Bridges Trade BioRes • Volume 3 • Number 16 • 19th September 2003
Parks Congress: Reconciling Protected Areas and Sustainable Livelihoods
Parks Congress: Reconciling Protected Areas and Sustainable Livlihoods
From 8 to 17 September, IUCN - The World Conservation Union convened the fifth World Parks Congress (WPC), a once in a decade event focusing on the state and the future of the world’s Protected Areas. The meeting was held in Durban, South Africa under the overall theme of “Benefits Beyond Boundaries”. The outcomes of the WPC thus also focus on how to ensure that the benefits of protected areas are conserved and shared in an equal manner — an issue which many say has been ignored for too long.
The future of protected areas
During the ten-day meeting, scientists, conservationists, civil servants, business leaders, resource managers and environment ministers got together to establish a common agenda for protected areas. They published recommendations and guidelines, which although non-binding provide guidelines for governments. Tacking stock since the last WPC held in Venezuela in 1992, participants were pleased to announce that they had surpassed the target to devote 10 percent of the earth’s surface to protected areas by 2 percent. At the same time several countries and civil society organisations took the opportunity to announce newly established protected areas and pledge new funds for the development of protected areas. In particular participants stressed the need to establish more marine and coastal protected areas, pointing to the bad state of world’s fisheries and marine resources due to overfishing, fisheries subsidies, illegal fishing and bad management practices. The official outcomes of the meeting are the Durban Accord and Action Plan, which sets the conservation agenda for the next ten years, as well as a message to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) proposing actions under the CBD to support the outcomes of the WPC.
Benefits for indigenous peoples and a message to the CBD
The Durban Accord, as the main output of the WPC, highlights that a rapidly changing world has resulted in an increasing loss of biological and cultural diversity and stresses the important role protected areas play in halting this loss as well as in achieving broader development goals. Furthermore the Accord stresses the importance of the wisdom and knowledge held by various cultures enabling the sustainable use and conservation of biodiversity, and acknowledges that protected areas are important providers of ecosystem goods and services. Reflecting the overall theme of benefits beyond boundaries and the large participation of indigenous groups and peoples in the WPC, participants stressed that while many costs of protected areas are borne locally — particularly by poor communities — benefits accrue globally and remain under-appreciated and are not shared with local communities.
As a message to the World Trade Organization, the meeting also calls for commitment and action on ensuring that globalisation and trade agreements do not hinder the capacity of protected areas to achieve their core aims, and that benefits are shared with indigenous peoples and local communities. Furthermore participants urge commitment to the economic valuation of protected areas and innovative and diversified income generating strategies. They also highlight the need to provide the stewards of ecosystem goods and services with payments. With regard to the bad state of world fisheries the WPC also calls on governments to redirect perverse subsidies toward support mechanisms for protected areas.
Participants also endorsed a message to the CBD, in which they point to the critical role of biodiversity for sustainable development strategies. Moreover, they note that the current loss of biodiversity due to human activities must be reversed, which can only be done if the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity and the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from the use of genetic resources was ensured. Among others the Congress calls on the CBD to ensure that mechanisms are put in place to guarantee that indigenous and mobile peoples, local communities, women and youth, share the benefits arising from protected areas. They also requested the CBD to create well-managed systems, which enable the broad participation of stakeholders in the development and management of protected areas.
A global commitment for sustainable livelihoods?
Traditionally, conservation efforts, the establishment of protected areas and the pursuit of sustainable livelihoods by indigenous peoples have not always been mutually supportive. However this paradigm might have changed with this World Parks Congress, which saw a high and active participation of a diverse range of indigenous groups celebrating their role in the sustainable use and management of biodiversity and protected areas. This is further highlighted by the outcomes of the Durban meeting, which place the role and the rights of people in developing and managing protected areas at the centre stage. As South African Environmental Affairs Minister Valli Moosa pointed out during the closing plenary, “we have established a link very firmly between ecosystems and communities. It’s a new paradigm and there is no going back from here”. He furthermore highlighted that the Congress had identified how protected areas could be used as a tool in poverty alleviation efforts. Kenton Millor, Chair of the IUCNs World Commission on Protected Areas also emphasised that “Today’s agenda recognises the benefits [of Protected Areas] and ensures that they are equitably shared. In 2013 we will be able to look back and hopefully be proud of our new achievements”.
Additional Resources
For daily reporting, see IISD Linkages.
“Protected Areas Blossom at World Parks Congress,” ENS, 18 September 2003; “Parks Congress Sets 10-Year Plan to Protect Planet,” ENS, 18 September 2003.