Vice President, read a statement on behalf of James Wolfensohn, World Bank President. He emphasized three challenges for PA management: ensuring that PAs are ecologically and socially sustainable; providing adequate human and financial resources; and sharing the costs and benefits of PAs equitably.

Zhu Guangyao, Vice Minister of China’s Environmental Protection Administration, outlined his country’s efforts regarding PAs, including the adoption of plans and regulations, international cooperation for transboundary areas, and recognition of the relationship between PAs and surrounding communities.

Len Good, Global Environment Facility (GEF), stressed that developing countries and the poor depend on nature for their development, and expressed the GEF’s commitment to strengthening the global PA network.

Aroha Te Pareake Mead, IUCN Counselor representing indigenous people, emphasized the importance of cultural diversity, equity and justice, and advocated the recognition of indigenous rights and views with regard to PA designation and management.

Yolanda Kakabadse, IUCN President, outlined challenges for PA managers in relation to: mobilizing resources; linking PAs to adjacent lands; involving interested groups in decision making; supporting indigenous communities; and distributing benefits to society.

David Sheppard, IUCN, and WPC Secretary General, introduced the WPC process, aims, organization and expected key outputs. He called for a focus on issues of concern, including MPAs and the role of indigenous communities.

Sylvia Earle, National Geographic Society and Conservation International (CI), presented a video on the challenges posed by global change at the local level, highlighting that community initiatives can be used as conservation models.

Angela Cropper, IUCN, recalled the appeal for an approach to PA management that supports sustainable development and conservation, and called for increased financial support and further protection of marine, freshwater and dryland ecosystems.

Kenton Miller, WCPA Chair, emphasized the need to manage PAs cooperatively. He said managers should use science and traditional knowledge to maximize PAs’ value, and suggested adopting voluntary management standards.

Klaus Töpfer presented on the state of the world’s PAs. He said that although the total PA surface area has doubled in the last decade, some geographical categories, notably oceans and lake systems, are still largely under-represented. Underlining the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) regarding poverty eradication and environmental sustainability, he called for quantitative targets and timetables.

Bob Scholes, Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA), presented a progress report on the Southern African MA. He explained that biodiversity is a necessary condition for ecosystem services, and said ecotourism is a quantifiable index of biodiversity’s economic value.

Russell Mittermeier, CI President, stressed the need to: expand marine and freshwater PA networks; demonstrate the social and economic values of PAs; recognize ecosystem services provided by PAs; and establish partnerships with indigenous people.

Queen Noor noted that the future of PAs is uncertain due to physical, social and political change.

During a panel discussion, moderator Vuyo Mbuli, South Africa, presented a video on future challenges and scenarios for PA management.

On behalf of Sayyaad Soltani, Iran, Aghaghia Rahimzadeh, IUCN, described the traditional and sustainable livelihood of her pastoral nomadic community, and urged participants to help build capacity and preserve cultural heritage.

Stressing the importance of conservation beyond PAs, André van der Zande, Dutch Ministry of Agriculture, Nature Management and Fisheries, introduced the concept of ecological networks. Ernesto Enkerlin Hoeflich, President of Mexico’s National Commission on Protected Areas, suggested using a percentage of PA revenues for conservation purposes. John Makombo, Uganda Wildlife Authority, advocated the empowerment of local communities to generate sustainable revenues from PAs.

Estherine Lisinge Fotabong, World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF), noted that conserving PAs as biological islands could result in local people losing rights and control over their resources.

BRIEFING ON THE WORKSHOPS: On Wednesday, 10 September, Chair David Sheppard opened the briefing on the workshops, and encouraged participants to comment on the drafts of the Durban Accord and Action Plan, and WPC recommendations during workshop discussions.

Steve Edwards, IUCN, emphasized the need to avoid contradictory statements in Congress Outputs.

Julia Carabias, Mexico’s former Minister of Environment, presented the goals of the stream on developing capacities for PA management, and urged participants to recommend strategies, methodologies, and tools to achieve them.

Mohamed Bakarr, WCPA, outlined the aims and organization of the stream on building comprehensive PA systems. He said the workshop should identify ways to achieve a representative and comprehensive PA system at all levels, set targets, and generate funding.

Carlos Quintela, Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), introduced the stream on building a secure financial future, and suggested that discussions focus on how to generate and distribute funding for PAs.

Peter Bridgewater, Ramsar Convention Secretary General, introduced the stream on linkages in the landscape and seascape. He stressed the importance of management beyond PA boundaries, and warned participants of the possible negative consequences of building corridors. Jeffrey McNeely, IUCN, introduced the stream on building broader support for PAs, recommending that participants focus on: the non-material values of PAs; PAs and local and indigenous communities; supporting PAs during violent conflict; urban outreach strategies; building political support for PAs; and communication.

Jim Johnston, Parks Canada, and Grazia Borrini-Feyerabend, IUCN, presented the stream on PA governance, announcing that the workshop would address questions of equity, decision making, and accountability.

Marc Hockings, WCPA, said the stream on evaluating management effectiveness would explore ways to measure: the state of PAs and ecosystems; progress achieved; the impact of PAs on communities; response to threats; and financial resource requirements.

Ashish Kothari, Kalpavriksh, presented the goals of the cross-cutting theme on communities and equity. He emphasized the need to fully recognize indigenous peoples’ rights in the development of conservation strategies.

Charles Ehler, US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, introduced the MPA cross-cutting theme by recalling related commitments from the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD). He said issues for consideration include how to, inter alia: increase the effectiveness of MPA management; integrate MPA management into marine and coastal governance; and conserve marine biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction.

Introducing the World Heritage cross-cutting theme, Natajaran Ishwaran, UNESCO, noted that site managers often fail to recognize benefits from World Heritage, and recommended the incorporation of relevant training into PA capacity building.

GLOBAL PARTNERS FOR PROTECTED AREAS: On Tuesday, 16 September, the Plenary held panel discussions on tourism, business and PAs, and on extractive industries, under the general theme "Global Partners for PAs."

Tourism, business and PAs: Cheryl Carolus, South Africa Tourism, chaired the session. Mike Leach, Tribal Chief of the Tit’qet St’at’imc Nation, called on participants to work cooperatively with indigenous peoples to protect PAs by drawing on their traditional knowledge and customary laws.

Les Carlisle, Conservation Corporation Africa, presented a tourism model applied across a range of land tenure systems, the key points of which include internal audits, sustainable community development, environmental awareness and biodiversity conservation. Faustine Kobero, Conservation Corporation Africa, described the benefits of the company’s cooperation with a Tanzanian foundation to ensure biodiversity conservation, and highlighted returns to communities, in terms of employment generation and development projects.

Debra Epstein, Canon, outlined Canon’s approach to social and environmental responsibility. Hans Grabias, Krombacher Brewery, presented the Krombacher rainforest campaign. Highlighting the campaign’s success, he noted that partnership with the public sector had failed, and warned that over-regulation can jeopardize cooperation.

Bill Jackson, IUCN, moderated the panel discussion. Stressing that tourism should not be the only strategy for PA sustainability, Penelope Figgis, Australian Conservation Foundation, noted significant improvements in planning, partnerships, and education for PA management. Eugenio Yunis, World Tourism Organization, said sound national policy is a prerequisite for tourism’s environmental and socioeconomic sustainability. Calling for multi-stakeholder and community involvement, he encouraged companies to voluntarily develop their own initiatives.

Carolus identified improving employment opportunities as a main priority. Robert Hepworth, UNEP, stressed that, since tourism is a large user of environmental resources and a potential polluter, all its aspects need to be closely monitored. He advocated certification for tourism companies.

Extractive industries and PAs: Achim Steiner, IUCN Director General, moderated the session. Christine Milne, IUCN, highlighted the conflict between extractive industries and environmental protection and poverty alleviation, and stressed the need to address the negative legacy of extractive industries.

Noting BP’s operations in IUCN-designated areas and ecologically sensitive areas, Greg Coleman, BP, outlined BP’s approach to environmental protection. Stressing the impact of mining on poverty, the environment, and indigenous rights, Joji Carino, President of the Tebtebba Foundation, called for binding minimum international standards and benchmarks to measure the progress of partnerships.

Adrian Loader, Shell, highlighted Shell’s commitment to improve operating practices, and to report publicly on its activities in IUCN designated PAs. Sir Robert Wilson, Chair of the International Council on Mining and Minerals (ICMM) said ICMM includes 15 of the largest oil and gas companies, and noted that the dialogue between ICMM and IUCN had resulted in a commitment not to explore or mine in World Heritage sites. He highlighted problems regarding the consistency of, and the scientific basis for, the IUCN PA classification system.

Stressing the need for targets for the next decade, Adrian Phillips, WCPA, outlined challenges for the extractive industry, including commitments: not to extract resources from PAs in IUCN categories I-IV; not to seek to overturn national legislation prohibiting mining activities in PAs; and to accept the IUCN PA categorization.

During the ensuing discussion, participants highlighted over-mining and human rights violations in various countries. Carlos Manuel Rodriguez, Costa Rica’s Environment Minister, reported on the prohibition of oil drilling and mining in Costa Rica. Highlighting human rights violations by Shell in Nigeria, a participant expressed concern that Congress’ debates have been dominated by mining industries. Another participant questioned the legitimacy of the ICMM-IUCN dialogue, noting that no governments are included. Noting that extractive activities drive government corruption in many countries, Milne stressed the need for local communities’ prior informed consent (PIC). Wilson said a company can engage in dialogue with a local community only where national legislation provides for local communities’ PIC.

FOCUS ON AFRICA: On Tuesday, 16 September, Walter Lusigi, WCPA, chaired the session on Africa.

Keynote presentations: Through a video presentation, Emeka Anyaoku, President of WWF International, stressed the need to, inter alia, extend the international PA network, and increase training and infrastructure.

Mohamed Bakarr presented a video on Protecting Africa’s Natural Heritage. Highlighting Africa’s social and environmental vulnerability, he described ongoing community projects.

HM King Goodwill Zwelethini of the Zulu Nation advocated a holistic approach towards development and the environment, and stressed the need to incorporate indigenous viewpoints in management.

HM Osagyefuo Amoatia Ofori Panin, King of Akyem Abuakwa and Presidential Advisor on Environment, Ghana, highlighted the need for livelihood alternatives, leadership at all levels, education, partnerships, and financial resources.

Marc Ravalomanana, President of Madagascar, highlighted his country’s commitment to adopting a strategy to conserve the natural heritage and ensure fair benefit sharing, and to supporting NEPAD.

Claude Martin, WWF Director General, recognized progress achieved in Africa since the last WPC, and offered a "Gift to the Earth" certificate to Charles Rabotoarison, Ministry of the Environment of Madagascar, and Pape Diouf, Minister of Fisheries of Senegal, who represented the Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade.

Future of Protected Areas in Africa: Achim Steiner moderated the first panel discussion. Pape Diouf outlined Senegal’s decision to create four new MPAs, and stressed the need to demonstrate to local communities their contribution to poverty alleviation. He called for support for the Sub-Regional Programme for the Conservation of Coastal and Marine Zones.

Murphy Morobe, South African Financial Commission and Fiscal Commission, noted that education is the biggest challenge in South Africa, and highlighted the significance of the World Trade Organization’s Cancún negotiations for development in Africa.

Patrick Bergin, African Wildlife Foundation, emphasized the different value of propositions concerning PAs, depending upon the livelihood strategies of surrounding communities. Rabotoarison called for donor support for conservation and a stronger institutional framework. Michael Rands, BirdLife International, emphasized the need to link conservation and development, and ensure their integration with other policy goals.

Martin stressed that addressing financial constraints requires capacity building, and warned that, although conservation improves conditions in the long term, it is inadequate for short-term poverty alleviation.

Crispian Olver, South African Ministry of Environment, moderated the second panel discussion. Ahmed Djoghlaf, UNEP, outlined the NEPAD’s objectives and ongoing activities, stressing that capacity building is the key to its implementation.

Nicholas Robinson, IUCN, elaborated on the African Convention on the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, approved in July 2003 by the Assembly of the African Union, noting that it offers a framework for consistent environmental policies, capacity building and indigenous communities’ involvement.

Murphy Morobe introduced the African Protected Areas Initiative and called for a collective approach and governmental responsibility.

Presenting on the West Africa MPAs Action Plan, Luc Hoffman, WWF, said the main challenge is communication and cooperation with the outside world.

John Kachamila, Minister for Environmental Affairs of Mozambique, stressed the benefits of raising awareness about PAs, and advocated expanding transboundary PA agreements.

Olver closed the session by calling for a pro-people approach to conservation.

Ian Johnson, World Bank Vice President, said the current system of financial valuation fails to capture all biodiversity benefits, and advocated the valuation of ecological services and the recognition of direct benefits, such as employment generation and amenity exploitation. Regarding PA governance, he emphasized the need to reduce corruption, integrate conservation into other policies, and increase transparency.

Carlos Rodriguez noted that, besides their intrinsic value, PAs in Costa Rica provide important economic services, including water for consumption and energy generation, and ecotourism.

Emeka Anyaoku, President of WWF International, emphasized that PAs are crucial to Africa’s future, noting that resources in Africa are decreasing rapidly due to escalating poverty, illness and conflict.

Speaking on behalf of Eduardo Braga, Government of Amazonas, Brazil, Virgilio Viana spoke of PA management in a context where the majority of the population live in urban areas, and called for funding to establish and manage PAs in developing countries.

Eulalie Bashige Balihurya, Director General of the Congolese Institute for the Conservation of Nature, highlighted the effects of armed conflicts on PAs, including deforestation, poaching and assaults on park rangers, and emphasized the need for sustained funding for park management during conflicts.

Hamdallah Zedan, CBD Executive Secretary, identified future challenges, including: involving local people in PA management; integrating PAs in broader landscape and seascape planning processes; creating markets for ecosystem and PA products and services; and providing funding for PAs. He stressed that PAs can be tools for achieving the CBD objectives, the MDGs and WSSD targets.

Irene van Lippe-Biesterfeld, Princess of the Netherlands, highlighted PA’s role in restoring humans’ relationship with nature.

Denise Hamú, IUCN, introduced a video on communication and education instruments related to PA management.

During a panel discussion, moderated by Peter Bridgewater, Ramsar Convention Secretary General, Luz María de la Torre, indigenous representative, said indigenous peoples are no longer excluded. Thomas Lovejoy, President of The Heinz Center, stressed the need to consider PA benefits at all levels. Rili Hawari Djohani, The Nature Conservancy, highlighted the difficulty of advocating long-term benefits from PAs, and managing the expectations of people living in and around PAs. Alan Latourelle, Parks Canada, emphasized the need to engage all communities in PA management to develop a common ecological and social vision.

Aroha Te Pareake Mead, IUCN Counselor representing indigenous peoples, stated that the displacement and cultural alienation of indigenous peoples are the legacy of PAs created without local peoples’ consent. She noted that benefits are minimal when indigenous communities do not manage licensing and concessions in PAs.

MANAGING WITH CHANGE: On Tuesday, 9 September, WPC participants addressed "Managing with change," under the Chairmanship of Mohamed Valli Moosa.

Claude Martin, WWF Director General, presented on the effects of climate change on PAs, and called for: a switch from coal to clean power; energy efficiency measures; adequate resource transfer; and a broader scientific knowledge base.

Kristalina Georgieva, World Bank, said key drivers of change include demographic and urban transition, income growth and globalization.

Describing how PA management is affected by global change, Cristián Samper, Director of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, said successful PA management requires the empowerment of local communities, access to new markets, and conflict resolution.

Kheng Lian Koh, National University of Singapore, presented the history of environmental cooperation among Asian countries, highlighting the Agreement on the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources.

Marija Zupancic-Vicar, WCPA, explained how the move to market-driven economies and private ownership affected PAs in Central and Eastern Europe, noting that the integrity of PAs was maintained in most countries.

Steve McCormick, President of The Nature Conservancy, described an integrated vision of PAs, and called for an ecosystem approach that incorporates ecological and economic needs.

Julia Carabias, former Minister of Environment of Mexico, underlined the importance of: raising PAs as a strategic priority; establishing specialized management institutions; adopting a financial strategy; promoting stakeholder participation; and developing communication and awareness-raising strategies.

Stressing the benefits of the IUCN PA categorization, Adrian Phillips, WCPA, highlighted the need to integrate excluded groups and address technical questions. John Turner, US Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs, outlined a number of positive conservation principles, including protection beyond PA boundaries, science-based decision making, partnership building, good governance.

Jeffrey McNeely, IUCN, moderated the panel discussion. Juan Carlos Gambarotta, Vice President of the International Ranger Federation, called for recognition of the dangers facing rangers. Ton van der Zon, Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, called for wider PA networks, good governance, poverty alleviation strategies, access and benefit sharing, and addressing corruption and illegal resource use. Graeme Kelleher, WCPA, stressed the need for a zoning process and integrated ecosystem management. Calling for partnerships, Ratu Osea Gavidi, President of the Fiji Tourism Resource Owners Association, noted the link between development and conservation.

Participants raised questions regarding, inter alia, the role of PAs in protecting freshwater ecosystems, the legal implications of zoning the Earth as a PA, and the involvement of recreational and user groups in PAs.

COMMUNITY AND PARKS: On Wednesday, 10 September, WPC participants addressed the issue of community and parks in a session chaired by Yolanda Kakabadse, IUCN President.

Bob Debus, Attorney General and Minister for the Environment of New South Wales, Australia, highlighted the benefits of stakeholder involvement in PA management and biodiversity conservation, including increased public support, employment generation, and reconciliation with aboriginal peoples. He cautioned against inflexible prescriptions and decision making without community support.

Otimio Castillo Infante, on behalf of Sebastião Haji Manchinery, General Coordinator of the Coordination of Indigenous Organizations of the Amazon Basin, outlined the conflicts created by the occupation and exploitation of the Amazon, and called for recognition of indigenous rights, co-management and participation, and a ban on disruptive extractive activities.

Francesco Bandarin, UNESCO, introduced the World Heritage Convention and the Man and Biosphere Programme. Noting that biosphere reserves have become places for people and nature, Walter Erdelen, UNESCO, said that they mobilize communities, provide neutral ground for cooperation within and between countries, and promote biodiversity research. He called for education on sustainable development.

Ashish Kothari, Kalpavriksh, presented the community conserved areas (CCAs) concept, noting that CCAs: originate from traditional common resources property management; cover a wide range of ecosystems, sacred and cultural areas outside officially designated PAs; and provide livelihood, economic opportunities, and ecological services. He called for further financial, human and technological support, and the recognition of community rights.

Cláudio Maretti, IUCN, called for the integration of indigenous conservation practices and community management structures into official systems. Stressing indigenous peoples’ rights to self-determination and land, and the problem of forced displacement, Luz María de la Torre, indigenous representative, presented the Indigenous Peoples’ Declaration to the WPC, highlighting: a rights-based approach to sustainable development and conservation; indigenous peoples’ free PIC as a prerequisite to establishing PAs; and full indigenous participation in PA management.

During a panel discussion on parks with or without people, Jannie Lasimbang, indigenous representative, outlined the negative effects of depriving indigenous peoples of their lands for conservation, including the loss of livelihoods, and stressed the economic advantages of entrusting PA monitoring and enforcement to indigenous communities.

Grazia Borrini-Feyerabend, IUCN, stressed that a dominant and culturally biased perception of nature should not damage other cultures. Gustavo Suárez de Freitas, Director of Peru’s National System of PAs, emphasized the need to: use certain PAs restrictively; acknowledge the constraints posed by PAs to indigenous communities; focus on conservation priorities; and reach agreements and share benefits with local communities with rights to the land.

Stating that traditional claims of minority groups should not undermine national economic and security interests, Richard Leakey, Eden Wildlife Trust, opposed politicizing conservation through the indigenous issue. Kai Schmidt-Soltau, German Society for Technical Cooperation - GTZ, emphasized the social costs of conservation and called for either improving resettlement standards of people excluded from PAs, or ruling out resettlement as a conservation strategy.

Rejoice Mabudafhasi, South African Deputy Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, introduced a video showing the benefits of a gender-equitable approach to PA management.

WORKING AT SCALE: On Wednesday, 10 September, WPC participants addressed "Working at scale," under the chairmanship of Gwen Mahlangu, South African Member of Parliament, and Trevor Sandwith, Cape Action for People and the Environment. John Briceno, Deputy Prime Minister of Belize, introduced the Mesoamerican Biological Corridor Initiative, a regional effort promoting conservation, sustainable development and poverty alleviation. He called for greater community participation and standardized conservation methodologies.

Describing the benefits of a seamless park network, Fran Mainella, US National Park Service Director, called for conservation beyond PA boundaries, an emphasis on ecosystem integrity, and international partnerships.

Mohamed Valli Moosa, South African Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, described the establishment of a transfrontier PA between South Africa and Mozambique. He said that strong political commitment on both sides helped overcome problems emerging from: the presence of military and agricultural fences obstructing animal movements; abandoned mines; illegal immigration; and sovereignty concerns.

Gustavo Fonseca, CI, emphasized the role of corridors in reducing the vulnerability of isolated PAs. He identified infrastructure development as a cause of biodiversity loss, and stressed the need to conduct threat analysis and generate incentives for conservation.

Mike Fay, WCS, introduced the Congo Basin Forest Partnership, and said challenges include building infrastructure and human capacity, and increasing public awareness.

Identifying oceans as primary life support systems, Sylvia Earle, CI Executive Director, called for the establishment of MPAs and for an increased understanding of marine ecosystems.

Steven Sanderson, WCS, moderated a panel discussion on corridor initiatives. Hemanta Raj Mishra, Sian Development Bank, stressed that the development of transnational corridors is not only a conservation issue but also involves political, social and economic concerns.

Hartmut Vogtmann, President of the German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation, presented on the establishment of a European green belt.

Nick Hanley, European Commission, presented Natura 2000, the main EU programme for PAs.

Juan Carlos Godoy Herrera, WCPA, advocated the establishment of PA networks at different scales, and stressed the need to involve local communities, create international standards for PA management, and develop national mechanisms to communicate best practices.

Jeffrey McNeely, IUCN, stressed the need to strengthen the ecological viability of PAs by increasing coverage and connectivity, and called for political unity, local support for conservation, and international partnerships.

Seven workshop streams were held from Thursday to Saturday, 11-13 September. Workshop participants met in workshop plenaries and break-out groups to address: linkages in the landscape and seascape; building broader support for PAs; PA governance; developing the capacity to manage PAs; evaluating management effectiveness; building a secure financial future; and building comprehensive PA systems. The final workshop plenaries adopted recommendations, which were acknowledged by the closing Plenary on Wednesday, 17 September.

LINKAGES IN THE LANDSCAPE AND SEASCAPE: This stream examined ecological and socio-cultural linkages at different scales, and investigated the application of the ecosystem approach to PA management and governance. Special emphasis was placed on: linkages for MPAs; integrated coastal management; bioregional approaches; and transboundary conservation.

Participants attended sessions on: the adaptive response of conservation to climate change; linkages design and restoration; community conservation issues; planning linkages in the landscape; protecting landscape and seascape - IUCN categories V, World Heritage Cultural Landscape and other designations; the freshwater issue; and benefits of MPA networks for fisheries and endangered species - experiences and innovation in scaling up to build networks.

Other sessions focused on: the international game board; creating coexistence between humans and wildlife; integrating biodiversity conservation and mining into land-use planning and management strategies; and implementing MPA networks to sustain the world’s largest marine ecosystems.

Participants acknowledged the inextricable natural and cultural linkages in landscapes and seascapes. Because many PAs exist as fragments in disturbed or degraded areas, delegates recommended that PA management be set in broader landscape and seascape management, and opined that the diversity of ecological landscapes must be matched with a diversity of institutional frameworks.

Participants agreed that corridors are beneficial to conservation areas. They stressed the need to consider ecological and evolutionary processes and to recognize the value of lowland habitats, and concluded that the ecosystem approach must encapsulate PA management issues.

Delegates stressed the need for additional funding through new non-conservation funds, and for increased understanding of, and emphasis on, the linkages and benefits from development, politics, and socioeconomics. Noting that the protected landscape and seascape approach can provide a framework for sustainable development, participants called for greater emphasis on linkages with and between freshwater ecosystems, and on large marine ecosystems and land-sea linkages. A main conclusion drawn from the workshop was that knowledge of linkages in their various aspects must be enhanced, and that a dialogue is needed between all partners, including IUCN’s WCPA and Commission on Ecosystem Management.

The stream approved six recommendations on: integrated landscape management to support PAs; policy linkages between relevant international conventions and programmes in integrating PAs in the wider landscape and seascape; a global network to support the development of transboundary conservation initiatives; preventing and mitigating human-wildlife conflicts; PAs, mining and energy; and PAs, freshwater and integrated river basin management (IRBM) frameworks. Another key output of the workshop stream was a 10-point action plan aimed at implementing these recommendations.

BUILDING BROADER SUPPORT FOR PROTECTED AREAS: The workshop stream on building broader support for PAs aimed at strengthening existing support and mobilizing important new constituencies for all PA categories.

Participants addressed: building cultural support for PAs; working with neighbors: PAs and local communities; supporting PAs in times of violent conflict; urban outreach strategies for PA agencies; building support from new constituencies; building political support for PAs; and communication as a tool for building support for PAs.

The stream concluded that significant social, economic and environmental changes are posing many challenges to PAs, and identified the need for broader support from numerous interest groups to ensure PAs’ survival. Participants agreed on further work on a 10-year global multi-stakeholder initiative to build broader support for PAs, including action at global, regional, national and site levels. They approved recommendations on: cultural and spiritual values of PAs; cities and PAs; peace, conflict and PAs; poverty and PAs; a strategic agenda for communication, education and public awareness; and tourism as a vehicle for conservation and support of PAs.

PROTECTED AREA GOVERNANCE: The workshop stream on PA governance aimed to review different PA governance models, discuss key governance issues, evaluate good governance, and provide guidance for decision makers in the future. Participants addressed a range of issues, including: international designation and global governance; high seas governance; customary law; regional lessons learned in PA governance; CCAs; mobile peoples and conservation; transboundary PAs; NGOs and PA governance; private PAs; the role of legal frameworks in globalization and decentralization; co-managed PAs; integrating MPA management with coastal and ocean governance; the role of MPAs in sustainable fisheries; community empowerment; and large-scale governance systems.

Synthesis sessions were held on good PA governance, governance types, communities, equity and PAs, and Congress Outputs.

Participants noted the importance of: community participation; benefit sharing; transparency and accountability; embracing governance diversity; building partnerships; empowering people; adapting to change; and filling the gaps with privately owned, community conserved, and co-managed PAs.

Three recommendations were adopted on: a global network to support the development of transboundary conservation initiatives; good governance of PAs; and recognizing and supporting the diversity of governance types for PAs.

DEVELOPING THE CAPACITY TO MANAGE PROTECTED AREAS: Recognizing the need to improve capacity at every level to manage PAs adaptively, the workshop on developing the capacity to manage PAs aimed at determining what skills, attributes and support systems are needed for PA institutions, decision makers and practitioners.

Participants identified various factors critical to capacity development, including strong institutions, legal frameworks, planning and management, public participation, and public awareness and support. Regarding institutional structures, participants noted an excessive centralization in PA management and planning, and emphasized that PA concerns must be incorporated into regional land-use planning. They identified the need for adaptive management to enable practitioners to respond to contextual factors and foster ground level initiative.

Participants reviewed various mechanisms to enhance stakeholder participation and recommended public access to information and standardized national participation procedures. Participants also acknowledged the value of community knowledge, and the need to build local communities’ capacities. Regarding the development of human resources, participants called for adequate long-term staffing, the allocation of PA revenues to capacity development, and the adoption of global competency standards for PA staff. Recognizing the potential for capacity building through networks, participants called for: strong networks; sub-regional communication channels; international cooperation for capacity building; and information access for PA managers.

The workshop approved three recommendations relating to: strengthening institutional and societal capacities for PA management; strengthening individual and group capacities for PA management; and the PALNet.

EVALUATING MANAGEMENT EFFECTIVENESS: The aim of this workshop stream was to present a comprehensive examination of the status of tools for evaluating management effectiveness, including principles, methods and current issues. This goal acknowledged the importance of assessing how successful PA management strategies are at achieving the objectives of conserving biodiversity and generating benefits beyond boundaries.

Participants focused on: monitoring and evaluation models; management effectiveness indicators for local communities; social, economic and management indicators; threats, such as invasive species and wildlife trade; evaluating the effectiveness of the IUCN categories system; exploring PA certification; and the application of evaluation approaches at different scales.

Participants highlighted the need for an enabling environment, partial harmonization of standards and indicators, and robust, rigorous and scientifically sound methodologies. They also stressed the importance of reporting evaluation results, integrating management effectiveness evaluations into all levels of PA management and planning, and incorporating traditional knowledge and social and cultural elements into evaluations. They advocated the application of ecological integrity as a critical component in management effectiveness evaluations. Regarding threats to PAs, participants stressed that: threats occur at multiple spatial and temporal scales; there are commonalities in threats across PAs; and some current and emerging threats are under-recognized. Participants supported the IUCN category system, although some implementation problems were identified.

The workshop stream approved recommendations on management effectiveness evaluation to support PA management, and on the IUCN PA management categories. Participants recommended recognizing, in the Durban Accord and in the Message to the CBD, the significance to PA management of monitoring, evaluating and reporting.

BUILDING A SECURE FINANCIAL FUTURE: This stream aimed at highlighting the challenges and opportunities of developing sustainable finance solutions for PAs and PA systems. Addressing a range of financial arrangements and options for generating revenue, with emphasis on the development of a business approach to PA management, participants attended sessions on the policy context and institutional arrangements for financing PAs, and on applications of sustainable PA financing. Concurrent break-out groups addressed: trusts and endowment funds; World Heritage status as a tool for strengthening sustainable financing mechanisms; building a complex portfolio to finance MPA networks sustainably; the role of communities in the sustainable financing of PAs; marketing PA ecosystem services; tourism-based revenue generation; the role of private sector partnerships in supporting PAs; forging effective partnerships with oil and gas companies; conservation incentive agreements; debt relief and conservation finance; capacity building; and business planning.

Participants stressed the need to diversify and stabilize the financial flows to PAs and biodiversity conservation. They also supported removing policy and institutional barriers to sustainable financing solutions, and expanding partnerships. Participants adopted two recommendations, on financial security for PAs, and on private sector funding for PAs.

BUILDING COMPREHENSIVE PROTECTED AREA SYSTEMS: The objectives of this stream were to: review the rationale for building comprehensive PA systems; assess the status of global PA coverage with a focus on terrestrial, mountain, marine, and freshwater systems and on poorly represented biomes; identify gaps in PA systems and ways to address them; and address global change factors and best practice for PA design.

The workshop stream included sessions on the world database on PAs; terrestrial biodiversity; strategies and tools for regional and national approaches to building comprehensive MPA networks; data development strategies for a global freshwater gap analysis; global change; decision support tools for conservation planning; and the cost of effective PA systems.

Separate sessions also focused on: Africa and Eurasia; the Americas; the Asia-Pacific region; methodologies for assessing gaps in the protection of freshwater biodiversity; strategies towards a comprehensive global gap analysis; and wilderness and landscape linkages for biodiversity conservation.

Participants agreed that a concerted effort is needed to ensure that the global PA system is comprehensive, adequate and representative. Key messages included that the global, regional, and national PA networks are far from complete, and that a focus on threatened species and globally important sites, habitats, and realms, including the marine realm, is required.

Noting that scarce conservation resources demand the strategic selection of new PAs, participants urged nations to consider biodiversity-based targets, particularly threatened biodiversity, when determining future priorities for PA network establishment. Participants agreed that, since biodiversity is of global importance, current management shortfalls, particularly in developing countries, and the future costs associated with establishing and managing comprehensive global PA systems, should be a global responsibility. Participants called for cooperation with local communities and other sectors to improve PA coverage.

Stressing that a comprehensive global PA system must incorporate the potential vagaries of biophysical change, especially climate change, participants concluded that anticipated changes should be addressed when planning comprehensive PA systems.

The stream approved recommendations on building comprehensive and effective PA systems, and climate change and PAs.

Three themes on MPAs, World Heritage, and communities and equity cut across the workshop streams, from Thursday to Saturday, 11-13 September.

MARINE PROTECTED AREAS: The cross-cutting theme on MPAs aimed at providing key operational tools and identifying programmes to achieve the WSSD target to establish a representative network of MPAs by 2012. An emphasis was placed on: improving MPA management effectiveness to protect biodiversity and increase the flow of benefits to communities; strengthening MPAs to enhance living marine resources and maintain ecosystem function; building resilient MPA networks; integrating MPAs in marine and coastal governance; and expanding MPAs in the high seas and exclusive economic zones.

Participants addressed the MPA cross-cutting theme during sessions on: high seas governance; strategies and tools for regional and national approaches to building comprehensive MPA networks; benefits of MPA networks for fisheries and endangered species; building a complex portfolio to finance MPA networks sustainably; evaluating MPA management effectiveness; the role of MPAs in sustainable fisheries; principles and practices to integrate MPA management with coastal and ocean governance; incorporating resilience into MPA design and management; and implementing MPA networks to sustain the world’s large marine ecosystems.

Participants in discussions on the marine cross-cutting theme acknowledged that MPAs benefit marine ecosystems and support sustainable fisheries. They also stressed the need to: act urgently to protect and restore ocean health and productivity; integrate MPAs into wider coastal and ocean governance; identify and share the benefits and costs of MPA establishment and management; increase industry engagement in marine conservation; establish at least five ecologically significant and globally representative high seas MPAs by 2008; increase the number of marine and coastal areas managed in MPAs to achieve the 2012 WSSD goal; design MPAs in such a way as to increase their resilience in the face of global change; and substantially improve MPA management effectiveness and increase resources for management capacity, evaluation, and sustainable conservation.

Participants approved two recommendations, one on a global system of MPA networks, the other on protecting marine biodiversity and ecosystem processes through MPAs beyond national jurisdiction.

WORLD HERITAGE: Discussions on the World Heritage theme aimed at identifying ways to capitalize on PAs of outstanding universal value to build awareness and support, and at assessing their characteristics, needs and potential. Key areas considered included: assessing the effectiveness of the World Heritage Convention and the management of World Heritage sites; addressing the gaps in the global system of PAs through the Convention; tackling World Heritage issues specific to Africa; and building on the experience of conservation financing for World Heritage sites.

WPC participants considered the theme during sessions on: management effectiveness evaluation; World Heritage as an international tool for conservation cooperation; ways to build political support for World Heritage; a draft World Heritage training strategy presentation; supporting PAs in times of political turmoil; using global conventions and programmes to build support for PAs; international designations and global governance; World Heritage partnerships in sustainable tourism; the impacts of insurgency on World Heritage sites; using World Heritage to link nature and culture; the World Heritage status as a tool for strengthening sustainable financing mechanisms; protecting World Heritage sites in a multiple-use environment; protecting landscapes and seascapes through World Heritage designation; fostering attachment to heritage; and World Heritage sites and transboundary conservation.

A major recommendation emerging from discussions was the recognition that the World Heritage Convention is an effective framework for implementing conservation strategies. Participants also stressed the need to: better integrate the Convention with international, regional and national conservation instruments; finalize the assessment of potential World Heritage sites; achieve universal membership of the Convention; carry out a system-wide assessment of the recurrent operating costs of managing natural and mixed World Heritage sites; use World Heritage sites to attract and build support for PAs; strengthen independent and reactive monitoring through better guidelines and criteria; explore a possible certification system; and ensure the involvement of affected communities in all stages of World Heritage conservation.

The World Heritage theme adopted one recommendation on the World Heritage Convention.

COMMUNITIES AND EQUITY: The theme of communities, equity and PAs aimed at identifying indigenous and local communities’ rights and responsibilities in PA management. Key focus areas included moving towards co-management of PAs, and recognizing the full range of CCAs within and outside government-designated PAs.

Participants addressed the theme over more than 20 sessions, including on: governance of PAs; PAs and poverty; the role of communities and mobile peoples in sustaining linkages in the landscape and seascape; tourism and communities; customary law and governance; meeting communities’ needs in management effectiveness evaluation; the need for comprehensive PA systems; creating co-existence between humans and wildlife; empowering the rural poor for PA conservation and management; governance and State recognition of communities’ territories and resources; constraints and viability of territories and resources traditionally conserved by mobile peoples; developing capacity for site-level planning, management and monitoring; tenure arrangements and indigenous rights; livelihoods, agro-biodiversity and landscape conservation for communities’ territories and resources; territories and resources traditionally conserved by mobile peoples in partnership with governments; incentives for conservation and fair reward for stewardship; the shift from conflict to collaboration for territories and resources conserved by communities in partnership with governments and other stakeholders; communities’ role in sustainable finance; culture, rights, legislation, policy and capacities for effective community conservation; and a new dimension for the classification of PAs.

The stream’s main recommendations included: moving existing government-designated PAs towards collaborative management by full and equitable communities’ participation in decision making; recognizing CCAs as a legitimate and effective tools for conservation; addressing restitution of rights, responsibilities and compensation at the national and international levels, including through the establishment of a truth and reconciliation commission; integrating cultural diversity and survival as key objectives and strategies for PAs; distributing PA costs and benefits more equitably, through securing local livelihoods and revenues, and encouraging ecologically and culturally sensitive tourism; focusing on the needs of disadvantaged people, including mobile and indigenous peoples, the landless, and women and youth.

The theme adopted four recommendations on indigenous peoples and PAs, co-management of PAs, CCAs, and mobile indigenous peoples and conservation.

Gary Machlis, University of Idaho, US, and Nyambe Nyambe, University of Natal, South Africa, presented the results of the delegates’ survey that took place during the WPC, regarding the different aspects of PA management. They indicated that the response rate was 20%. Noting differences among regions, they said inadequate funding, leadership and enforcement were identified as key barriers to PA management, and that inappropriate adjacent land use was considered a threat to PA resources. They said delegates mentioned innovations and increased knowledge sharing and data availability as positive developments regarding PA management.

Jeffrey McNeely, IUCN, reviewed the workshop streams and cross-cutting themes. He put forward ten questions on PAs addressed by Julia Carabias, Mexico’s former Minister of Environment, and Mohamed Bakarr, WCPA.

On recognizing the importance of PAs, Carabias called for awareness raising on ways to improve rural sustainability, and stressed the value of traditional knowledge. She called for community initiatives, and for the diversification of legal frameworks, planning and management.

On innovations for delivering quality PA management, Bakarr said standardized procedures are required to evaluate the effectiveness of diverse management strategies.

On local communities, Carabias said that recognizing community rights is key to strengthening their capacity to identify and solve their needs.

Regarding the equitable sharing of PA costs and benefits, Bakarr noted the need to identify the value of PAs to society, and their impact on communities. Stressing that only 20% of PA management costs are met, he said participants recommended increasing funding by US$ 15 billion, expanding funding sources, and removing barriers to funding.

On partnerships, Carabias said new governance models and different types of partnerships are required.

On filling the gaps in the PA network, Bakarr identified inadequate coverage at species, habitat and ecosystem levels. Regarding necessary innovations, he emphasized evaluating management effectiveness and ensuring that technical tools to increase understanding of biophysical changes are accessible.

On linking PAs into wider development objectives, Carabias stressed the need for regulatory frameworks.

Bakarr highlighted the benefits of technologies, but suggested that the threats posed by technological innovations to ecological processes should be addressed.

In relation to international cooperation, Carabias called for synergies between related treaties, noting the potential of PAs to offer those synergies. She outlined other areas for cooperation, including: NGOs’ contribution to long-term governmental strategies; the PALNet; World Heritage sites; mobile peoples; and transboundary PAs.

McNeely asked participants to consider issues for the next WPC, including: best practices and indicators for PA management; expansion of the global PA system; ecological integrity in the face of climate change, invasive species, and conflict; and cohesion between scientific and traditional knowledge.

Alfred Oteng-Yeboah, Chair of the CBD Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice (SBSTTA), briefly presented the 32 WPC recommendations. The Plenary then acknowledged all the recommendations.

Estherine Lisinge Fotabong, WWF and WCPA, outlined the main structure of the Durban Accord, including: progress since the last WPC; future concerns and challenges; and required commitments and actions. She said the Accord incorporates inputs from workshop streams and discussions held with, among others, the African Group, indigenous peoples, and youth. The Plenary adopted the Durban Accord and Action Plan by acclamation.

Peter Schei, Chair of the Message to the CBD drafting group, said the Message outlines key priorities, including: addressing gaps and deficiencies in the PA network; generating benefits beyond boundaries; developing tools and mobilizing resources; and measuring management effectiveness. The Plenary adopted the Message by acclamation.

Peter Seligmann, CI, said the international community has a responsibility to provide technical, political, educational and financial support for PA establishment and management. He urged participants to challenge the private sector to improve business practice, and provide financial support, and announced that CI will create a fund to train a new generation of conservationists.

Kenton Miller, WCPA, and David Sheppard, IUCN, offered Fred M. Packard International Parks Merit Awards to several individuals.

IMPLEMENTING CONGRESS OUTPUTS: On Wednesday, 17 September, participants considered implementation of Congress Outputs, under the chairmanship of Crispian Olver, Director General of the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism of South Africa.

David Sheppard, commended the Congress for its achievements, but stressed that the major challenge lies in implementation.

In a panel discussion moderated by Mohamed Valli Moosa, South African Minister for Environmental Affairs and Tourism, Suresh Prabhu, Chair of the Interlinking of Rivers Commission, India, stressed the need for increased transnational cooperation and political will, further action for poverty alleviation, sustainable financial resources, and addressing PAs’ impacts on populations.

Claude Martin highlighted the high level and wide-ranging participation at the WPC, and called for further dialogue with extractive industries.

Recalling relevant WSSD commitments, Sweder van Voorst tot Voorst, Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, noted that PAs have become part of the sustainable development agenda, and stressed the need for integrated poverty reduction strategies.

Patricia Luna del Pozo, youth representative, called for dialogue to build partnerships, training for young professionals, and increased youth involvement in PA management and at the next WPC.

Acknowledging the controversy regarding the extractive industry’s role, David Richards, ICMM, said that constructive dialogue requires commitment from all parties.

Anoushiravan Najafi, Deputy to the Vice President of Iran, called for, inter alia, practical approaches to PA management and the use of traditional knowledge.

Jannie Lasimbang, Asia Indigenous People Pact, said indigenous communities have been ignored in the international debate, asked for respect for customary laws, and advocated community PIC.

Antonio Waldez Goés da Silva, Governor of Amapá State, Brazil, stressed that biodiversity conservation does not exclude social and economic development, noting that 70% of the State has been designated as a PA.

Peter Seligmann, CI, called on world leaders to form a political conservation block to encourage increased G-8 funding, and said that environmental protection requires more than addressing health and poverty issues.

Boku Tache, World Alliance of Mobile Indigenous Peoples, said his alliance’s objectives are to: establish solidarity among mobile indigenous peoples worldwide; achieve sustainable livelihoods; and promote just policies.

Calling for increased PA quality rather than quantity, Carlos Manuel Rodriguez, Minister of Environment and Energy of Costa Rica, said the costs of PA establishment are not equitably distributed between developing and developed countries.

CLOSING SESSION: Crispian Olver, South African Ministry of Environment, chaired the session.

Denise Hamú, IUCN, urged participants to communicate the Congress Outcomes to people. Noting that communication begins with listening, she introduced a video in which participants described how they would use the information and knowledge generated at the WPC for capacity building, lobbying, and informing the public. Hamú announced an IUCN commitment, in cooperation with several other organizations, to building capacity on, and communicating, the outcomes of the WPC.

Achim Steiner, IUCN Director General, thanked the host country and the organizers. He highlighted the contributions of Kenton Miller, WCPA, and David Sheppard, IUCN, and presented a plaque to Mohamed Valli Moosa in recognition of his life-time contribution to South Africa.

Plodprasop Suraswadi, Thai Ministry for Natural Resources and Environment, invited participants to the Third World Conservation Congress in Bangkok, Thailand, scheduled for 17-25 November 2004. Participants then viewed a short video, prepared by the IUCN Commission on Communication and Education, featuring WCP participants.

Jacob Zuma, Deputy President of South Africa, said the WPC has laid the foundation for a new paradigm in conservation, where synergies between conservation and development are recognized, and benefits from PAs shared beyond boundaries and across societies, cultures and generations. Noting that PA management needs to be innovative, adaptive, and based on indigenous and scientific knowledge, he said the new paradigm would enable new financial and income generating strategies. Identifying protection of the African environment as one of NEPAD’s priorities, he drew attention to the Durban Consensus on African Protected Areas for the New Millennium.

Olver closed the meeting at 4:55 pm.

Durban Accord: The Durban Accord is the umbrella document and the principle message from the Congress to the world. The development of the Accord began in Albany, Australia, in 1997, and continued at other international and regional conservation events.

The Accord proposes a new paradigm for PAs that integrates conservation goals with sustainable development in an equitable way. Celebrating the diversity of nature and cultures, the multiple benefits from PAs, and successes in their conservation, the Accord highlights a number of concerns, including: inadequate PA coverage, particularly for marine and freshwater ecosystems; a lack of recognition of the conservation efforts of local communities and mobile and indigenous peoples; a decline in wild areas outside PAs; parks on paper, not in practice; island PAs; and threats from human-induced climate change. The Accord raises the concern that development plans overlook PAs, that costs are local and benefits worldwide, and that perverse subsidies encourage resource over-exploitation in and around PAs. Regarding resources, the Accord notes inaccessible conservation funds, an annual funding gap of US$ 25 billion, inadequate diffusion of technology, knowledge and best practice models, and the insufficient capacity of younger generations.

The Accord urges a commitment to: promote the role of PAs in implementing other international development and conservation agreements; ensure that globalization and trade agreements do not hinder PA objectives; establish and strengthen transparent and accountable legal and institutional frameworks; and expand and strengthen PA networks, and achieve adequate representation. It also urges extractive industries to fulfill their responsibilities for the careful stewardship of PAs.

Regarding the establishment and management of PAs, the Accord urges a commitment to: build resilience against climate change; implement adaptive and innovative strategies; recognize and support CCAs; promote stakeholder participation in decision making; and employ scientific and traditional knowledge. The Accord further urges commitments to mobilizing resources for the African Protected Area Initiative and Trust, and the maintenance and enhancement of PAs.

Regarding PAs’ interface with people, the Accord urges a commitment to: recognize the integral relationship of people with PAs; involve local communities, indigenous and mobile peoples in PA establishment and management; engage younger generations in PA stewardship; and promote communication and education. The Accord also urges commitment to: economic valuation of benefits from PAs; diversification of income generation strategies; redirection of perverse strategies; capacity building; mainstreaming of PAs within overall development agendas; poverty reduction; and distribution of benefits within local communities and indigenous peoples.

Durban Action Plan: The Durban Action Plan is directed at all people engaged in PAs. It provides a checklist of the activities needed to increase PAs’ benefits to society and to improve their coverage and management. Recognizing variations in approaches and the lack of a formal mandate, the Action Plan raises issues that may need to be addressed, and suggests actions to be taken at all levels through partnerships.

Key outcomes include: the fulfillment of PAs’ critical role in global biodiversity conservation; the implementation of PAs’ fundamental role in sustainable development; a global system of PAs linked to landscapes and seascapes; improved quality, effectiveness and reporting of PA management; recognition of the rights of local communities, and indigenous and mobile peoples; the empowerment of younger generations; increased support for PAs from other constituencies; improved forms of governance, recognizing both traditional and innovative approaches; and increased resources for PAs. Advocating improved communication and education on the role and benefits of PAs, the final key outcome addresses outreach from the WPC, and includes a section on active multi-level participation and cooperation for implementation of the Action Plan. Under each outcome, key targets and specific actions are identified.

RECOMMENDATIONS: Prior to the Congress, 29 motions had been submitted to the WPC Recommendations Preparatory Committee, and made available for comment. Three new motions were approved in the course of the WPC, on: preventing and mitigating human-wildlife conflicts; PAs, freshwater and IRBM frameworks; and the strategic agenda for communication, education and public awareness for PAs. All motions were discussed in relevant discussion groups, reviewed and approved in workshop plenary sessions, and acknowledged in the closing Plenary, on Wednesday, 17 September, 2003.

Strengthening institutional and societal capacities for protected area management in the 21st century: With Recommendation 5.01, WPC participants recommend: raising awareness of the value of PAs and the benefits they provide to society; enhancing a general commitment to support PAs; and adjusting current policies, laws, planning and management instruments and institutional frameworks to increase capacity for PA management at all levels.

Strengthening individual and group capacities for protected area management in the 21st century: With Recommendation 5.02, WPC participants recommend that IUCN and the WCPA: promote and support collaborative capacity development activities; support learning processes within the workplace and community settings, building on traditional knowledge; support the enhancement of capacity for PA managers, indigenous communities and other stakeholders; and encourage the full participation of communities and individuals. They recommend that the WCPA moves towards common standards of competency and coordinate a consortium of organizations to build awareness and training. They also recommend ways for maintaining high levels of commitment and performance by PA staff, and that the IUCN Task Force on Capacity Building elaborate an action plan for the next 10 years.

Protected Areas Learning Network: With Recommendation 5.03, WPC participants recommend institutional support for the proposed PALNet; the establishment of a Steering Committee for PALNet; scientific, technical and policy support from the WCPA; and consideration of fund-raising strategies.

Building comprehensive and effective protected area systems: With Recommendation 5.04, WPC participants urge governments, NGOs and local communities to maximize the representation and conservation of biodiversity in comprehensive PA networks in all eco-regions by 2012, focusing on threatened and under-represented ecosystems and species. They also set specific targets regarding in situ conservation of endangered and globally threatened species, and conservation of representations of every terrestrial, freshwater and marine ecosystem. They further urge CBD Parties to adopt a strong work programme, to consider legal mechanisms on PAs at COP-7 and to ensure the establishment of a representative global network of PAs, and call on governments, donors and stakeholders to provide financial support for the expansion of the PA global network and the effective management of existing PAs. They also urge governments to: use international instruments and national legislation to enhance PA protection; develop and implement legislation to conserve biodiversity; promote the socioeconomic and cultural benefits of PAs; and take full account of the rights, interests and aspirations of indigenous peoples.

Climate change and protected areas: With Recommendation 5.05, the WPC urges governments to stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations by implementing policies that will lead to reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, including the ratification of the Kyoto Protocol. Participants recommend: curtailing consumption of carbon-based fuels; regional analyses of the impact of climate change on PAs; establishing a global financing mechanism to cover additional costs for PAs; and including concepts of resilience and adaptive management of PAs. They recommend that the WCPA expand partnerships and deepen expertise on adapting PAs to global change, and communicate best practices regarding methods to anticipate and adapt to global change.

Strengthening mountain protected areas as a key contribution to sustainable mountain development: With Recommendation 5.06, WPC participants endorse the establishment of a network of mountain PAs, and urge IUCN to: support the IUCN Mountain Initiative Task Force; give particular attention to implementing the WCPA 2004-2008 Mountain Strategy; engage in the International Partnership for Sustainable Development in Mountain Regions; provide leadership to highlight the vital relationship between biodiversity, mountains and PAs; and provide a forum to advance the concept of peace parks.

Financial security for protected areas: With Recommendation 5.07, WPC participants recommend that the international community: operationalize the WSSD biodiversity goal; ensure that financial mechanisms adopted to increase PA revenue do not lead to biodiversity degradation; communicate successful investments in PAs to gain support for PA funding; increase financial flows through appropriate incentives and support for the implementation of diverse portfolios of financing mechanisms and cost-effective management approaches; and ensure proper valuation of the goods and services provided by PAs. They also recommend: removing policy and institutional barriers to sustainable financing solutions, ensuring that PAs and the surrounding local and indigenous communities are granted access to benefits; and significantly increasing future replenishments of the GEF, and the cost-effectiveness of PA financing. They urge donors, governments and the private sector to support the establishment of trust and endowment funds.

Private sector funding of protected areas: In Recommendation 5.08, the WPC recommends: removing obstacles and enhancing opportunities for public-private-community partnerships in PA management; developing legal and financial instruments to implement new partnership arrangements; ensuring equitable distribution of the returns from PAs; ensuring community participation in a dialogue with the private sector; promoting business planning and marketing for PA management; creating business guidelines and standards to promote good governance and transparency; and ensuring that responsible parties meet the costs of avoiding, restoring or compensating for damage to biodiversity. They also call on the WCPA to consider means to enhance financing opportunities for PAs, and to promote a culture of respect towards indigenous cultures and values.

Integrated landscape management to support protected areas: With Recommendation 5.09, WPC participants recommend: adopting PA design principles which emphasize linkages to surrounding ecosystems; restoring ecological processes in degraded areas within PAs and in their surrounding landscapes; reflecting the presence and needs of human populations in overall PA design and management; recognizing participatory processes; applying principles of adaptive management; and adopting a policy framework to encourage local communities’ active involvement in biodiversity stewardship. They also call on international organizations to: build relationships between biodiversity conservation, PA management and sustainable development; regenerate cultural landscapes and revitalize rural communities; and promote integrated earthscape management in relevant international agreements.

Policy linkages between relevant international conventions and programmes in integrating protected areas in the wider landscape/ seascape: With Recommendation 5.10, participants recommend that governments, local and indigenous communities, civil society and NGOs: strengthen their involvement with the Ramsar Wetlands Convention, the World Heritage Convention and the UNESCO-Man and the Biosphere Network of Biosphere Reserves, and promote their harmonized implementation regarding PA identification and management; ensure consistency with the implementation of the WSSD action plan and with the CBD; and use the linkages between these instruments to ensure that actions are coordinated with activities in the surrounding landscape/seascape. Participants also recommend that governing bodies of relevant international instruments and programmes promote linkages in the landscape/seascape in their implementation plans and programmes.

A global network to support the development of transboundary conservation initiatives: With Recommendation 5.11, WCP participants recommend: supporting the establishment of an international forum to act as a global network for transboundary conservation initiatives; developing and applying a programme to develop tools for these initiatives, and a programme to monitor and evaluate transboundary conservation of all types; and developing an international enabling framework and international register of transboundary PAs, and recommending their recognition through joint nominations to conventions such as Ramsar, World Heritage and the MAB programme.

Tourism as a vehicle for conservation and support of protected areas: With Recommendation 5.12, participants recommend that the tourism sector work together with PA managers and communities to ensure that tourism associated with PAs: respects PAs’ role in conservation; makes financial contributions to conservation and PA management; contributes to economic development and poverty reduction; encourages appropriate behavior by visitors; uses ecologically and culturally appropriate technologies, facilities and materials; monitors, reports and mitigates negative impacts; communicates the benefits of PAs; and promotes the use of guidelines, codes of practice and certification programmes. Participants also recommend that: key decision makers work with the conservation community to ensure that tourism supports the sustainable use of natural and cultural heritage and local and indigenous community development and economic opportunities. Participants urge international and national agencies, local authorities and the private sector to support research and development to, inter alia: understand the link between tourism, conservation and community development; establish reliable data on PA tourism; promote appropriate monitoring and evaluation; provide appropriate tourism training for PA personnel; and develop tools and techniques for sustainable PA tourism-supported finance.

Cultural and spiritual values of protected areas: With Recommendation 5.13, the WPC acknowledges indigenous peoples’ rights to, inter alia, own and control their sacred places, archaeological and cultural heritage, ceremonial objects and human remains contained within or adjacent to PAs. Participants recommend recognition of and respect for those rights in relation to conservation activities, and suggest that governments, inter alia: promote and adopt laws and policies that foster multicultural approaches to PA systems and that recognize the effectiveness of CCAs; and adopt and enforce laws and policies with the full and effective participation and consent of concerned communities, and that guarantee the restitution of sacred places. They also recommend: ensuring that PA systems give balanced attention to spiritual values, assisting indigenous and traditional peoples in obtaining legal and technical support; developing awareness-raising campaigns; and requesting PA managers to identify and recognize sacred places, promote intercultural dialogue with local communities, and support community efforts to maintain their values and practices. Participants further request IUCN to review the 1994 Protected Area Category Guidelines to include these values as potential management objectives.

Cities and protected areas: With Recommendation 5.14, WPC participants recommend that conservation agencies, NGOs, local authorities and local communities recognize both the importance of PAs to people in cities, and the interdependence of cities and PAs, and strengthen the capacity of PA communities to preserve and restore natural areas in and near cities. They also recommend that the WCPA incorporates an urban dimension in its activities, and that IUCN, inter alia: incorporates urban dimensions into the Inter-sessional Programme Framework for 2005-2008; links biodiversity conservation to human settlements; develops partnerships with key organizations engaged in urban development; and develops tools to assist urban managers in incorporating ecosystem management approaches to urban planning.

Peace, conflict and protected areas: With Recommendation 5.15, participants recognize that peace is a fundamental precondition for the conservation of biological and cultural diversity, and that PAs can foster peace within and across borders. Participants recommend: the recognition that PA management is influenced by conflict dynamics; the development of capacity for international rapid response; ensuring that humanitarian relief efforts minimize negative effects on PAs; and the development of management tools to monitor and evaluate impacts of conflict and peace on PAs. They also recommend the implementation of international and national instruments to strengthen protection of World Heritage sites and other PAs in times of conflict, and the adequate training, protection and management of field staff. Participants call on donors to provide continuous funding and assistance, and on the international community to continuously engage local communities in PA management, benefit sharing, and the provision of alternative livelihoods. They recommend support for prompt action to rehabilitate PAs after conflict. Participants also recommend the establishment of a Task Force to identify instruments enabling international response, neutral status for PA personnel, and guidelines for good practice.

Good governance of protected areas: With Recommendation 5.16, WPC participants: endorse the importance of governance as a key concept for PAs; recognize that PA governance should reflect and address relevant social, ecological, cultural, historical and economic factors; adopt legitimacy and voice, accountability, performance, fairness and direction as general principles of good PA governance; and encourage and improve PA managers’ capacity to apply good governance principles in implementing the ecosystem approach and in dealing with global change. Participants also call on CBD COP-7 to address good governance in the PAs programme of work, in particular with regard to capacity-building needs.

Recognizing and supporting a diversity of governance types for protected areas: In Recommendation 5.17, WPC participants: recommend that governments and civil society recognize the legitimacy and importance of a range of governance types for PAs; request the WCPA to refine its PA categorization system to include a governance dimension, which recognizes government-managed, co-managed, privately-managed, and community-managed PAs; urge the Chairs of the IUCN’s Commissions to establish an inter-Commission working group on PA governance to develop a comprehensive programme of work; and call on the CBD Parties to recognize the legitimacy of all governance types, adopt legal and policy measures to reinforce the management effectiveness and good governance attributes of these governance types, and undertake initiatives to strengthen relevant institutional and human capacities.

Management effectiveness evaluation to support protected area management: Through Recommendation 5.18, WPC participants: affirm the importance of monitoring and evaluation of management effectiveness as a basis for improved PA management, and more transparent and accountable reporting. They call on states and PA managers to adopt systems for evaluating management effectiveness; recommend that the IUCN Quadriennal Programme Framework for 2005-2008 fosters cooperation with relevant partners to undertake a work programme on management effectiveness; and call for community involvement in management effectiveness evaluation, and inclusion of an analysis of the impact of PAs on communities and the effectiveness of their involvement in management. They further recommend that: funding bodies promote the use of transparent, appropriate and credible management effectiveness evaluation in PAs; the WCPA work to investigate options for certification; the CBD Parties include policies and actions relating to evaluation of management effectiveness in their policies and the work programme on PAs; and the Secretariats of relevant conventions adopt a consistent reporting framework that incorporates the results of management effectiveness evaluation.

IUCN protected area management categories: With Recommendation 5.19, WPC participants:

• declare that the purpose of the IUCN PA management categories system is to provide an internationally recognized conceptual and practical framework for the planning, management and monitoring of PAs;
   
• reaffirm that in the application of the management categories, IUCN’s definition of a PA must always be met as an overarching criterion, and that IUCN should reinforce its efforts to promote understanding of the full range of IUCN categories;
   
• advise that the new application of the system requires that IUCN produce a revised edition of the 1994 guidelines;
   
• urge IUCN to develop a monitoring and research programme on the use of the categories;
   
• further urge IUCN to work with CBD Parties to secure inter-governmental recognition of the IUCN PA management categories system and the use of the system as a basis for national data collection and reporting, and Ramsar Convention Parties to promote application of the categories to the Global Network of Wetlands of International Importance; and
   
• recommend that IUCN’s Inter-sessional Programme Framework for 2005-2008 accommodate a programme of work to further develop and promote the IUCN PA categories system.

Preventing and mitigating human-wildlife conflicts: In Recommendation 5.20, WPC participants recommend: supporting the establishment of an international forum to act as a global network for addressing human-wildlife conflict issues; strengthening the capacity of PA managers, communities and stakeholders to prevent and mitigate human-wildlife conflicts; ensuring cooperation between programmes addressing human-wildlife conflicts in politically unstable areas; and encouraging funding organizations to allocate adequate funds to support programmes targeted at preventing and mitigating human-wildlife conflicts.

World Heritage Convention: With Recommendation 5.21, WPC participants declare their support for the World Heritage Convention, encourage countries that have not done so to join the Convention, and note with appreciation the action of the ICMM and Shell in declaring that they will treat World Heritage sites as "no-go" areas. They call on the international community to: give special protection to World Heritage sites in regions affected by war and civil unrest; and complete the assessment of potential World Heritage natural sites, and reinforce the goals of the Convention and the governance, effective management and conservation of World Heritage areas. They further call on UNESCO, MEA secretariats and the IUCN to seek further synergies and integration between their programmes.

Building a global system of marine and coastal protected areas networks: With Recommendation 5.22, WPC participants call on the international community to establish by 2012 a global system of effectively managed, representative networks of Marine and Coastal Protected Areas (MCPA), consistent with international law and based on scientific information that: greatly increases the marine and coastal area managed in MPAs; includes strictly protected areas that amount to at least 20-30% of each habitat; is designed to be resilient; integrates MPAs with other ocean, coastal, and land governance policies; engages stakeholders in MPA design, planning, management, and benefit sharing; implements best available, science-based measures consistent with international law; builds the best available science on connectivity into MCPA network design; and sets performance objectives to meet fisheries, biodiversity, habitat stabilization and societal needs.

Recommendation 5.22 also calls for implementation of an ecosystem approach to sustainable fisheries management and marine biodiversity conservation through: integrated MPAs; recognition of MPA networks as an integral component in sustainable fisheries management; fostering an ongoing dialogue with the fisheries sector to develop mutual understanding and knowledge transfer; the designation of MPAs as a strategy for recovery of depleted fish stocks, reduction of coastal pollution, and conservation and restoration of biodiversity; the precautionary approach; and setting performance objectives.

Protecting marine biodiversity and ecosystem processes through marine protected areas beyond national jurisdiction: In Recommendation 5.23, WPC participants recommend that the international community:

• utilize available mechanisms and authorities to establish and effectively manage, by 2008, at least five ecologically significant and globally representative high seas MPAs (HSMPAs) incorporating strictly protected areas, to enhance the conservation of marine biodiversity, species and ecosystems;
   
• establish a global system of effectively managed, representative MPA networks by taking immediate action to protect the biodiversity and productivity of vulnerable high seas ecosystems and large-scale, persistent oceanographic features known to support marine life and containing critical habitat for species, and also by developing mechanisms to protect non-target species threatened by high seas fishing;
   
• initiate action to identify marine hotspots for priority attention, develop criteria and guidelines for HSMPAs identification, establishment, management and enforcement; and
   
• cooperate to develop a global framework to facilitate the establishment of a global system building on the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), CBD, UN Fish Stocks Agreement, Convention on Migratory Species and other relevant instruments.

Indigenous peoples and protected areas: In Recommendation 5.24, WPC participants recommend:

• ensuring that existing and future PAs respect indigenous peoples’ rights;
   
• ceasing all voluntary resettlement and expulsion of indigenous peoples in connection with PAs, or making mobile peoples involuntarily sedentary;
   
• ensuring that the establishment of PAs is based on the free PIC of indigenous peoples, and on prior social, economic, cultural and environmental impact assessments undertaken with the full participation of indigenous peoples;
   
• recognizing the value and importance of PAs designated by indigenous peoples as a sound basis for securing and extending the PA network;
   
• establishing and enforcing appropriate laws and policies to protect the intellectual property of indigenous peoples, including traditional knowledge, innovation systems, and cultural and biological resources, and to penalize all biopiracy activities;
   
• enacting laws and policies that recognize and guarantee indigenous peoples’ rights over their ancestral lands and waters;
   
• establishing and implementing mechanisms to address historical injustices caused by the establishment of PAs, to ensure the restitution of indigenous peoples’ lands, territories and resources taken over by PAs without their free PIC, and to provide prompt and fair compensation;
   
• establishing a high-level, independent Commission on Truth and Reconciliation on Indigenous Peoples and Protected Areas;
   
• developing and promoting incentives to support indigenous peoples’ self-declared and self-managed PAs and other conservation initiatives to protect the territories and resources from external threats and exploitation; and
   
• ensuring that PAs are geared towards poverty alleviation around and within PAs.

Participants further recommend that IUCN and WCPA: formulate and carry out the work programme to support indigenous peoples’ initiatives and interests regarding PAs; provide support and funding to indigenous peoples for community conserved, co-managed and indigenous-owned and managed PAs; and consider the establishment of an IUCN Commission on Indigenous Peoples and PAs.

Co-management of protected areas: With Recommendation 5.25, WPC participants recommend: supporting the review, consolidation and strengthening of existing experiences of PA co-management; promoting stakeholder participation in decision making concerning PA management, with particular regards to indigenous, mobile and local communities and disadvantaged groups; creating or strengthening legal and policy frameworks to enable PA co-management; undertaking programmes to develop and strengthen institutional and human capacities for PA co-management; promoting participatory action-research in co-managed PAs; and calling on CBD COP-7 to address co-management issues in the programme of work for PAs.

Community conserved areas: With Recommendation 5.26, WPC participants recommend that governments: recognize CCAs as a legitimate form of biodiversity conservation; facilitate the continuation of existing CCAs; respect the importance of CCAs for communities, and apply the principles of PIC and participatory environmental impact assessment; and support self-monitoring and evaluation of CCAs by relevant communities. They also recommend that communities: commit to conserving CCAs’ biodiversity; extend the CCA network; respond to forces that threaten CCAs; recognize CCAs’ ecological, cultural and other values; seek public recognition; and commit to developing internal accountability mechanisms. They further call on international organizations to recognize CCAs, promote them in appropriate work programmes, and integrate them into the IUCN PA category system.

Mobile indigenous peoples and conservation: With Recommendation 5.27, WPC participants recommend: ensuring mobile peoples’ rights to co- and self- manage their lands; recognizing mobiles peoples’ collective and customary rights, and CCAs; facilitating cross-border mobility; promoting adaptive management approaches; respecting traditional knowledge; recognizing mobile peoples’ rights to the restitution of their lands; and promoting cross-cultural dialogue and conflict resolution within and between mobile and sedentary people around and in PAs. They further urge governments to approve the UN Draft Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and to ratify and implement the International Labour Organization 169.

Protected areas: mining and energy: With Recommendation 5.28, WPC participants recognize that IUCN World Conservation Recommendation 2.82 (Amman, Jordan, 2000), taken together with IUCN Resolutions on Indigenous Peoples, can serve as a guide for testing the commitment of mining and energy companies to PA conservation and management. They also recognize that some elements of both the conservation community and the extractive industry have expressed a commitment to conserve biodiversity and maintain some PAs, and that those elements wish to continue their dialogue and make it more inclusive, while many people in the conservation community strongly oppose this dialogue.

Poverty and protected areas: With Recommendation 5.29, WPC participants note that PAs should contribute to poverty reduction, and call for: integrating PAs into broader sustainable development planning agendas; conserving biodiversity both for its value as a local livelihood resource and as a public good; equitable benefit sharing; fully compensating affected communities; and incorporating a gender perspective in PA governance. Participants also recommend developing inclusive government for PA management, based on: building partnerships with poor communities and empowering them to participate in decision making; developing pro-poor mechanisms to reward environmental stewardship; respecting customary ownership and access rights; and improving accountability and transparency in decision making. They also recommend that governments and development partners consider how to maximize the contribution of PAs to sustainable development, and that CBD Parties: develop guidelines on PA management and ensure that national biodiversity strategies and action plans are aligned with poverty reduction schemes; and extend the principle of equitable benefit sharing to include all biodiversity components.

Africa’s protected areas: With Recommendation 5.30, WPC participants endorse the African Ministers’ decision to adopt the NEPAD environment Action Plan and to establish the African Protected Areas Initiative and Trust Fund, and recommend that the international community support their objectives. They also endorse and support the Durban Consensus on Africa’s Protected Areas in the New Millennium.

Protected areas, freshwater and integrated river basin management frameworks: With Recommendation 5.31, WPC participants call upon governments, local and indigenous communities and civil society to, inter alia: undertake systematic assessments of the development benefits of freshwater PAs; support the establishment and implementation of IRBM; consider mountain, forest, agricultural, dry and sub-humid lands, inland water and coastal ecosystems as part of IRBM-based PA systems; establish and enforce environmental policies explicitly protecting the ecological integrity of freshwater ecosystems; and harmonize implementation of international environmental conventions and national policies relating to biodiversity conservation and sustainable use.

The Recommendation also requests the UN to extend the Year of Freshwater to a Decade of Freshwater, and promotes transboundary declarations of PAs under an appropriate international instrument.

Strategic agenda for communication, education and public awareness for protected areas: With Recommendation 5.32, WPC participants recommend, inter alia: working towards a common agenda for communication for PAs at all levels; ensuring that adequate funding for communication is included in PA budgets; developing institutional capacity and professional skills for effective use of strategic communication; developing a participatory approach to the public, communities and other stakeholders, empowering them to collaborate in PA management; recognizing that communication must be research-based, monitored for effectiveness, evaluated for impact and linked to PA objectives; and using communication tools to build the capacity of local communities to promote sustainable use of biodiversity in a PA context.

MESSAGE TO THE CONVENTION ON BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY: The WPC Message to the CBD synthesizes the discussions and proposals of Congress participants, especially those proposals contained in the Durban Action Plan, with the purpose of providing specific recommendations to CBD COP-7 for the development of the CBD work programme on PAs.

A draft Message was prepared drawing from the revised draft of the Durban Action Plan, and was the subject of protracted discussions and revisions in relevant workshop streams and drafting sessions.

WPC participants agreed on the following statements: biodiversity and ecosystem services are essential to sustainable development; the CBD is an indispensable element to ensure the continued provision of ecosystem services; a representative and effectively managed PA system is crucial to achieving the CBD objectives and the target of a significant reduction in biodiversity loss by 2010; and the Congress acknowledges progress in the development of PAs globally, but also identifies serious gaps, challenges and deficiencies.

In the Message, the WPC calls on CBD COP-7 to consider a variety of actions. On planning, selecting, establishing and managing PA systems, the WPC calls on the COP to, inter alia: adopt specific targets and timetables; address the severe under-representation of MPAs in the global PA system; promote the development of national and regional ecological networks, corridors and transboundary PAs; apply the ecosystem approach to the planning and management of all PAs; and address global change adaptation measures.

On benefits, equity and participation, the WPC calls on the COP to, inter alia, ensure that indigenous and mobile peoples, local communities, women and youth fully participate in the establishment and management of PAs, and share in the benefits arising from them.

On enabling activities, the Congress calls on the COP to take specific actions relating to capacity building, financial support, governance and policy, and assessment, monitoring and reporting.

The Default_XREF_styleREFWPC Message to the CBD was approved by the closingDefault_XREF_styleREF Plenary, on Wednesday, 17 September, and will be delivered at the CBD’s SBSTTA-9.

EMERGING ISSUES: During workshop discussions, several issues of significance were identified that were not covered by the WPC recommendations. These issues were summarized in a document on Emerging Issues, and approved by the workshop plenaries for inclusion in the Congress Proceedings.

The Emerging Issues pertain to: ecological restoration; building support for PAs through site-based planning; disease and PA management; private PAs; sustainable hunting, fishing and other wildlife issues; management of invasive species; gender equity in PA management and conservation; an amendment to the IUCN definition of MPAs; an immediate moratorium on deep sea trawling; and the HIV/AIDS pandemic in relation to conservation.

In an Action Plan on private PAs, the WPC recommends that governments and civil society: strengthen the legal framework, economic incentives, and institutional capacity for private lands conservation; improve education and training opportunities for private lands conservation; increase public-private collaboration in the management and conservation of protected lands; promote community involvement and sustainable development through privately owned PAs; and create information networks.

12TH WORLD FORESTRY CONGRESS: The 12th World Forestry Congress will be held from 21-28 September 2003, in Quebec City, Canada. For more information, contact: World Forestry Congress 2003 Secretariat; tel: +1-418-694-2424; fax: +1-418-694-9922; e-mail: sec-gen@wfc2003.org; Internet: http://www.wfc2003.org. 

GLOBAL SUMMIT ON MEDICINAL PLANTS: This meeting, organized by Bangalore University, will be held from 25-30 September 2003, in Terre Rouge, Mauritius. For more information, contact: Anita Menon; tel: +91-80-524-9900; fax: +91-80-542-4592; e-mail: cenfound@yahoo.co.uk; Internet: http://www.cenfound.org/global/global.html.

AFRICA FOREST LAW ENFORCEMENT AND GOVERNANCE MINISTERIAL MEETING: This meeting, facilitated by the World Bank, will be held from 13-16 October 2003, in Yaoundé, Cameroon. For more information, contact: Kerstin Canby; fax: +1-202-614-0475; e-mail: kcanby@worldbank.org; Internet: http://www.worldbank.org/forestry/afleg.

INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON ECO-RESTORATION: This conference, organized by the Jawaharlal Nehru University, will be held from 14-21 October 2003, in Dehradun and New Delhi, India. For more information, contact: Professor Brij Gopal, School of Environmental Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University; tel: +91-11-610-7676 ext 2324; fax: +91-11-616-9962/61; e-mail: brij@nieindia.org; Internet: http://www.nieindia.org/Conference/conf03.htm.

CONFERENCE ON GREENING THE CITY: BRINGING BIODIVERSITY BACK INTO THE URBAN ENVIRONMENT: This meeting, organized by the Royal New Zealand Institute of Horticulture, will take place from 21-24 October 2003, in Christchurch, New Zealand. For more information, contact: David Moyle; tel: +64-3-358-8914; fax: +64-3-358-1363; e-mail: d&amoyle@xtra.co.nz; Internet:  http://www.rnzih.org.nz/pages/conference2003.htm. 

30TH PACEM IN MARIBUS: A YEAR AFTER JOHANNESBURG, OCEAN GOVERNANCE AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: OCEAN AND COASTS – A GLIMPSE INTO THE FUTURE: This meeting, organized by the International Ocean Institute and the National Commission of Ukraine for UNESCO, will take place from 27-30 October 2003, in Kiev, Ukraine. For more information, contact: Victoria Radchenko; tel: +380-692-5452-49; fax: +380-692-5554-77; e-mail: radalpin@ibss.iuf.net; Internet: http://www.30pim.sevinfo.net.

NINTH MEETING OF THE CBD SUBSIDIARY BODY ON SCIENTIFIC, TECHNICAL AND TECHNOLOGICAL ADVICE: CBD SBSTTA-9 will be held from 10-14 November 2003, in Montreal, Canada. For more information, contact: CBD Secretariat; tel: +1-514-288-2220; fax: +1-514-288-6588; e-mail: secretariat@biodiv.org; Internet: http://www.biodiv.org/convention/sbstta.asp.

GLOBAL CONFERENCE ON OCEANS, COASTS, AND ISLANDS: Organized by the Global Forum on Oceans, Coasts and Islands, this conference will be held in Paris, France, from 12-14 November 2003. For more information, contact: Stefano Belfiore or Catherine Johnston, Center for the Study of Marine Policy, tel: +1-302-831-8086; fax: +1-302-831-3668; e-mail: sbelf@udel.edu; Internet: http://www.globaloceans.org/globalconference/index.html.

SECOND MEETING OF THE CBD AD HOC OPEN-ENDED WORKING GROUP ON ACCESS AND BENEFIT SHARING: This meeting will take place from 1-5 December 2003, in Montreal, Canada. For more information, contact: CBD Secretariat; tel: +1-514-288-2220; fax: +1-514-288-6588; e-mail: secretariat@biodiv.org; Internet: http://www.biodiv.org/doc/meeting.asp?wg=ABSWG-02.

NINTH SESSION OF THE CONFERENCE OF THE PARTIES TO THE UN FRAMEWORK CONVENTION ON CLIMATE CHANGE: UNFCCC COP-9 will meet from 1-12 December 2003, in Milan, Italy. For more information, contact: Isabelle Colineau; tel: +49-228-815-1425; fax: +49-228-815-1999; e-mail: icolineay@unfccc.int; Internet: http://unfccc.int/cop9/index.html.

THIRD MEETING OF THE AD HOC OPEN-ENDED INTER-SESSIONAL WORKING GROUP ON CBD ARTICLE 8(J): This meeting will be held from 8-12 December 2003, in Montreal, Canada. For more information, contact: the CBD Secretariat; tel: +1-514-288-2220; fax: +1-514-288-6588; e-mail: secretariat@biodiv.org; Internet: http://www.biodiv.org/doc/meeting.asp?wg=WG8J-03.

ADVANCED SEMINAR ON PROTECTED AREAS MANAGEMENT AND LOCAL DEVELOPMENT IN THE MEDITERRANEAN CONTEXT: This seminar is being organized by the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation, with the collaboration of the IUCN Centre for Mediterranean Cooperation. It will be held from 1-14 December 2003, in Malaga, Spain. For more information, contact: Marie Curie; tel: +34-95-20-28-430; fax: +34-95-20-28-415; e-mail: uicnmed@iucn.org; Internet: http://www.iucn.org/places/medoffice/eventos/seminario_azahar_EN.htm.

SEVENTH MEETING OF THE CONFERENCE OF THE PARTIES TO THE CBD AND FIRST MEETING OF THE PARTIES TO THE BIOSAFETY PROTOCOL: CBD COP-7 will be held from 9-20 February 2004, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It will be followed by the first Meeting of the Parties to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, which will be held from 23-27 February 2004. For more information, contact: CBD Secretariat; tel: +1-514-288-2220; fax: +1-514-288-6588; e-mail: secretariat@biodiv.org; Internet: http://www.biodiv.org/doc/meeting.asp?wg=COP-07 and http://www.biodiv.org/doc/meeting.asp?wg=MOP-01.

THIRD IUCN WORLD CONSERVATION CONGRESS: The third IUCN World Conservation Congress will be held from 17-25 November 2004, in Bangkok, Thailand. For more information, contact: Ursula Hiltbrunner, IUCN; tel: +41-22-999-02-32; fax: +41-22-999-00-20; e-mail: ursula.hiltbrunner@iucn.org.