Transboundary biosphere reserves: a new framework for cooperation

1999 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 252-255 ◽  
Author(s):  
JULIET J. FALL
Keyword(s):  
Protected Areas ◽  
Biological Diversity ◽  
Convention On Biological Diversity ◽  
Biosphere Reserves ◽  
Formidable Challenge ◽  
The Face ◽  
Political Borders ◽  
Transboundary Protected Areas ◽  
International Boundaries ◽  
New Framework

Despite the increasing call for cooperation amongst the states parties to the 1992 Convention on Biological Diversity (UNTS 3069; see especially its Articles 5, 17, 18 and 20), the management of protected areas adjacent to political borders is rarely thought of as a common necessity for neighbouring countries. Setting up a zone dedicated to conservation is already a formidable challenge in the face of strongly competing interests for land. Bringing this about with two or more sovereign states sometimes seems a ‘gratuitous layer of complexity that spells almost certain failure’ (Westing 1998b). Nevertheless, transboundary protected areas are becoming increasingly common (IUCN, unpublished 1998). In fact, no less than 136 such protected area complexes involving over 406 individual protected areas and 112 different international boundaries (Zbicz & Green 1997) have been identified around the world. If proposed areas are also included, this figure can be pushed up to 200 complexes (Brunner 1998).

scholarly journals Where now for protected areas? Setting the stage for the 2014 World Parks Congress

Oryx ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 48 (4) ◽  
pp. 496-503 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nigel Dudley ◽  
Craig Groves ◽  
Kent H. Redford ◽  
Sue Stolton
Keyword(s):  
Nature Conservation ◽  
Protected Areas ◽  
Protected Area ◽  
Biological Diversity ◽  
Wildlife Trade ◽  
Convention On Biological Diversity ◽  
Policy Changes ◽  
Large Numbers ◽  
The Social ◽  
Transboundary Protected Areas

AbstractProtected areas are regarded as the most important tool in the conservation toolbox. They cover > 12% of the Earth's terrestrial area, with over half of this designated since 1970, and are thus a unique example of governments and other stakeholders consciously changing management of land and water at a significant scale. The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) has a global programme to complete ecologically-representative protected area networks, and this is driving the creation of large numbers of new protected areas. But there is also growing criticism of protected areas because of the social costs of protection and doubts about their effectiveness. We acknowledge this criticism but believe that it is over-stated and applied to a protected area model that has already been replaced by newer thinking. As protected areas are becoming more complex in concept and more complicated in management, we review the six most important changes affecting them over the last 2 decades: (1) a new protected area definition with more emphasis on nature conservation; (2) a plurality of management and governance models; (3) acknowledgement of wider protected area benefits beyond nature conservation; (4) greater social safeguards for protected areas; (5) evidence that protected areas are effective conservation tools; and (6) a new emphasis on larger protected areas, transboundary protected areas, connectivity conservation and landscape approaches. We conclude by considering fresh challenges as a result of policy changes and the global criminal wildlife trade, and consider the potential of the forthcoming 2014 IUCN World Parks Congress.

scholarly journals Challenging the State: Devolutionary Tenure Transitions for Saving and Expanding Forests

Human Ecology ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liz Alden Wily
Keyword(s):  
Rural Communities ◽  
Property Rights ◽  
Protected Areas ◽  
Forest Cover ◽  
Biological Diversity ◽  
Convention On Biological Diversity ◽  
Property Relations ◽  
The Will ◽  
Customary Land

AbstractI address a contentious element in forest property relations to illustrate the role of ownership in protecting and expanding of forest cover by examining the extent to which rural communities may legally own forests. The premise is that whilst state-owned protected areas have contributed enormously to forest survival, this has been insufficiently successful to justify the mass dispossession of customary land-owning communities this has entailed. Further, I argue that state co-option of community lands is unwarranted. Rural communities on all continents ably demonstrate the will and capacity to conserve forests – provided their customary ownership is legally recognized. I explore the property rights reforms now enabling this. The replication potential of community protected forestlands is great enough to deserve flagship status in global commitments to expand forest including in the upcoming new Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).

scholarly journals Spain and Marine Protected Areas: Recent Developments

2018 ◽  
Vol 33 (4) ◽  
pp. 847-855
Author(s):  
Mariano J. Aznar
Keyword(s):  
Protected Areas ◽  
Marine Protected Areas ◽  
Protected Area ◽  
Biological Diversity ◽  
Marine Protected Area ◽  
Natura 2000 ◽  
Convention On Biological Diversity ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
Barcelona Convention ◽  
Specially Protected Areas

Abstract Spain has just declared a new marine protected area in the Mediterranean. This follows a protective trend taken by Spanish authorities during the last decades and has permitted Spain to honour its international compromises under the Convention on Biological Diversity. It contributes to a framework of protected areas established under conventional regimes such as OSPAR, RAMSAR or EU Natura 2000. The new area protects a ‘cetacean corridor’ and will be inscribed in the list of Specially Protected Areas of Mediterranean Importance under the Barcelona Convention regional framework.

scholarly journals “Large Ocean States”: Sovereignty, Small Islands, and Marine Protected Areas in Global Oceans Governance

2018 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 537-555 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas Chan
Keyword(s):  
Protected Areas ◽  
Marine Protected Areas ◽  
Biological Diversity ◽  
Convention On Biological Diversity ◽  
Small Island ◽  
International Affairs ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Ecological Responsibility ◽  
Island States ◽  
Small Island States

Abstract Small island states are typically portrayed as vulnerable and insignificant actors in international affairs. This article traces the emerging self-identification of “large ocean states” that these small island states in the Pacific and Indian Oceans are now employing, juxtaposing their miniscule landmass and populations with the possession of sovereign authority over large swathes of the world’s oceans. Such authority is increasingly being exercised in the context of biodiversity conservation through expanding marine protected areas (an element of both the Sustainable Development Goals and the Aichi Targets of the Convention on Biological Diversity) as an expression of “ecological responsibility.” This new exercise of green sovereignty reinforces state control over spaces previously governed only at a distance, but control made possible only through compromises with nonstate actors to fund, monitor, and govern these MPAs.

scholarly journals The conservation costs and economic benefits of using biodiversity offsets to meet international targets for protected area expansion

Oryx ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 53 (4) ◽  
pp. 732-740 ◽  
Author(s):  
Falko T. Buschke ◽  
Susie Brownlie ◽  
Jeff Manuel
Keyword(s):  
Economic Development ◽  
Protected Areas ◽  
Protected Area ◽  
Biological Diversity ◽  
Economic Benefits ◽  
Convention On Biological Diversity ◽  
Biodiversity Offsets ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Conservation Costs ◽  
Area Expansion

AbstractAichi Biodiversity Target 11 under the Convention on Biological Diversity sets out to conserve at least 17% of terrestrial area by 2020. However, few countries are on track to meet this target and it is uncertain whether developing countries have allocated sufficient resources to expand their protected areas. Biodiversity offsets could resolve this conservation shortfall if developers who affect biodiversity negatively at one locality are made responsible for its protection elsewhere. Here we simulate the use of biodiversity offsetting to expand protected area coverage in South Africa's grassland biome. South Africa's biodiversity offsets policy has been designed specifically to compensate for the residual loss of biodiversity caused by development, by establishing and managing protected areas within the same ecosystem type. We show that it is possible to meet protected area targets using only offsets, while facilitating economic development. However, doing so could slash the current extent of intact habitat by half. These losses could be reduced considerably should the gains in protected areas through offsetting supplement rather than supplant existing government commitments to protected area expansion. Moreover, supplementing existing government commitments would result in comparatively small reductions in potential economic gains, because the marginal economic benefit of transforming habitat decreases as more intact habitat is lost. Therefore, the intended role of biodiversity offsetting in achieving a country's protected area target should be made explicit to fully understand the associated trade-offs between conservation and economic development.

Climate change and protected area policy and planning in Canada

2005 ◽  
Vol 81 (5) ◽  
pp. 696-703 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Scott ◽  
Christopher Lemieux
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Protected Areas ◽  
Biological Diversity ◽  
Convention On Biological Diversity ◽  
Ecological Communities ◽  
Key Words Climate Change ◽  
United Nations Convention ◽  
Policy And Planning ◽  
Potential Shifts

Protected areas are the most common and most important strategy for biodiversity conservation and are called for under the United Nations' Convention on Biological Diversity. However, most protected areas have been designed to represent (and in theory protect for perpetuity) specific natural features, species and ecological communities in-situ, and have not taken into account potential shifts in ecosystem distribution and composition that could be induced by global climatic change. This paper provides an overview of the policy and planning implications of climate change for protected areas in Canada, summarizes a portfolio of climate change adaptation options that have been discussed in the conservation literature and by conservation professionals and provides a perspective on what is needed for the conservation community in Canada to move forward on responding to the threat posed by climate change. Key words: climate change, protected areas, parks, conservation, system planning, impacts, adaptation

The nature and extent of terrestrial protected area coverage on the UK's Overseas Territories

2017 ◽  
Vol 44 (4) ◽  
pp. 397-404
Author(s):  
NICHOLAS I. WILKINSON ◽  
JONATHAN G. HALL ◽  
JULIET A. VICKERY ◽  
GRAEME M. BUCHANAN
Keyword(s):  
Protected Areas ◽  
Protected Area ◽  
Biological Diversity ◽  
Area Coverage ◽  
Convention On Biological Diversity ◽  
Effective Protection ◽  
Terrestrial Environment ◽  
Overseas Territories ◽  
The Uk

SUMMARYSignatories to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) agreed to the effective protection of at least 17% of the terrestrial environment by 2020 (Aichi Target 11). Here, we assess the coverage of terrestrial protected areas (land protected by legislation) on the UK's Overseas Territories. These 14 Territories are under the sovereignty of the UK, a signatory of the CBD, and are particularly biodiverse. Eight Territories have protected areas covering 17% or more of their land, but the extent of protection across these Territories as a whole is low, with only 4.8% of this land designated as protected. This protection covered 51% of sites already identified as of conservation importance (Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas), although only 8% of the area of these sites was protected. The expansion of effective protection to meet the 17% target provides an opportunity to capture the most important sites for conservation. Locally led designation will require an improvement in knowledge of the distribution and density of species. This, together with measures to ensure that the protection is enforced and effective, will require provision of resources. This should be seen as an investment in the UK meeting its obligations to Aichi Target 11.

scholarly journals Protected areas: how will they contribute to third millennium challenges?

2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Valentina Dinica
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
Protected Areas ◽  
Protected Area ◽  
Biological Diversity ◽  
Sustainable Use ◽  
The Other ◽  
Convention On Biological Diversity ◽  
Wilderness Areas ◽  
Clean Air ◽  
Area Classification

Biodiversity is valued for its intrinsic worth and for its role in generating ecosystem services, such as soil fertility, clean air, renewable bio-resources, and water quality and availability. While biodiversity outcomes are generally pursued by nations for land in various types of ownership, this article focuses on protected areas on publicly owned lands. Currently, the internationally agreed protected area classification used by the United Nation’s Convention on Biological Diversity differentiates them in terms of nature conservation objectives and ‘compatible’ human uses. This suggests that protected areas can be arranged along a spectrum of protection stringency, from reserves and wilderness areas at one end, to so-called ‘sustainable use lands’ at the other.

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