In an interview with Swissinfo, IUCN Director General Bruno Oberle says,

"To understand how well protected and conserved areas are meeting conservation targets, it is not enough to look at the percentage coverage. We also need to see whether the right areas are being protected, to ensure that all species and types of ecosystems are covered, and whether protection is being implemented in a way that is fair and equitable to local communities. 

The IUCN Green List of Protected Areas standard provides an international benchmark for effective and equitable conservation."

The Vital Sites Pavilion at the IUCN World Conservation Congress in Marseille highlighted how fair and effective protected and conserved areas are a foundation for addressing biodiversity and development challenges, and are essential for human health and well-being.

With a new dedicated playlist on YouTube, updated regularly, you can now relive your favourite pavilion events in high-definition. All our sessions from the pavilion are now up!

The Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) has launched a bold new project in the heart of the country’s boreal forest. When complete, Boreal Wildlands will be the largest private conservation project in Canada’s history – 1,450 square kilometres. The project will contribute to Canada’s commitments to conserve 30 per cent of its lands and waters by 2030.

Bibiana Martin was 12 years old when she joined the forest rangers. Twenty years later, she is still protecting the parks and their animals and inspiring other women.

The 32-year-old has been protecting South Sudan’s forests since she begged her grandfather to join the wildlife rangers at age 12, because her family could not afford to send her to school.

“The officers said, ‘You’re too young; you can’t be a ranger’, but I refused to listen. I said if I’m not going to school I don’t want to just sit in the house,” says Martin.

There are 138 UNESCO World Heritage Sites on the African continent. Forty-nine are classified as natural/mixed World Heritage sites covering a diversity of terrestrial, marine and freshwater environments. Many of Africa’s sites recognise the special global significance of the continent’s unique megafauna – including its elephants, rhinos, hippos, giraffes and great apes – which are unrivalled by anything elsewhere in the world. Learn how BIOPAMA and other EU-supported programmes support these inspiring places.

In Tanzania, this programme delivers over $80,000 worth of community benefits to villagers around Ruaha National Park annually, which has been invested in improving local healthcare, education and veterinary care for livestock. Over 30 local villagers have been employed and gained skills and salaries through the project. The initiative has now been recognised as one of the major drivers of local development, with very important impacts on local health, education and empowerment.

It also has clear environmental impacts: because local people now see tangible, meaningful benefits as a direct result of maintaining wildlife, they have started taking actions to improve conservation. This has included some villages putting local bans on lion and elephant hunts, while others have protected waterholes, protected dens of large carnivores, and similar action.

Virtual tours set up by protected areas and nature-based operators have received considerable traction and interest globally. Such tours provide a way for people to experience natural attractions from their homes while inspiring future travel plans once restrictions are lifted.

This review considers the current status of virtual tours for African protected areas, and their potential as a mechanism to (1) sustain interest and promotional presence online; (2) provide interactive engaging experience with past and future visitors; (3) consider whether they can reduce the physical impact of people on nature; (4) reflect on barriers constraining entry; and (5) generate revenue for conservation and livelihoods while travel restrictions remain in place.

BEST 2.0+ is very happy to announce that one of our grantees from the Polar and Subpolar region, the Fédération Territoriale de la Pêche et la Protection du Milieu Aquatique (FTPSPM), participated at the “8th Rencontres de l’Ichtyologie en France” in Paris last March.

The FTPSPM has been managing the inland waters of Saint-Pierre and Miquelon (SPM) for more than 15 years, particularly angling of brook trout. The association is now managing BROOKTROUTSPM, a BEST 2.0+ project, which is focused on promoting angling and eco-tourism in this overseas French Territory.

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Le projet « Analyse des impacts sociaux et de l’efficacité de gestion de la Réserve de Biosphère du Mono : site de la Bouche du Roy » est soutenu par l’Union européenne et l’Organisation des États d’Afrique, Caraïbes et Pacifique par le biais du Programme BIOPAMA (Programme pour la biodiversité et la gestion des aires protégées).

The Mauritian Wildlife Foundation received a BIOPAMA Small Technical Grant in 2020, for the development of a management plan for the conservation of a key area of Mauritian biodiversity, updating the reserve's METT Analysis, and easing access to the reserve for conservation work, research, education, and eco-tourism.

Session ongoing. Join the rest of this session's learners. You have one month left to enrol, so it’s not too late yet, but
time is running out. Each learner follows the course at their own pace.

Ongoing session: 17 January - 12 June 2022 (midnight)

MOOC registrations close on 31 May

Governance is a critical factor in protected and conserved area effectiveness, equity and sustainability. Set against the background of the draft CBD post-2020 global targets, in particular the discussions around 30x30, an understanding of equitable governance has never been so important.
But what is governance? And what does it look like in practice?

This collection includes 20 Solutions from the PANORAMA platform.

Freshwater resources and the life and diversity they sustain are under mounting pressure from mass alteration of the river, estuarine, peatland, wetland and watershed ecosystems worldwide, made worse by the impacts of climate change.

To help frame a new approach to freshwater conservation, including for the Andes-Amazon, the International Union for Conservation of Nature - IUCN and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation hosted a small expert event on innovations in effective freshwater conservation on the 25 and 26 April 2022.

According to Planet Tracker, a fundamental shift in the approach to financing ocean conservation is urgently needed. Efficiency and funding are often simultaneously lacking, so conditioning additional funding from private sources to greater conservation efficiency could complement existing government and philanthropic money, often not enough to make ends meet.

The IUCN Green List of Protected and Conserved Areas could enable this shift. A certification of conservation efficiency, this global sustainability standard could be used in creative financial instruments – Green List bonds. These bonds link funding requirements to conservation objectives, with progress tracked by IUCN’s robust, scalable assurance mechanism.

PANORAMA continues to expand its thematic scope: We are excited to launch PANORAMA One Health!

The health of people, animals and the environment are closely integrated. The One Health approach mobilizes multiple sectors, disciplines and communities at varying levels of society to work together to foster well-being and tackle threats to health and ecosystems. At the same time, it addresses the collective need for clean water, energy and air, safe and nutritious food, taking action on climate change, and contributing to sustainable development.

In partnership with IUCN, Planeterra in Peru has identified local tourism entrepreneurs in protected areas looking to create new or improve existing tourism experiences. When done sustainably, tourism in protected areas provides a way for community members and travellers to enjoy and celebrate the natural beauty of the lands, while increasing our overall well-being and connectedness to nature.

Meet some of the local entrepreneurs in the Río Abiseo World Heritage Site in Peru, who will be improving and developing their products with us over the coming months.

Formally recognised as the planet’s most significant protected areas, World Heritage sites are regularly assessed and monitored, enabling valuable data to be gathered on a range of factors including protection and management. Assessing all sites listed for their natural values, the IUCN World Heritage Outlook can contribute to an understanding of protected areas’ effectiveness at a time when the international community sets out new targets under the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework.

In this issue of the Caribbean Gateway Insights, the discuss strategic partnerships, wetlands, a recent mission to Jamaica and so much more!

The Caribbean Protected Areas Gateway, a product of the BIOPAMA programme and located within the University of the West Indies under the Centre for Resource Management and Environmental Studies (CERMES), aims to integrate a diverse range of relevant protected area and biodiversity data.

The IUCN Protected and Conserved Areas team is extending the deadline for five Calls for Proposals for external consultancies related to the Green List. The new terms of reference are now online on the IUCN Human Resources Management System.

The Arab Regional Center for World Heritage (ARC-WH) is inviting people in the Arab region aged 18-28 years old to participate to a film competition. Its aim is to help connect young people and their community with World Heritage sites in their vicinity. Shortlisted candidates will attend two online workshops with Emmy award-winning director Oliver Wilkins. Applications are open until 15 May and films must be submitted by 1 July.

This new publication addresses the effectiveness of existing protected areas at conserving the diversity of genes, species and ecosystems on land and at sea. It synthetizes the main biodiversity conservation outcomes of protected areas in the 2010-2019 decade, drawing on a systematic literature review of scientific publications and case studies from around the world demonstrating successes and failures. It provides region-specific results for land and sea ecosystems. It also reviews current methodological approaches used to assess protected area effectiveness. It can be accessed entirely or by chapters.

This Special Issue seeks original contributions on global change pressures on terrestrial PAs, PA effectiveness in responding to such pressures and conserving biodiversity, and assessments of other on-site conservation initiatives that can complement PAs and help retain as much biodiversity as possible in the face of global change. Examples of such tools are Other Effective Area-Based Conservation Measures (OECMs), community-conserved areas, areas under land stewardship, or ecological restoration areas/projects. 

Authors are encouraged to submit studies on biodiversity assessment outcomes in PAs/OECMs, accurate and innovative site assessment methods, analyses of pressures on PAs/OECMs, threat abatement initiatives, and original proposals for reverting gloomy biodiversity trends focusing on PAs but also on broader in situ landscape conservation, management, or governance approaches such as ecological restoration, OECMs, land stewardship schemes, or indigenous and community conserved areas. National, regional, or global analyses and reviews as well as case studies are particularly welcomed.

Since its establishment in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the status of the natural world and the measures needed to safeguard it. IUCN’s new legacy gift options will help ensure IUCN keeps playing this essential role for years to come.

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