Side Event

Systematic Conservation Planning for Implementing the Convention on Biological Diversity

Organizer
The University of Queensland, IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA) and IUCN Species Survival Commission (SSC)

Date and Time
26 May 2008 13:15 - 14:45

Meeting
Ninth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP 9)

Conservation planning is the process of locating, configuring, implementing and maintaining areas that are managed to promote the conservation of biodiversity and other natural values. Many systematic methods for planning protected areas and other conservation actions are being proposed and applied to meet the objectives of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) across different environments and diverse socio-economic contexts. There is increasing uncertainty in the conservation science community and amongst governments and donors about how to choose between apparently competing methods, many of which are being assertively promoted as the tools needed to save biodiversity. This side event will introduce an integrated framework for conservation planning which has been developed by the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA) Conservation Planning Task Force as part of a joint-Commission initiative (IUCN WCPA and IUCN Species Survival Commission (SSC)). A major output from this initiative is the forthcoming publication (late-2008) of a WCPA Best Practice guidelines document, which explains similarities and differences between methods, demonstrates how some can be applied together, and guides choices among them. Following a brief introductory presentation, a panel of experts will discuss the contribution of the integrated IUCN framework to support decisions related to prominent issues for in-depth consideration at COP 9. In particular, the discussion will focus on: * The design and implementation of protected areas as part of national biodiversity plans; * Use of the IUCN framework to explain to members how different planning initiatives at different scales (e.g. biodiversity hotspots, Global 200 ecoregions, key biodiversity areas) can complement one another as contributions to a larger planning process; * The application of the ecosystem approach and its integration into the IUCN framework; * The potential to apply the IUCN framework at different levels of detail in countries with different levels of funding and technical capacity; * Mechanisms to increase implementation of CBD decisions in countries that lack well-developed capacity for compiling biodiversity data and undertaking systematic conservation planning. Rational and transparent approaches are needed to reconcile the needs of biodiversity with those of people. The outcomes from this event and the broader initiative will include guidelines for more effective integration of nature conservation and livelihoods and identification of countries and regions for collaborative planning projects to apply the IUCN framework by adapting it to diverse local, regional and national circumstances.