This special Editorial in PARKS Journal published today provides a snapshot of how protected and conserved areas around the world are being impacted by COVID-19. For many protected and conserved areas, negative impacts on management capacity, budgets and effectiveness are significant, as are impacts on the livelihoods of communities living in and around these areas. The Editorial provides a commentary on how effectively and equitably managed systems of protected and conserved areas can be part of the response to the pandemic that both lessens the chance of a recurrence of similar events and builds a more sustainable future for people and nature.

Read more (Click on the link "Editorial Essay: COVID-19 and protected and conserved areas" to download the PDF)

Protected and conserved areas are key to maintaining healthy ecosystems, protecting diverse natural habitats and wild species; terrestrial protected areas now cover more than 15% of the world’s land surface. But PAs are not just about wildlife or biodiversity, important though these are. When governed and managed effectively, they also support human health and well-being.

Read more

IUCN Protected Areas joins the Venezuelan members of the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas and the entire community of Venezuela's Protected Areas in mourning the death of agronomist José Rafael García Acosta (1926-2020), founder of the Venezuelan National Park Service and its Director for 30 consecutive years.

Read more in English

Los miembros venezolanos de la Comisión Mundial de Áreas Protegidas de la UICN y toda la comunidad de las Areas Protegidas de Venezuela estamos de luto por el fallecimiento del ingeniero agrónomo José Rafael García Acosta (1926-2020), fundador del Servicio de Parques Nacionales de Venezuela y su director por 30 años consecutivos.

Más en español

IUCN Protected Areas joins the UNESCO World Heritage Centre to express its sadness at the death of Dr. Guy Suzon Ramangason, former Director General of Madagascar National Parks, who passed away on 30 April 2020. Guy Suzon made an important contribution to biodiversity conservation in Madagascar and beyond, transforming Madagascar National Parks into one of the most successful protected area agencies in Africa.

Read more

To celebrate the European Day of Parks, let us take a look at a national park in one of the European Union's outermost regions. Established in 2007, Réunion National Park was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2010 based on two criteria - exceptional landscape and biodiversity. This makes it France's first overseas national park to earn this prestigious status. Nearly 1600 native species have been recorded throughout the island, yet there are still discoveries being made. 

Read more

Implementing ecological aqua-farming of bath sponges with women in coastal communites promotes healthy economic growth, reduces environmental pressure and threats to marine life and other wildlife, improves public health and strengthens the economic and social status of women in Tanzania.

Read more

An initiative encouraging the public to visit green spaces by joining free walks in national and recreation parks as well as botanic gardens across Australia. Park Walks demonstrates a successful model for collaboration between volunteers, non-government and government agencies to increase opportunities for physical activity while exploring new natural environments.

Read more

Last month, New Zealand approved an investment of over NZ $1 billion in the environment by employing 11,000 people displaced by COVID-19. Lou Sanson, Director-General of the country's Department of Conservation, discusses the efforts to put nature at the heart of his country's recovery.

Read more

Tandi Spencer-Smith, the Director of the Australian Committee for IUCN reflects on how healthy ecosystems are essential to the health and wellbeing of people. Strengthening conservation efforts globally will allow us to continue benefitting from these health-culture-nature links in the future.

Read more

We are pleased to announce the launch of the Call for Proposals for Rapid Response Grants of the BIOPAMA Action Component. These grants aim at increasing the resilience of protected areas and local communities’ livelihoods facing the risks and difficulties of the global COVID-19 pandemic in African, Caribbean and Pacific countries.

Read more

In this rapidly changing world, how can protected areas utilize existing financial resources optimally, and where can their management tap into new sources of funding? A webinar hosted by the BIOPAMA Caribbean Protected Areas Gateway aimed to help protected area practitioners and environmental managers answer these questions.

Read more

Watch online

Protected areas are a mainstay of biodiversity conservation, while also contributing to people’s livelihoods and well-being, especially at the local level. Yet, in Africa, available funding for protected and conserved area management satisfies only 10 to 20% of management needs. Developing diversified and sustainable revenue streams is critical for the long-term maintenance of the protected area estate in Eastern and Southern Africa and for protection of essential ecosystem services.

Read more

The global learning and knowledge initiative PANORAMA provides practical examples from the ground that illustrate the motto of this year's International Day for Biological Diversity: "Our Solutions are in Nature". Currently 600+ PANORAMA Solutions - specific, applied examples of successful approaches, told from the perspective of practitioners - are shared on the online platform.

Read more

Watch the recording of the latest PANORAMA webinar on Youtube. This webinar, based on a PANORAMA solution from the Netherlands, focuses on the ENVISION Project and on the concept of Inclusive Conservation. This is an emerging framework that recognises the variety of connections people make with natural areas and the landscapes in which they live and opens up a dialogue across the various stakeholders of a protected area.

Read more

A new IUCN report aiming to assist African countries in World Heritage conservation identifies 20 remarkable nature areas across Africa that could potentially qualify for World Heritage status. It also provides for the first time a summary of the conservation status of all 48 natural World Heritage sites in Africa.

Read more

While the UN Convention on Biological Diversity debates a new framework for nature conservation beyond 2020, to include ‘other effective area-based conservation measures (OECM)’, in Western Jhelum, Pakistan, this is already in place. An alliance of local residents, conservationists, government and entrepreneurs have spent the past 15 years developing a unique model of effective social development through nature regeneration and wildlife, conservation - and they are not about to let COVID-19 slow down their progress.

Learn more

The IUCN Green List has launched an exciting new global project in collaboration with researchers from Monash University in Australia.

The project’s objective is to create guidance to help all sites in the Green List community develop or improve conservation performance thresholds to be well-defined for their major natural values, as required by the Green List Standard.

Learn more

The Amarakaeri Communal Reserve is an inspiration, as one of the first indigenous co-managed Green List sites in the world. However, the Reserve has been hit by a major catastrophe: COVID-19. Since March, the Amarakaeri have closed their community and gone into voluntary isolation. This is especially challenging given the local needs for outside health and other basic services, but the community are confident in their own resilience and the integrity of their natural resources.

Read more

While IUCN-Papaco's MOOCs have been going on for five years, IUCN-Papaco is taking an extra step by giving students the opportunity to receive a certificate on protected area conservation. How does it work? Students who completed all six MOOCs plus one on Sustainable Development from Senghor University, can sit one final exam covering all topics. If they succeed, they receive a certificate on protected area conservation. The first exam will take place mid-June, and so far, around 20 students who fit the criteria will be trying their luck.

Learn more about our MOOCs at mooc-conservation.org

Gnanhouizounmè Sacred Forest is a site that has been cared for by the local people for centuries. To increase knowledge and pride about their natural heritage, especially in their children, the entire community decided to build a nature centre for education and other purposes.

Once the COVID-19 pandemic appeared in Benin, and the Government began to take action, Mariano Houngbedji and his colleagues instantly put preventative measures in place – providing instruction in hygiene and social distancing, helping the villagers understand the potential threat, and supporting an isolation plan for the Sacred Forest and vulnerable communities.

Read more

Prepared as part of the Biodiversity and Protected Areas Management Programme (BIOPAMA), which aims to help conservation actors improve the management and governance of biodiversity and natural resources, the report gives practical advice on the conservation of natural World Heritage sites in Africa. “Natural World Heritage in Africa: Progress and Prospects” contains an introduction to World Heritage essentials. It also explains how to prepare nominations – formal proposals for new listings following the rigorous processes of the World Heritage Convention.

Read more

Most protected and conserved areas in Eastern and Southern Africa face a significant funding gap. There is a clear need to diversify and increase self-generated revenues and develop innovative financing mechanisms. These are the main findings and recommendations of a new IUCN study authored by Conservation Capital.

Read more

PARKS - The International Journal of Protected Areas and Conservation is published by IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA). It is published twice a year as an online, open-access and peer reviewed journal.

Issue 26.1 is now out, and includes an articles on indigenous peoples’ rights in university-level conservation curricula, geodiversity of karst landforms in Egypt, the Brazilian experience with environmental funds to support protected areas, and rangers' perceptions of their working conditions in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

Learn more

Humanity’s relationship with the natural world is more important than ever. At the IUCN Congress, experts showcase the latest conservation science, policy and best practice. IUCN’s government, civil society and indigenous peoples’ Member organisations vote to set priorities for nature conservation and sustainable development actions for the decades ahead.

IUCN and France have postponed the IUCN World Conservation Congress 2020 to 7-15 January 2021. Learn more about the event, participation and the implications of the new dates on the Congress website.

To receive IUCN Congress updates, subscribe here.

On 5 June 2020, in line with the theme for World Environment Day - "Time for Nature", IUCN will collaborate with Huawei to share principles and approaches for the use of technology in nature conservation. At 10.00 am CEST, an expert panel will present a 90-minute discussion on the appropriate use of technology to help solve our climate crisis and support nature conservation efforts. IUCN’s acting Director General will open the event, and two WCPA members will also speak. James Hardcastle of IUCN’s Global Protected Areas Programme will moderate.

Learn more

Register here

Since launching in 2013, ISEAL's Credibility Principles have become an international reference for the foundations of credible practice for sustainability standards. This year the principles are being updated to reflect current and future trends in the sustainability landscape as well as to expand their scope beyond sustainability standards to include a wider range of systems.

ISEAL is encouraging everyone with an interest in what credible practices look like for sustainability standards and similar systems to give feedback on the revised version of the principles. Learn more and take part by visiting the consultation page. The first round of consultation is open until 31 July 2020.

IUCN stakeholders and Green List Community are also invited to a webinar on 25 June 2020, 1500-1600 CET
This discussion will be facilitated by ISEAL experts and introduced by James Hardcastle, of IUCN’s Global Protected Areas Programme.

Register here

The foods we eat, the air we breathe, the water we drink and the climate that makes our planet habitable all come from nature. Yet, these are exceptional times in which nature is sending us a message: To care for ourselves we must care for nature.

This World Environment Day, learn how all living things on Earth are connected in the web of life and how we can act #ForNature at worldenvironmentday.global

The theme of the 2020 World Oceans Day is growing the global movement to call on world leaders to protect 30% of our blue planet by 2030. This critical need is called 30x30.

Learn more at worldoceansday.org

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.

Read more