A new compendium providing the latest and best professional information needed for protected area practitioner capacity development was released this week in the margins of the 6th IUCN World Parks Congress.
Titled “Protected Area Governance and Management,” the compendium provides information to support capacity development training of protected area field officers, field managers and executive-level managers for improving governance and management of protected areas effectively.
“This compendium will significantly contribute to developing the capacity of managers of protected areas, at all levels, to deliver effective governance and management of protected areas,” said Braulio Dias, Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). “Such capacity development is absolutely necessary for effective implementation of the Programme of Work for Protected Areas of the CBD, which will facilitate achievement not only of the Aichi Biodiversity Targets but also of the proposed Sustainable Development Goals and the post-2015 development agenda.”
The compendium, launched by Dias and Jane Smart, Global Director, Biodiversity Conservation Group of IUCN, was compiled by 169 authors and edited by Graeme Worboys, Michael Lockwood, Ashish Kothari, Sue Feary and Ian Pulsford.
“This compendium needs to be read by all those involved in the management of protected areas – from the heads of protected area authorities to the field managers and field officers on the ground,” said Ms. Smart. “Acting on the rich compendium of information provided in this book will help ensure that the world moves towards achieving Aichi Target 11: protected areas which are conserving the most important places for biodiversity, and which are connected, well managed and governed.”
Graeme Worboys, chief architect and driving force behind the book, said, “This information-rich compendium text book on protected area governance and management is an investment in today’s protected area managers and the next generation of park practitioners. Through their improved knowledge and competent management, it is also an investment in better biodiversity conservation and a healthier planet.”
The CBD is an international treaty for the conservation of biodiversity, the sustainable use of the components of biodiversity and the equitable sharing of the benefits derived from the use of genetic resources. It opened for signature at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, and entered into force in December 1993.
With 194 Parties up to now, the Convention has near universal participation among countries. The Convention seeks to address all threats to biodiversity and ecosystem services, including threats from climate change, through scientific assessments, the development of tools, incentives and processes, the transfer of technologies and good practices and the full and active involvement of relevant stakeholders including indigenous peoples and local communities, youth, NGOs, women and the business community.
The Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety and Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit Sharing are supplementary agreements to the Convention. The Cartagena Protocol seeks to protect biological diversity from the potential risks posed by living modified organisms resulting from modern biotechnology. To date, 168 Parties have ratified the Cartagena Protocol. The Nagoya Protocol aims at sharing the benefits arising from the utilisation of genetic resources in a fair and equitable way, including by appropriate access to genetic resources and by appropriate transfer of relevant technologies. It entered into force on 12 October 2014 and to date has been ratified by 57 Parties.
