In 2010, the leaders of 13 tiger range countries (Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Russia, Thailand, and Viet Nam) assembled at an International Tiger Summit in St. Petersburg, Russia and committed to double the number of wild tigers across their geographical area by 2022. At that time, Nepal set the target to achieve a tiger population of 250 by 2022. The current encouraging result shows 105 more tigers in Nepal than the set target.

The latest tiger census report shows that there are 128 tigers in Chitwan National Park, 125 in Bardiya National Park, 41 in Parsa National Park, 25 in Banke National Park and 36 in Shuklaphanta National Park, totaling the number of 355.

Under the theme “For People and Nature” the Congress identified priority actions to strengthen Africa’s protected and conserved areas in a manner that is just, equitable and fair. These actions include a strengthening of the rights of indigenous peoples and local communities, greater public and private financial investment in nature conservation and protected and conserved areas, and enhanced Pan-African collaboration, cooperation and partnership for protected and conserved area systems throughout the continent.

Seven individual rangers and three ranger teams from ten countries in Latin America, Africa, Asia and Australasia were recognised for going beyond the call of duty to protect the earth’s wild places and wildlife, and to support local communities. Two winners received special awards for rangers working in areas where tigers are present.

Each winner or winning team receives US$10,000 to support the protected and conserved areas where they work, and a custom uniform patch to signify their achievement.

The world’s rangers work in all types of biodiverse ecosystems, from deserts to tropical forests, and come from big cities, small towns and Indigenous communities. They protect wild places, wildlife and cultural heritage sites. In addition to serving as guardians of the wild, they are also guides, healthcare providers, teachers and scientific collaborators. 

The International Ranger Federation and The Thin Green Line Foundation releases a roll of honor every year, commemorating the rangers around the world who died in the line of duty.

During the past year, 150 rangers have died while performing their jobs. 

A 3D model of Cuc Phuong National Park has been completed, and it is hoped to help with the management and protection of local natural resources.

IUCN and the Park held a workshop on July 5 to report consultation outcomes about building the 3D model with the engagement of the local community.

The model was built from May to July this year with support from teachers and students of the Nho Quan B High School in Nho Quan district of Ninh Binh province, along with residents in the 18 villages located in the park’s core and buffer zones in Hoa Binh, Binh Binh, and Thanh Hoa provinces.

In China, the Nature Conservancy partnered with government agencies and philanthropic partners to restore degraded land in Inner Mongolia, leveraging a Restoration by Design approach to pinpoint Nature-based Solutions (NbS) for maximum impact, build resilience against climate change, and strengthen community livelihoods and wellbeing. This “Restoration by Design” approach was first leveraged in Helinge’er County in 2010, a typical agro-pasture ecotone in central Inner Mongolia.

The white sea cucumber “rori titi u’o” (Holothuria fuscogilva) is a species highly prized in Asia for its meat and medicinal properties, so much so that its high commercial value has led to its overexploitation in the Indo-Pacific region.

BEST 2.0+ was very excited to award the civil aquaculture company “Tahiti Marine Products” with a grant in July 2021 to implement the “Vairao Rori Titi project”, an endeavour devised to contribute to preserving and managing this species for its sustainable exploitation in French Polynesia by undertaking stock surveys and searching for juvenile habitats.

In May 2022, the BEST2.0+ Secretariat had the opportunity to visit the project site, the Vairao lagoon, on the southwest coast of Tahiti, and exchange with those involved in it.

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The objective of this call for proposals is to address priorities for action, identified through management and governance effectiveness assessments, to improve the management and governance of protected and conserved areas, and the sustainable use of natural resources and livelihoods of surrounding local communities.

Eligible countries: Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Belize, Barbados, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.

The Management Effectiveness Tracking Tool (METT) is used widely throughout the Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) region for assessing Protected Area Management Effectiveness (PAME); and representatives of protected area agencies from Antigua and Barbuda, Peru, Ecuador, Venezuela, Saint Lucia, Guyana, Belize, Jamaica, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines confirmed interest in connecting in order to share experiences and learn from each other.

The BIOPAMA Caribbean team organised an inaugural event to establish the LAC METT implementation support network aimed at supporting colleagues in biodiversity conservation in implementing and applying the METT Tool and recommendations from assessments.

Leonidas Nzigiyimpa is the chief warden of five protected forestry areas in the small central African country of Burundi. For the past two decades, he and his team have been working with local communities to protect and manage the forest. In carrying out his work, Mr Nzigiyimpa has to consider a range of factors, from monitoring the impact of human actions and economies, to tracking biodiversity and the impact of climate change, plus staff numbers and budgets.

To help him track and record all of this, he now uses the latest version of a free piece of software called the Integrated Management Effectiveness Tool, developed by BIOPAMA.

The Government of Rwanda through Rwanda Development Board and IUCN ESARO have signed a country commitment to implementing the IUCN Green List across all Rwanda’s protected and conserved areas.

The signing ceremony took place at the IUCN Green List high-level social event at the Africa Protected Areas Congress in Kigali, Rwanda. A big milestone to recognise for the hosting country to acquire higher standards of conservation of nature and wildlife.

The Green List event was a key highlight at the Asia Parks Congress, identifying the most important actions needed in the next decade to strengthen systems of protected and conserved areas across the region, which is in line with the conference’s theme 'Parks for Nature and People'. The objective of the event was to raise the profile of the IUCN Green List as a framework for area-based conservation and highlight the key benefits of using the Green List to improve the quality of protected and conserved areas.

Esri and the IUCN Asia Regional Office have agreed on a strategic collaboration in harnessing the power of geospatial technologies for place-based or landscape-level biodiversity conservation. Esri will facilitate low-cost access to ArcGIS as IUCN seeks to assist Indigenous communities towards more inclusive local governance and protection of biodiversity areas.

On 11 and 12 July 2022, a Regional Workshop on Governance, Management and Indigenous Territorial Law, organised by COICA and IUCN South America through the Amazonia 2.0 project, was held in Quito, Ecuador.

The workshop strengthened the strategic alliance between COICA and IUCN, with the agreement to continue developing a joint agenda that will culminate in an Implementation Plan for the "Amazon for Life: Let's protect 80% by 2025" initiative.

Governance, equity, and rights have long been on the global agenda, and this is reflected in numerous international and regional laws and policies on human rights and biodiversity conservation, including IUCN Resolutions and Recommendations. The much cited ‘fortress conservation’ and its legacy and impact are increasingly becoming known.

In parallel, large swathes of land containing biodiversity – the focus on the draft targets – are found on the territories, land, and waters of Indigenous Peoples and local communities, so the recognition of their rights, customary governance systems, and livelihoods will be central to halting the biodiversity crisis.

To help represent PANORAMA and directly connect with communities implementing those solutions, we are proud to launch our new Ambassadors programme and introduce the first cohort.

The title of PANORAMA Ambassador is a status awarded to practitioners, policy influencers, and academics who fully support the PANORAMA initiative and who are particularly well-connected within their community. Being a PANORAMA Ambassador is a volunteer role. They are linked to the PANORAMA network and group of partners. Ambassadors form a network to connect, learn, share ideas, discuss, debate and work together.

At the second Asia Parks Congress, the richness of the Asia region was vividly displayed across the Congress and the theme of ecotourism featured prominently through presentations, side events, forums, working groups and not least in the Indigenous Peoples’ exhibition hall, where excellent community led ecotourism initiatives and activities were showcased.

One of the most important phases of the project, "Sustainable Tourism and Protected Areas in a Post-COVID World” has been the development of two community-led Action Plans during March and June 2022. 

This participatory process allowed the 10 communities, from Amarakaeri Communal Reserve and Río Abiseo National Park, to identify a common vision linked to tourism in their own territories, and to determine concrete actions that will allow them to achieve that vision. Making these tools an essential step to foster endogenous change and growth in economic, cultural and environmental terms in the short and medium term.

Versión en español aquí.

Participatory 3D Mapping (P3DM) is an exciting method that has been implemented to support the process of knowledge sharing and collaboration with local and indigenous peoples for the success of effective management of protected and conserved areas. P3DM integrate local and indigenous spatial knowledge with technology to produce both physical and geo-referenced 3D models. The physical nature of the method enhances discovery learning through verbal, visual and tactile experiences, stimulates feedback, promotes debate and negotiation and generates shared information in visible and tangible formats.

IUCN in collaboration with Planeterra held the first workshop on Health and Safety procedures in May at the Cuc Phuong National Park and Van Long Wetlands Nature Reserve (Vietnam).

The workshop’s main objective was to provide suggestions to management board staff and 31 people from the indigenous communities of Khanh village, An Nghia commune, Lac Son district and Hoa Binh, on the daily operational procedures that might be needed to manage health risk issues throughout the tourism experience while also understanding cultural considerations in a post-COVID-19 era.  

La Malette pédagogique est le manuel de la version 2 de l’outil intégré sur l’efficacité de gestion (IMET, en anglais) et de coaching ou action d’accompagnement professionnel des équipes de gestion des aires protégées. IMET est un outil d’aide à la décision destiné à faire avancer le processus de planification-suivi-évaluation pour améliorer l’efficacité de la gestion des aires protégées. Il est adapté à toutes les aires protégées, indépendamment de leur catégorie de gestion et de gouvernance. IMET recueille, organise et visualise les données relatives aux aires protégées pour en faciliter l’analyse et orienter la prise de décisions pour la planification, la gestion et l’organisation des opérations.

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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