International Union for Conservation of Nature Conserving - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

International Union for Conservation of Nature

Conserving biodiversity Pioneering nature’s solutions to global challenges

WHO WE ARE

Founded in 1948, IUCN is the world’s largest global environmental

• rganization.
• A unique democratic Union with more than 1,200 State and

NGO Member organizations in 160 countries.

• Collaborating with commissions of volunteer professionals as a

leading provider of the latest knowledge about Biodiversity - more than 11,000 experts and scientists.

• The only environmental organisation with official Observer

Status at the United Nations General Assembly.

WHY CONSERVE BIODIVERSITY?

Biodiversity provides us with:

• Food
• Clean air
• Water
• Energy

Biodiversity is the variety of life on earth.

• Shelter
• Medicine
• Recreation
• Inspiration

THE FACTS

• An estimated 40% of the world's economy is based on the use of

biological resources.

• 780 million people lack access to clean water and 2.5 billion lack

adequate sanitation.

• More than 70,000 plant species are used in traditional and modern

medicine.

• Coral reefs provide coastal protection and other valuable services

worth an estimated US$ 170 billion a year.

WHY IS BIODIVERSITY AT RISK?

Threats to biodiversity include:

• Habitat destruction
• Land conversion for agriculture and

development

• Climate change
• Pollution
• Spread of invasive species

Species extinctions are continuing at about 1,000 times the natural rate, calculated from fossil records.

Protected Areas are the Key tool for biodiversity conservation

The BAD news

SCBD (2010) GBO3

Predicted percentage of ecological landscape being driven toward changes in plant species as a result of projected human-induced climate change by 2100. (Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)

The Challenge of Climate Change is Additive and Formidable

The good news

2,500,000 5,000,000 7,500,000 10,000,000 12,500,000 15,000,000 17,500,000 20,000,000 22,500,000 25,000,000 1911 1916 1921 1926 1931 1936 1941 1946 1951 1956 1961 1966 1971 1976 1981 1986 1991 1996 2001 2006 2011

Total area protected (km2)

Year

Growth in nationally designated protected areas (1911 - 2011) Cumulative Terrestrial Area Cumulative Marine Area Cumulative Total Area

Source: IUCN and UNEP-WCMC (2012) The World Database on Protected Areas (WDPA): February 2012. Cambridge, UK: UNEP-WCMC.

Parks, People, Planet

Inspiring solutions

• Position protected areas firmly within goals of

economic and community wellbeing

• Increase understanding of their vital role in

conserving biodiversity and delivering ecosystem services

• Demonstrate how this can be achieved.

Parks

Strengthen policy and action commitments for the expansion, connectivity and better management of parks and protected areas to cover all areas important for biodiversity and ecosystem services

People

Foster the equitable governance of parks and protected areas to empower communities (including indigenous peoples) to become involved and to benefit

Planet

Explore and promote parks and protected areas as natural solutions to global challenges such as climate change, food and water security, health and a green economy

World Parks Congress Streams

• 1. Reaching Conservation Goals
• 2. Responding to Climate Change
• 3. Improving Health & Wellbeing
• 4. Supporting Human Life
• 5. Reconciling Development Challenges
• 6. Broadening Governance
• 7. Respecting Indigenous and traditional

knowledge and culture

• 8. Inspiring a New Generation

And Cross Cutting Themes:

• 1. Marine
• 2. World Heritage
• 3. Capacity Development
• 4. Governance and a social compact for

protected areas

Origins of Stream One CBD Strategic Plan 2011-2020

“Improve the status of biodiversity by safeguarding ecosystems, species and genetic diversity”

The Aichi Targets

Aichi Biodiversity Targets - examples

• Target 1 - By 2020, at the latest, people are aware of the values of

biodiversity Target 2 - By 2020, at the latest, biodiversity values have been integrated into national and local development Target 3 - By 2020, at the latest, incentives, including subsidies, harmful to biodiversity are eliminated, phased out or reformed Target 5 By 2020, the rate of loss of all natural habitats, including forests, is at least halved and where feasible brought close to zero, and degradation and fragmentation is significantly reduced. Target 7 By 2020 areas under agriculture, aquaculture and forestry are managed sustainably, ensuring conservation of biodiversity Target 12 By 2020 the extinction of known threatened species has been prevented and their conservation status, particularly of those most in decline, has been improved and sustained. Target 15 By 2020…including restoration of at least 15 per cent of degraded ecosystems, thereby contributing to climate change mitigation and adaptation and to combating desertification.

CBD - Target 11

By 2020, at least 17 per cent of terrestrial and inland water areas, and 10 per cent of coastal and marine areas, especially areas

• f particular importance for biodiversity

and ecosystem services, are conserved through effectively and equitably managed, ecologically representative and well connected systems of protected areas and

• ther effective area-based conservation

measures, and integrated into the wider landscapes and seascapes.

Global protected areas network:

The largest and fastest change of land management in history

Protected areas* 1962 1,000 2012 >200,000

Terrestrial ecoregion protection

Protection of ecoregions

We need to get here! We are here!

22

Photo: Roland Seitre

Costa Rica: National Biological Corridor Programme

Change in Forest Cover in Costa Rica

Environmental Services Payment

Environmental services are paid to private landowners that protect their forests:

• 1. CO2 effects mitigation
• 2. Protection of water and watershed for urban, rural or

hydroelectric power

• 3. Biodiversity protection for conservation
• 4. Landscape beauty for tourism and scientific use

Type of PES Am ount to pay Length of contract Reforestation $ 8 1 6 / ha 1 0 years Protection $ 3 2 0 / ha 5 years Restoration $ 4 1 0 / ha 1 0 years Agroforestry $ 1 .3 0 / tree 3 years

Sumatran Lowland Rain Forest

Sumatra, Indonesia – Saving the Lowland Dry Forest

• 53.35 million hectares of natural forest is allocated

for production forest - frequently unsuccessfully managed, leading to severe degradation and deforestation of the concession.

• Many IUCN Red Listed Species – predicted end of the

forest (WWF) in 2014

Indonesia – Forest Restoration

• June 2004, the Indonesian Government issued

the Minister of Forestry decree on ‘Ecosystem Restoration in Production Forests’.

• Joint effort of Burung Indonesia, Royal Society

for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), and BirdLife International

• New model of forest concession that meet

economic goals

• 60 (+35) year forestry concession – no logging

Indonesia – Forest Restoration

• More than 170 'green jobs' have been created in

forest conservation – e.g. tree nurseries in villages

• 100,000 ha conserved
• Planting more than five million trees
• Illegal logging significantly decreased and forest

fires gone

• Asiatic Wild Dog, Malayan Tapir, Great Argus and

Sumatran Tigers (20) using the concession

• Funding from REDD+ carbon credits
• Eight more concessions applied for – in progress

Growth in the number of Locally Managed Marine Areas (LMMAs), 2000-2009

Govan et al. 2009

Congress Legacy

• Need to rebrand protected areas as solutions to global

problems

• Protecting other values: carbon, watersheds, flood control, wild

food relatives

• Full range of PA governance - private, indigenous, community
• Restoration soluation - degraded habitats within & around PAs.
• Mainstream PAs in development and climate change

adaptation strategies

• More and larger protected areas: better representivity and

more focus on key biodiversity areas

• Connectivity conservation - landscapes/seascapes

Protected Areas: Natural Solutions

Ecosystems Play a Significant Role in the Global Carbon Cycle

Forests 35% of land area, 50% terrestrial C

– Remove 2.4 b tons of C per year from the atmosphere (=1/3 fossil fuel emissions)

Oceans remove another 1.7 b tons C/yr Wetlands, seagrass beds, mangroves, kelp forests some of the most efficient C sinks.

Land conversion accounts for 20% global emissions Deforestation contributes 1.6 b ton C per year. Peatlands cover 3% land area; but with degradation accounts for 6% of all fossil fuel CO2 emissions. (Indonesia 3rd Carbon emissions)

Protected Forests and Water Security

• 33/105 major cities depend on PAs for

domestic water – Jakarta, Quito, New York

• Forests reduce sedimentation – extend life of

irrigation canals and dams e.g. Bogani Nani Wartabone NP, Nakai Nam Theun2

• Value to downstream agriculture –

Madagascar, Western North America

• Targets reached
• Solutions implemented
• Capacity developed
• Policy changed
• Legacy established

Measures of success

http://worldparkscongress.org/

See you in Sydney – November , 2014