Wadi El-Hitan, an Egyptian nature reserve, has received a positive assessment from the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The good assessment is considered the highest level of praise in the IUCN World Heritage Outlook.

“We are proud of Wadi El-Hitan site which is run by Egyptian experts,” Egypt’s Minister of Environment Yasmine Fouad said.

“This is the only global heritage site that has made progress in the level of performance in the report," Fouad said, adding that "there is a buffer zone around the area to protect fossilised skeletons from threats, like visiting and traffic."

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As of January 1, 2021, protected areas now cover 17.03% of the land and fresh water of the Canadian province of Quebec. This covers an area of 257,000 km2 - larger than the entire UK.

New protected areas announced in the Chic-Choc areas adjacent to the Gaspesie National Park will increase the protection for the last remaining mountain caribou herd South of the St-Lawrence River in North America. New protection adds areas for the boreal caribou population north and west of the Manicouagan Reservoir and includes the protection of the George River migratory tundra Caribou herd calving ground, once the largest caribou herd in the world.

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Last month, the most remote inhabited island on Earth became one of the world's biggest sanctuaries for life above and below the waves thanks to an international partnership that is supporting the local community and protecting nature.

The community of Tristan da Cunha, a small chain of islands over 6,000 miles from London in the South Atlantic has declared that almost 700,000 km2 of its waters will join the UK's Blue Belt of marine protection, becoming the largest no-take zone in the Atlantic and the fourth largest on the planet.

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On 31 December 2020, nominations closed for the new International Ranger Awards. We are thrilled to have received nominations for 843 rangers from across 43 countries, of which 537 rangers identified as being members of the indigenous people of their region/country.

The award winners will be announced in early 2021.

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Huangshan Scenic Area sits in the south of Anhui province, China.

Popularly referred to as “the loveliest mountain of China”, Mt. Huangshan Scenic Area is well known for its scenery, sunsets, peculiarly shaped granite peaks, Huangshan Pine trees, and views of the clouds from above. Huangshan is a frequent subject of traditional Chinese paintings and literature, as well as modern photography. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Global Geopark and Biosphere Reserve.

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The prospect of securing long-term co-financing from Prespa Ohrid Nature Trust (PONT) has propelled the protected area management authorities in the Wider Prespa Area in Albania and North Macedonia to overhaul planning and implementation of their core operations. They are now regularly using the Management Effectiveness Tracking Tool (METT) as a decision-support tool to achieve more transparent, evidence-based, and adaptive management, tied to the annual management cycle. 

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COBI has developed four building blocks to reverse the degradation of the marine environment: 1) capacity building of leaders and fishing organizations, 2) sustainable fishing, 3) marine reserves, and 4) support to public policies. For each, COBI develops demonstrative models that can be adopted by fishing organisations and other stakeholders in Mexico and elsewhere.

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A Global Gender Working Group has been established through support from the Amazon Green List Project financed by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. The group brings together IUCN's Global Protected Areas Programme, Global Programme on Governance and Rights (GPGR), and South American Regional Office. The aim of this group is to strengthen gender mainstreaming in protected and conserved areas globally through the IUCN Green List of Protected and Conserved Areas Standard.

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BIOPAMA aims at developing the capacity of key stakeholders on the most relevant topics, including protected area data management, sustainable financing and use of tools for assessments. In 2020, BIOPAMA supported and led the development of key knowledge products for the management and governance of protected and conserved areas:

- Closing the gap: financing and resourcing of protected and conserved areas in Eastern and Southern Africa
- Natural World Heritage in Africa: Progress and Prospects (also available in French)
- Gouvernance et gestion des aires protégées
- State of protected and conserved areas in Eastern and Southern Africa

In 2020, the BIOPAMA grant-making facility awarded 54 projects on the ground in 38 countries in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific. These projects address the priorities for actions in 155 protected and conserved areas, with a total budget of close to 10 million EUR. The Rapid Response Grant call accepted applications until 31 December 2020 and the Small Technical Grants for Assessments is open until 29 January 2021.

Learn more about or calls for proposals and projects!

Transhumances pastorales et aires protégées en Afrique centrale : des conflits à une cohabitation apaisée intervient dans « l’État des aires protégées en Afrique centrale 2020 : enjeux et perspectives » dans le contexte de la discussion sur les priorités du développement durable. Ce chapitre cerne ce qu’évoque précisément la transhumance pastorale et invite à partir des rapports conflictuels entre divers acteurs pour aboutir à des interactions sans heurts grâce au recours à des approches plus génératrices de paix. Les recommandations de cette étude ont été présentées lors de la journée « Transhumance » du Partenariat pour les Forêts du Bassin du Congo », le 9 décembre 2020. La publication « Etat des aires protégées en Afrique centrale 2020 »  sera bientôt disponible en 2021.

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The Vemööre Declaration: Commitments to nature conservation action in the Pacific Islands region, 2021-2025 was endorsed at the 10th Pacific Islands Conference on Nature Conservation and Protected Areas in November 2020.

The State of Environment and Conservation in the Pacific Islands: 2020 Regional Report launched during the Conference provides a bleak picture of biodiversity in the region, catalysing the call for action.

The Declaration states that the global biodiversity crisis is an “existential threat to our Pacific Ocean, our Pacific Islands and to ourselves as Pacific peoples.”

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Join the PANORAMA team as they look back at what has been accomplished in 2020 and what can be achieved going forward as we all get ready for 2021.

Thanks to its network of solution providers around the globe, PANORAMA platform now hosts more than 780 solutions. The platform has also enjoyed over 100,000 visits from 76 countries shedding light on the growth of the community, the different voices present and the success of cross-sectoral learning and inspiration.

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Celebrate the WCPA’s 60th anniversary by testing your knowledge of nature globally. 

How many protected areas, approximately, exist worldwide? Which country has the highest ratio of national protected lands in the world, at almost 54%?

 These are just two of the 77 questions from the #NatureForAll Online Trivia Game. This fun, interactive quiz, which can be played in English, French or Spanish, focuses on protected areas, conservation and biodiversity around the world.

Produced by the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA) and the IUCN Commission on Education and Communication (CEC), with support from Parks Canada, the game celebrates nature and draws attention to biodiversity’s importance worldwide.

Can you get a perfect score? Take the quiz, share your score and challenge others on social media and tag #NatureForAll.

In April 2021, IUCN-PAPACO will launch a brand new MOOC on Marine Protected Areas, thereby adding a course to the existing MOOC catalogue aiming at building capacities among protected area practitioners in Africa. To add dimension and practicality to this MOOC, theory sequences will be followed by “real-world” illustrations, specifically by video case studies based on Solutions published on PANORAMA.

For more information on IUCN-PAPACO MOOCs, visit mooc-conservation.org

Periodic fires are a normal part of the lifecycle of many ecosystems, but climate change is creating mega-fires that instead of supporting biodiversity threaten to destroy it. In the aftermath of the worst fire season in Australia’s recorded history, conservationists should turn to a mix of modern science and techniques practised by indigenous peoples for 60,000 years, writes Dr John Merson of Blue Mountains World Heritage Institute, an IUCN Member organisation.

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Achieving Sustainability Principles and applying the Criteria for Management and Eco-labelling in fishing and touristic activities in the in the Mexican Caribbean, specifically in the Sian Ka’an and Banco Chinchorro Biosphere Reserves has been a complex yet very interesting process.

This offers an example of balancing both sustainable management and the economic development of the local communities, covering more then 300 families, who now directly benefit from the prestigious reputation obtained from this process.

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The impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic extend to global biodiversity and its conservation. Although short-term beneficial or adverse impacts on biodiversity have been widely discussed, there is less attention to the likely political and economic responses to the crisis and their implications for conservation. Here we describe four possible alternative future policy responses: (1) restoration of the previous economy, (2) removal of obstacles to economic growth, (3) green recovery and (4) transformative economic reconstruction. Each alternative offers opportunities and risks for conservation.

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The COVID-19 pandemic led to many European countries imposing lockdown measures and limiting people’s movement during spring 2020. During the summer 2020, these strict lockdown measures were gradually lifted while in autumn 2020, local restrictions started to be re-introduced as a second wave emerged. After initial restrictions on visitors accessing many Nature Protected Areas (PAs) in Europe, management authorities have had to introduce measures so that all users can safely visit these protected landscapes. In this paper, the authors examine the challenges that emerged due to COVID-19 for PAs and their deeper causes. By considering the impact on and response of 14 popular European National and Nature Parks, they propose tentative longer-term solutions going beyond the current short-term measures that have been implemented.

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The ocean is the linchpin supporting life on Earth, but it is in declining health due to an increasing footprint of human use and climate change. Despite notable successes in helping to protect the ocean, the scale of actions is simply not now meeting the overriding scale and nature of the ocean's problems that confront us. Moving into a post‐COVID‐19 world, new policy decisions will need to be made.

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Tree Kangaroos: Science and Conservation provides an overview of tree kangaroo species and their relationship with humans. This exciting, interdisciplinary work on tree kangaroo science and conservation is divided into six major sections: (1) tree kangaroo evolution, genetics, taxonomy, ecology, behavior, and conservation status; (2) current and emerging threats to the species; (3) conservation programs in Australia and New Guinea with an emphasis on the human aspect of conservation; (4) the role of zoos in conservation solutions; (5) techniques and technologies to study this elusive marsupial; and (6) what is needed to keep tree kangaroos and their landscapes healthy in the future. WCPA members have made a significant contribution to this book, including Dr Peter Valentine, Dr Onnie Byers and Paul van Nimwegen.

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METT is the most widely used protected area management effectiveness assessment system, applied over 5,000 times around the world. Being open source, it has also been widely modified, shortened, extended and used in a variety of ways not foreseen by the original authors. 

METT-4 draws together the lessons learned from applying the tool around the world and the long and often passionate discussions about how best to capture information in as succinct and accurate a way as possible. It is designed to be filled in electronically, using a simple and accessible format and includes step-by-step guide to application and an accompanying introductory video.

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Increasing attention is being given to the climate mitigation potential of ‘blue carbon’ in coastal and shelf-sea ecosystems. The ecosystems currently recognised for blue carbon are seagrasses, salt marshes (sometimes referred to as tidal marshes) and mangrove forests. These ecosystems provide a host of benefits, from supporting the livelihoods of coastal communities, protecting them from the impacts of storms, and providing important habitat for fish, birds, and a variety of other species.

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The year 2020 was supposed to be the ‘super year’
for biodiversity and the environment with several key
global summits to set the course of action for the next
decade. However, a novel coronavirus created chaos
to our social, health and economic systems, and the
postponement of decision-making at these important
conferences. The call for real action to save the planet
is getting louder.

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New dates – 3 to 11 September 2021 in Marseille

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the French government have agreed to hold the IUCN World Conservation Congress 2020 from 3 to 11 September 2021 in Marseille. The event, originally scheduled for June 2020, was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The world is increasingly recognising the inextricable link between biodiversity conservation and human and economic wellbeing, a connection made all the more visible by the COVID-19 pandemic. The IUCN Congress will be a key milestone for nature conservation and the development of a new global framework for biodiversity. The French government and IUCN remain steadfast in their commitment to these goals.

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This Leadership Dialogue, as part of Vital Sites 2021, will bring attention to the collaborative team work led by WCPA LAC region after the Third Latin American and Caribbean Protected Areas Congress, to recognise the voluntary work of the region and enabling and empowering our participatory vision, recommendations and actions for the next 10 years Protected and Conserved Areas improvements for welfare and sustainable development.

Register here

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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