WASHINGTON, DC — Leading conservation organizations today announced the formation of an international network to help the world’s protected areas managers to anticipate and cope with global changes brought about by climate change, poverty and population growth.
“This network is especially crucial in light of the increasing deterioration of the world’s ecosystems,” said Dr. Kenton R. Miller, chairman of the World Comission on Protected Areas and vice president for international conservation of the World Resources Institute (WRI). “Global warming is a big contributor to this, and is weakening the capacity of the world’s parks and protected areas to supply critical services like drinking water and habitats for wildlife.”
There are an estimated 44,000 parks and protected areas, covering about 10 percent of the world’s land surface. About 42 percent of these parks and protected areas are found in developing countries. Already, sea-level rise, severe weather changes, expanded farmlands, poverty, and increased regional conflicts are affecting many of these parks.
The network, called Protected Areas Learning Network (PALN), is a project of WRI, the World Conservation Union (IUCN), Conservation International, and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The governments of the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden have already contributed funds. A grant from the UN Global Environment Facility is being finalized. The network is expected to cost $5 million over four years.
“No program exists today to provide park managers in developing countries with timely and easily accessible information on the relationship between global changes and their protected areas,” said Dr. Mohamed Bakarr of the Center for Applied Science at Conservation International. “PALN will help them learn how other park managers and scientists are coping and adapting to these changes.”
Dr. Miller added that the network, which will be web-based, will be the place where park managers and scientists can access the most current information on such issues as how best to deal with the destruction of mangroves as sea levels rise, or how to buffer park boundaries against intensive farming, or how the South African government is dealing with invasive plants that are drying up the country’s aquifers.
“In short, it will be a universally accessible reference system to enable protected areas managers to do their jobs better in the face of inevitable global changes,” said Dr. Miller.
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The World Resources Institute (http://www.wri.org/wri) is an environmental think tank that goes beyond research to create practical ways to protect the Earth and improve people’s lives.
For more information, contact:
Adlai Amor
Media Director
World Resources Institute
202 729 7736
aamor@wri.org
Web site: http://www.wri.org
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Scientists Create Network to Help Park Managers Cope with Global Changes (3/27/2001)