Five thousand people from 160 countries gathered in Sydney to set the agenda for protected areas for the next decade – sounds great, but what results are actually coming from it? From social media, it’s hard to find out what’s really going on (or, as Kaylin pointed out, how to participate!). After a lengthy search of the eight social media pages set up for the WPC, a keyword search on Google News, and a trawl through the Guardian website, I turned at last to the Press Releases page of the World Parks Congress – where I found that in the first two days they’ve released five major reports on the state of protected areas.
Day 1: World Heritage Outlook and Protected Planet
IUCN starts the Congress with good news: two thirds of World Heritage Sites are in a good conservation state (more or less), and over half are well managed. Admittedly 19 of the 228 sites are in critical conditions – including that Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve in Mexico – but since this report is the first time all 228 sites have been assessed together, it can at least offer guidance for ways forward. The second report on Thursday is also positive. It says the world is on track to protect 17% of the planet’s land and 10% of its oceans by 2020. But – surprise surprise – there’s lots of work to do to make sure protected areas are managed better.
Day 2: Tourism, the Mediterranean, and the IUCN Green List
We start getting down to the nitty gritty on day two. Turns out where tourism is thriving, protected areas receive not just direct revenue but political support and funding – and where it’s failing the parks struggle too. Is ecotourism the future of protected areas? Even well funded protected areas are not enough, though, in the Mediterranean Basin. Seventy-five percent of freshwater Key Biodiversity Areas are outside protected areas there.
My favorite publication so far is the IUCN Green List of Protected Areas – the most successful 23 protected areas in the world, eh? Can we visit? Wait, why isn’t there one in North America?
All this gives me confidence that, despite the poor performance on social media, the wheels of international governance are still churning out oodles of official documents. I wonder what fascinating reports will come out this week?