A Review of the Impact of IUCN Resolutions on International Conservation Efforts

Transcription

1 A Review of the Impact of IUCN Resolutios o Iteratioal Coservatio Efforts

2 TABLE OF CONTENTS Itroductio Settig the Global Coservatio Ageda Supportig the Developmet of Iteratioal Coservatio Law Idetifyig Emergig Issues i Coservatio Mobilizig Specific Actios o Species ad Protected Areas...10 Previous IUCN Cogresses ad Members Assemblies 2008 Barceloa, Spai Dr. Ashok Khosla (Idia), elected Presidet 1972 Baff, Caada Dr. Doald Kuee (Netherlads), elected Presidet 2004 Bagkok, Thailad Mr. Valli Moosa (South Africa), elected Presidet 1969 New Delhi, Idia Dr. Harold Coolidge (USA), re-elected Presidet 2000 Amma, Jorda Ms. Yolada Kakabadse (Ecuador), re-elected Presidet 1966 Lucere, Switzerlad Dr. Harold Coolidge (USA), elected Presidet 1996 Motreal, Caada Ms. Yolada Kakabadse (Ecuador), elected Presidet 1963 Nairobi, Keya Dr. Fraçois Bourlière (Frace), elected Presidet 1994 Bueos Aires, Argetia Dr. Jay Hair (USA), elected Presidet 1960 Warsaw, Polad Professor Jea Baer (Switzerlad), re-elected Presidet 1990 Perth, Australia Sir Shridath Ramphal (Guyaa), elected Presidet 1958 Athes, Greece Professor Jea Baer (Switzerlad), elected Presidet 1988 Sa José, Costa Rica Dr. Mokombu Swamiatha (Idia), re-elected Presidet 1956 Ediburgh, UK Professor Roger Heim (Frace), re-elected Presidet 1984 Madrid, Spai Dr. Mokombu Swamiatha (Idia), elected Presidet 1954 Copehage, Demark Professor Roger Heim (Frace), elected Presidet 1981 Christchurch, New Zealad Professor Mohamed Kassas (Egypt), re-elected Presidet 1952 Caracas, Veezuela Dr. Charles Berard (Switzerlad), re-elected Presidet 1978 Ashkhabad, Turkmeista Professor Mohamed Kassas (Egypt), elected Presidet 1950 Brussels, Belgium Dr. Charles Berard (Switzerlad), re-elected Presidet 1975 Kishasa, Cogo (DRC) Dr. Doald Kuee (Netherlads), re-elected Presidet 1948 Fotaiebleau, Frace Dr. Charles Berard (Switzerlad), elected Presidet World Coservatio Cogresses bega i 1996 i Motreal. Previous to that IUCN assembled its Members i Geeral or Members Assemblies.

3 INTRODUCTION IUCN s Members have issued over 1000 resolutios sice the orgaizatio s foudig i These have bee the Uio s most effective meas of ifluecig coservatio policy, at species, site, atioal ad global levels. They have helped set the iteratioal coservatio ageda, for example through supportig the preparatio of the World Coservatio Strategy ad cotributig to evirometal treaties such as CITES, Ramsar, World Heritage ad the Covetio o Biological Diversity. Through its resolutios, IUCN has bee a steadfast supporter of idigeous peoples, geder issues ad the recogitio of coservatio as part of huma rights. It has also focused attetio o coservig edagered species ad protected areas, helpig to desig effective approaches that are ow global stadards. The resolutios process has helped IUCN to be a leader i promotig sustaiable relatioships betwee people ad ature. As the world s leadig associatio of coservatio agecies, icludig 89 States, 124 govermet agecies, 1018 o-govermetal orgaizatios as of March 2012, IUCN (Iteratioal Uio for Coservatio of Nature) is i a uique positio to reflect ad promote the priorities of the global coservatio commuity. It is the oly evirometal orgaizatio with Observer status at the Uited Natios Geeral Assembly, eablig IUCN to deliver the policy perspectives of its Members at the highest iteratioal level of diplomacy. These policies are developed through a ope cosultative process ivolvig the full IUCN Membership. Sice IUCN s foudig i 1948, its Members have coveed every two to four years to debate ad agree major policy issues ad approve the orgaizatio s programme ad budget for the subsequet several years. It held 19 Geeral Assemblies betwee 1948 ad 1994, typically with a accompayig Techical Meetig that addressed o-the-groud coservatio issues. Begiig i 1996, the Geeral Assembly ad Techical Meetig compoets were combied ad re-labeled as the World Coservatio Cogress. Four such cogresses have ow bee held, i Motreal, Amma, Bagkok ad Barceloa. The ext Cogress will be held i Jeju, Republic of Korea, from 6 15 September As IUCN s missio is to ifluece, ecourage ad assist society, its policy work is key to its ability to have a impact o world coservatio. A sigificat result of each of these 23 coveigs of IUCN Members, the experts participatig i IUCN s Commissios, ad ivited parter orgaizatios, has bee the policy recommedatios from the Members, dealig with the most sigificat policy measures as idetified ad elaborated by them. Motios, draft decisios which the World Coservatio Cogress is requested to take, are preseted by IUCN Members o a wide rage of coservatio issues ad whe adopted become either Resolutios or Recommedatios. IUCN Cogress Resolutios are aimed primarily at IUCN itself ad Recommedatios are directed to other agecies or the world at large, though this distictio is sometimes a difficult oe to draw. For ease of commuicatio, these will both be called Resolutios throughout this documet. Over 1000 such Resolutios have bee adopted to date; the full text of all ca be foud at: policy/gpu_resources/gpu_res_recs. This paper briefly highlights some of the major impacts ad iflueces that these resolutios have had o coservatio. It is ot meat to be comprehesive, but rather to focus attetio o some of the most sigificat issues that the IUCN Membership has addressed, workig together with IUCN s six Commissios (o Species, Protected Areas, Evirometal Law, Ecosystem Maagemet, Commuicatios ad Educatio, ad Evirometal, Ecoomic ad Social Policy) ad supported by IUCN s Secretariat. It will go ito more depth o the resolutios issued by the most recet World Coservatio Cogress, held i Barceloa, Spai, o 5 14 October IUCN is strivig to improve the relevace ad timeliess of its resolutios o a ogoig basis. A comprehesive policy overview was udertake i the itersessioal period to idetify major policy gaps resultig from recet developmets i the coservatio area. These policy gaps will be addressed by ew motios, to be proposed durig the 2012 World Coservatio Cogress i Jeju. Members may fid this paper useful i preparig effective motios for the upcomig World Coservatio Cogresses. Impact of IUCN Resolutios 3

4 1. SETTING THE GLOBAL CONSERVATION AGENDA IUCN s Members are all idepedet agecies, well able to set their ow agedas. But by workig together toward a commo global ageda, the Membership, Secretariat ad Commissios ca have a far greater impact tha by workig aloe. As oe outstadig example, the Members agreed at the 1978 Geeral Assembly, i Ashkhabad, USSR, to proceed with producig what became the World Coservatio Strategy (WCS). It was published i 1980 ad give strog support by the first resolutio of the 1981 Geeral Assembly, i Christchurch, New Zealad. The World Coservatio Strategy gave strog legitimacy to likig coservatio with developmet, ad was the first documet to put the phrase sustaiable developmet ito the iteratioal vocabulary. This phrase has ow etered the maistream of developmet thikig ad has had a profoud ifluece o the desig ad operatio of coservatio ad developmet practice throughout the world. But the foudatios for the WCS were built much earlier, icludig at the Ediburgh Geeral Assembly i 1956, which called for ladscape plaig based o ecological research as the startig poit for developmet projects, the call for evirometal impact assessmets i Athes i 1958, ad the promotio of ecological priciples for ecoomic developmet i Baff i Followig the adoptio of the World Coservatio Strategy, IUCN resolutios cotiued to ecourage govermets to direct their developmet assistace i more evirometallyfriedly directios (for example, the 1984 Madrid Geeral Assembly called for developmet assistace agecies to implemet the World Coservatio Strategy ad provided guidelies for doig so, ad i Sa José i 1988 Members called for the preparatio of atioal coservatio strategies, of which dozes were subsequetly prepared, ofte with IUCN techical assistace). The impacts of these resolutios have helped to put coservatio i the maistream of developmet. Thaks at least partly to IUCN s early adoptio of the priciple of sustaiable developmet, it is ow widely recogized that people are essetial parters ad key beeficiaries for all coservatio actio. But this has ot always bee the case. Idigeous peoples have especially felt that they have bee igored by the coservatio commuity, ad ideed have sometimes bee forced off their lad so that protected areas could be established. But IUCN has log bee a champio for the cocept of people as part of ature. As early as the 1952 Geeral Assembly i Caracas, Members recogized the importace of cooperatio amog public agecies, rural people ad the private sector. Other resolutios recogizig the importace of local commuities ad traditioal ways of life were agreed i Athes i 1958, Kishasa i 1975, Christchurch i 1981 (which called for heads of govermets ad others to take ito accout the still existig very large reservoir of traditioal kowledge ad experiece withi local cultures which must provide a sigificat basis for the evolutio of future maagemet policies ad plaig actios ), Bueos Aires i 1994, whe a resolutio o IUCN actio o idigeous people ad sustaiable use of atural resources led to the permaet iclusio of a idigeous represetative o the IUCN Coucil, Motreal i 1996 (with resolutios o idigeous people, itellectual property rights ad biodiversity; Settig the coservatio ageda IUCN has log bee istrumetal i settig the global coservatio ageda. I 1980, IUCN, UNEP ad WWF published the World Coservatio Strategy, a semial documet that stressed the iterdepedece of coservatio ad developmet, ad first coied the term sustaiable developmet. This publicatio emphasized that humaity, as a part of ature, has o future uless ature ad atural resources are coserved. Coservatio caot be achieved without developmet to alleviate the poverty ad misery of millios of people. I 1991, Carig for the Earth: A Strategy for Sustaiable Livig, was published to expad o ad emphasize the World Coservatio Strategy. Orieted towards practical actio, this documet set out a world strategy for a kid of developmet that would provide real improvemets i the quality of huma life while simultaeously coservig the vitality ad diversity of the Earth. These documets have bee the foudatio of coservatio efforts sice. 4 Impact of IUCN Resolutios

5 idigeous peoples, mieral ad oil extractio, ifrastructure ad developmet works; ad idigeous peoples ad protected areas), Amma i 2000 (o impacts of military activities o the commuities of idigeous peoples i the Arctic, ad o idigeous peoples, sustaiable use of atural resources ad iteratioal trade), ad Bagkok i 2004 (o idigeous peoples, protected areas ad the CBD Programme of Work, ad o protectio for idigeous peoples livig i volutary isolatio). The 2008 Barceloa Cogress was a major breakthrough, with o less tha 10 resolutios dealig with local ad idigeous peoples, icludig o empowerig local commuities to coserve ad maage atural resources i Africa, supportig idigeous coservatio territories ad other idigeous peoples ad commuity coserved areas, implemetig the Uited Natios Declaratio o the Rights of Idigeous Peoples, ad itegratig culture ad cultural diversity ito IUCN s policy ad programme. All of this helped lead to a high-level dialogue, called Sharig Power, held i Whakatae, New Zealad, i Jauary 2011 ad atteded by the Chairs of IUCN s six Commissios ad represetatives of idigeous peoples. The dialogue called for reewed efforts to implemet the Barceloa resolutios relevat to idigeous peoples. Through this effort of several decades, IUCN has made a major cotributio to esurig that the world s cultural diversity is icluded as part of the maistream of coservatio cocers. IUCN has also bee a leader i applyig coservatio priciples to address issues of poverty ad geder. For example, i Sa José (1988), Members called for icreased efforts to ehace ad support wome s participatio i coservatio ad sustaiable developmet strategies, ad i Bagkok (2004), resolutios covered poverty reductio, food security ad coservatio, coservig ature ad reducig poverty by likig huma rights ad the eviromet, ad the role of coservatio orgaizatios i poverty reductio ad developmet. The 2008 Cogress i Barceloa called for maistreamig geder equity ad equality withi the Uio ad addressed coservatio ad poverty reductio. These issues are ow stadard operatig procedure for IUCN, idicatig a strog impact o the desig ad implemetatio of coservatio itervetios. They also form the basis for IUCN parterships with various Uited Natios orgaizatios ad govermet agecies. IUCN resolutios have also led to the establishmet ad support of may iteratioal programmes ad istitutios, icludig support for the Iteratioal Whalig Commissio (Lucere, 1966), callig for the establishmet of coservatio departmets at the atioal level (New Delhi, 1969), supportig the UNESCO Ma ad Biosphere Programme (Baff, 1972), callig for the establishmet of ICIMOD (Iteratioal Ceter for Itegrated Moutai Developmet) (Ashkhabad, 1977), the establishmet of the Botaical Gardes Coservatio Secretariat (Sa José, 1988), the establishmet of the World Coservatio Moitorig Cetre (Sa José, 1988), establishmet ad supportig of the Global Biodiversity Forum (Bueos Aires, 1994), ad active participatio i the Milleium Ecosystem Assessmet (Amma, 2000 ad Bagkok, 2004). Each of these iitiatives has played a importat role i spreadig IUCN s missio across umerous sectors ad all parts of the world. While IUCN was ot actig aloe i these iitiatives, its impact helped to accelerate the establishmet ad effective fuctioig of them. Impact of IUCN Resolutios 5

6 2. SUPPORTING THE DEVELOPMENT OF INTERNATIONAL CONSERVATION LAW While law is the resposibility of govermets, IUCN has performed a key fuctio i developig much of the iteratioal legislatio that today govers the relatioships amog govermets i the field of coservatio. IUCN s Evirometal Law Cetre ad the IUCN Commissio o Evirometal Law were well placed to support the developmet of such legislatio, ad have played active parts i doig so. As early as 1954 (log before Rachel Carso s 1962 classic book, Silet Sprig, popularized the cocer), IUCN idetified the importace of dealig with the effects of pesticides o mammals, birds ad isects, further stregtheed i 1981 i Christchurch ad i Bueos Aires i 1994; these ultimately led to the Basel Covetio o Trasboudary Movemets of Hazardous Wastes ad their Disposal ad the Stockholm Covetio o Persistet Orgaic Pollutats, ad govermets throughout the world eacted atioal legislatio o pollutio cotrol, ofte with the advice of the Evirometal Law Cetre. The impact has bee a sigificat reductio i at least some forms of pollutio. At the 1958 Geeral Assembly i Athes, IUCN laid the groudwork for the World Heritage Covetio, ad has cotiued to play a importat role i its implemetatio; IUCN is the formal Advisory Body of the Covetio for the evaluatio of atural ad mixed sites omiated for iclusio o the World Heritage list, ad it also moitors the state of coservatio of World Heritage sites, thereby actively sustaiig the iteratioal efforts to coserve atural areas of outstadig uiversal value. The subsequet Geeral Assembly, i Warsaw i 1960, built the foudatios for the Covetio o Iteratioal Trade i Edagered Species (CITES), aother covetio to which IUCN has made substatial ad cotiuig cotributios, drawig especially o the expertise of the Species Survival Commissio. At the 1972 Geeral Assembly, i Baff, Caada, the support to the World Heritage Covetio was further stregtheed, ad the Covetio o Wetlads of Iteratioal Importace (which IUCN helped to draft) was strogly supported through IUCN offerig to host the Secretariat (a arragemet that has lasted util the preset). The mai elemets of the Covetio o Biological Diversity (CBD) were idetified at the Christchurch Geeral Assembly i 1981, which called for IUCN s Secretariat to aalyze the techical, legal, ad ecoomic ad fiacial matters relatig to the coservatio, accessibility ad use of geetic Ladmark developmets i the history of IUCN Covetio Cocerig the Protectio of the World Cultural ad Natural Heritage, 1968 Ramsar Covetio, 1971 Covetio o Iteratioal Trade i Edagered Species (CITES), 1974 Covetio o Biological Diversity (CBD), Impact of IUCN Resolutios

7 resources with a view to providig the basis for a iteratioal arragemet ad for rules to implemet it. Numerous subsequet resolutios added further support to the emergig Covetio o Biological Diversity, which has become a heartlad issue for may IUCN Members, ad for the orgaizatio as a whole (for example, resolutios i Madrid o wild geetic resources ad i Sa José o edagered species habitat protectio ad o developmet of iteratioal evirometal law, both cotai details o elemets of what evetually evolved ito the CBD). Oce the CBD etered ito force, IUCN Members also supported its Cartagea Protocol o Biosafety (Bagkok, 2004), which IUCN helped to draft. The CBD is ow the leadig iteratioal istrumet for addressig the coservatio ad sustaiable use of biodiversity, promotig equitable sharig of the beefits from the utilizatio of geetic resources, ad esurig that ay trade i geetically modified orgaisms is subject to the appropriate oversight. Also at the Christchurch Geeral Assembly, IUCN further promoted the Law of the Sea, with umerous other resolutios dealig with specific aspects of marie coservatio. These icluded deep sea miig ad establishmet of protected areas of the deep sea, Atarctica Eviromet ad the Souther Ocea, the evirometal law of the sea, the Polar Bear Covetio (Baff, 1972, ad for which IUCN s Polar Bear Specialist Group is the techical advisor), ad may others. The support for legal protectio of the oceas has cotiued to grow, with the Barceloa Cogress issuig several marie-related resolutios with legal implicatios, such as achievig coservatio of marie biodiversity i areas beyod atioal jurisdictios. Back o lad, IUCN supported the Africa Charter for Protectio ad Coservatio of Nature (Nairobi, 1963), the World Charter for Nature (Kishasa, 1975 ad Madrid, 1984), the establishmet of a iteratioal database o evirometal law (Baff, 1972 ad Barceloa, 2008), the ASEAN Agreemet o the Coservatio of Nature ad Natural Resources (Motreal, 1996), ad the Iteratioal Coveat o Eviromet ad Developmet (Motreal, 1996 ad Barceloa, 2008). IUCN s Evirometal Law Cetre cotributed to the draftig of may of these, typically with support ad ispiratio from the Commissio o Evirometal Law. The actual impact of these iitiatives has bee mixed, but they remai available whe the coditios are coducive to their full implemetatio. I summary, the impact of IUCN o establishig the iteratioal legal framework for coservatio has bee substatial, ad this framework has helped establish IUCN s ow priorities for actio. Impact of IUCN Resolutios 7

8 3. IDENTIFYING EMERGING ISSUES IN CONSERVATION Coservatio is a costatly evolvig field, ad the IUCN meetigs of Members provide a excellet opportuity to idetify emergig issues that may ot have yet appeared o the global coservatio ageda, the cosciousess of the public, or eve the attetio of govermets. Resolutios provide a opportuity to idetify such issues ad at least begi to geerate the ecessary actios. Notable amog such issues are: phasig out the cocept of maximum sustaiable yield of idividual species ad replacig it with ecosystem maagemet (Kishasa, 1975); addressig eergy ad coservatio, icludig greater emphasis o reewable forms of eergy (Kishasa, 1975, log before alterative forms of eergy became a urget priority); poitig out that reewable eergy may ot always be beig i its effects o ature (Christchurch, 1981), a issue that is ow receivig icreasig attetio; recogizig the watershed as a particularly useful scale for coservatio maagemet (Caracas, 1952); callig attetio to climate chage ad its impact o coservatio (Warsaw, 1960) several decades before this was geerally recogized as a major issue, with subsequet assemblies dealig with the issue i more detail; Barceloa, 2008, for example, addressed reducig emissios from deforestatio ad forest degradatio, climate chage ad overexploitatio of atural resources, climate chage mitigatio targets ad actios for biodiversity coservatio, climate chage ad huma rights, ad mobilizig actio to build resiliece ad assist adaptatio to climate chage of coral reefs ad marie ecosystems ad people that deped o them; callig for coservatio of marie resources, icludig krill (Baff, 1972 ote that the loss of krill is oly ow becomig a major iteratioal cocer); promotig protectio of magroves (Christchurch, 1981), ow recogized as a major cocer i terms of the multiple ecosystem services these forests provide; idetifyig some of the evirometal cosequeces of uclear war (Sa José, 1988); providig guidelies regardig research ad scietific collectig of threateed species (Barceloa, 2008); IUCN at a glace The world s oldest ad largest global coservatio etwork A uique democratic uio with more tha 1,200 State ad NGO member orgaizatios i some 160 coutries Almost 11,000 expert voluteers geeratig scietific ad legal kowledge, ad developig stadards for the coservatio commuity Over 1,000 staff i 45 offices worldwide Hudreds of parters i govermets, NGOs ad scietific, busiess ad local commuities Publishes vital kowledge products such as the IUCN Red List of Threateed Species, the world s leadig resource o the coservatio status of plat ad aimal species Thousads of field projects ad activities aroud the world, combiig the best available sciece with the traditioal kowledge of local commuities Official observer status at the Uited Natios Geeral Assembly Fuded by govermets, bilateral ad multilateral agecies, member orgaizatios ad corporatios Total aual reveue (2010) CHF 113 millio 8 Impact of IUCN Resolutios

9 expadig coservatio actio to the ladscape scale (Barceloa, 2008, addressig the ecological coectivity i the alpie regio, ad ehacig ecological etworks ad coectivity betwee coservatio areas); recogizig the growig importace of the private sector i supportig coservatio (for example, Motreal, 1996, o a productive relatioship betwee IUCN ad the private sector ad Barceloa, 2008, addressig issues such as guidelies for coservatio orgaizatios wishig to work with the private sector, impacts of ifrastructure ad extractive idustries o protected areas, ad citizes advisory coucils for largescale extractive idustry projects); idetifyig the importace of addressig coservatio ad iteratioal trade (Bueos Aires, 1994); covertig military bases ito coservatio areas (Bueos Aires, 1994); reducig udersea oise pollutio (Bagkok, 2004); ad promotig coservatio i cities (Bagkok, 2004). Resolutios have also supported issues that were already well recogized, but receivig iadequate attetio. A outstadig example at the Barceloa Cogress was marie coservatio, which was the subject of o less tha 24 resolutios, coverig topics like fisheries maagemet, species i eed of coservatio, coservatio of marie biodiversity i areas beyod atioal jurisdictios, establishig marie protected areas, ad coservatio of magroves ad coral reefs. These resolutios have helped place IUCN i the middle of the growig iteratioal effort to coserve the world s oceas ad their biological riches. The actual impacts of these resolutios have varied, but may of them helped to mobilize broad support amog the IUCN Membership for ew approaches to coservatio actio (may of which are ow i the maistream) ad emergig issues that required the greater attetio they are ow receivig. Impact of IUCN Resolutios 9

10 4. MOBILIZING SPECIFIC ACTIONS ON SPECIES AND PROTECTED AREAS IUCN has log bee recogized as a leader i the coservatio of species ad protected areas, with especially strog Commissios of voluteers i these fields ad umerous Members as well as strog Secretariat teams dealig with them. Resolutios have offered Members a opportuity to brig attetio to priciples of wildlife maagemet, such as: stadards for captive maagemet (Kishasa, 1975); umerous resolutios o species affected by trade, such as the CITES ivory quota system (Sa José, 1988); cotrol of ivasive alie species (for example, o carivorous sails for biological cotrol, Sa José, 1988); sustaiable use of wild livig resources (Bueos Aires, 1994, Motreal, 1996, Amma, 2000, Bagkok, 2004 ad Barceloa, 2008); elimiatio of the illegal use of poisoed bait as a method for cotrollig predators i the Europea Uio (Barceloa, 2008); ad itroductio, traslocatio ad re-itroductio of wild species (Bueos Aires, 1994). Plats, too, have received cosiderable attetio, for example at the 2000 Amma World Coservatio Cogress, which supported IUCN s preparatio of a Global Programme for Plat Coservatio, which was subsequetly the basis for the Global Strategy o Plat Coservatio adopted by the Covetio o Biological Diversity i 2002 ad a cosolidated, updated versio supported by IUCN that was adopted by the CBD i I terms of impacts, may of these priciples, such as sustaiable use ad stadards for itroductio ad traslocatio, are ow stadard operatig procedures for may coutries. Numerous resolutios have also addressed idividual species eedig coservatio actio. These are too may to list, but examples, amog may that could be cited, iclude: kouprey (Caracas, 1952); lowlad gorillas (Warsaw, 1960); oragutas, spotted cats, marie turtles, birds of paradise, blue whales ad red colobus mokeys, all at the Nairobi Geeral Assembly i 1963; giat pada (Sa José, 1988); ad the Australia populatio of salt water crocodiles (Madrid, 1984, a populatio that has ow strogly recovered). Tigers were sigled out at the New Delhi Geeral Assembly i 1969, which helped lead to Idia s Project Tiger, which was lauched i 1972 ad has bee credited with savig the Begal tiger. More recetly, IUCN respoded to the rapid die-off of vultures i South Asia (Bagkok, 2004) ad was istrumetal i callig the world s attetio to the amphibia crisis ad how to address it (Barceloa, 2008), makig this a top global coservatio priority. I the field of protected areas, it was early recogized by IUCN Members that iteratioal cooperatio could provide essetial support for the atioal agecies that were seekig to establish such areas. At the 1958 Athes Geeral Assembly, Members agreed that IUCN should promote the establishmet of a Uited Natios List of Natioal Parks ad Equivalet Reserves, ad take resposibility for compilig the list: it is ow kow as the World Database o Protected Areas, ad icludes over 100,000 sites. IUCN s Protected Areas Programme works with UNEP s World Coservatio Moitorig Cetre i maitaiig ad promotig this list, which is freely available at May fudametal priciples that are ow broadly accepted i protected area maagemet were brought to public attetio by IUCN resolutios, icludig: usig ecological criteria for establishig boudaries of protected areas (Baff, 1972); establishig categories of differet types of protected areas (New Delhi, 1969, updated at Bueos Aires, 1994); recogizig private protected area systems (Sa José, 1988); producig best practice protected area guidelies for ecological restoratio (Barceloa, 2008); recogizig the value of commuity coserved areas (Bagkok, 2004) ad muicipal protected areas (Barceloa, 2008); promotig trasboudary protected areas (Bagkok, 2004); ad recogizig ad coservig sacred atural sites i protected areas (Barceloa, 2008). 10 Impact of IUCN Resolutios

11 Amog the may idividual protected areas or protected area systems where IUCN resolutios have provided support are: Killary Natioal Park, Irelad (Ediburgh, 1956); Japa s atioal parks (Warsaw, 1960); the atioal parks of Ecuador, Idoesia, Jorda, Keya, South Africa ad Sabah (all at the 1963 Geeral Assembly i Nairobi, which also passed resolutios o idividual protected areas such as Abruzzo, Gra Paradiso ad Gombe Stream); Kahuzi- Biega Natioal Park (Lucere, 1966, ow a World Heritage Site); Volcaoes Natioal Park, Rwada (New Delhi, 1969); the Great Barrier Reef (ow a World Heritage Site) ad the Firth of Thames, New Zealad (ow amed a Ramsar Site both from Christchurch, 1981); ad tropical raiforest i Queeslad (Madrid, 1984, ow a World Heritage Site). Of particular iterest was a resolutio at the Baff Geeral Assembly (1972) which proposed a trasboudary protected area betwee the US ad Caada, leadig to the Kluae/Wragell-St. Elias/Glacier Bay/Tatsheshi-Alsek trasboudary World Heritage Site, the world s largest such protected area ad a importat example of coectig idividual protected areas to create much larger cotiguous areas that ca support wide-ragig species ad potetially adapt to chagig climatic coditios. May subsequet resolutios promoted trasboudary protected areas ad coservatio corridors, with a outstadig example beig the Barceloa resolutio o the Great Ecological Coectivity Corridor that would iclude the Catabric Rage, the Pyreees, the Massif Cetral ad the Wester Alps of wester Europe. The impact of IUCN o protected area establishmet ad effective maagemet ca be idicated by the rapid growth of protected areas i virtually all coutries of the world, ofte based o the priciples idicated above. While this short paper has give oly a small taste of the impact of IUCN s resolutios, it has also demostrated that IUCN has log bee i the forefrot of the coservatio movemet, idicatig importat ew ways of fidig progress i a icreasigly complicated world, seekig iteratioal cooperatio through evirometal covetios, ad recommedig effective approaches to seekig a healthy eviromet that ca ehace huma well-beig. Impact of IUCN Resolutios 11

12 INTERNATIONAL UNION FOR CONSERVATION OF NATURE WORLD HEADQUARTERS Rue Mauverey Glad, Switzerlad Tel Fax