Peace and Biodiversity Dialogue Initiative

Examples

There are many examples of Peace Parks. The first transboundary protected area was established by the Swedish and the Norwegian Peace Movements in 1914, to celebrate 100 years of peace between Sweden and Norway. In 1959 the area was named Morokulien.

As early as 1932, the Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park was designated to commemorate the long history of peace and friendship between Canada and the United States and to emphasize both natural and cultural links.

The Red Sea Marine Peace Park was created as part of the 1994 peace treaty between Israel and Jordan, which specifies joint protection of the coral reefs that border both countries. In 1998, Peru and Ecuador established the Cordillera del Condor Peace Transborder Reserve.

Because the first Peace Parks were so successful, environmentalists and peace experts are proposing more such parks across the globe. Transboundary Peace Parks aim to foster cooperation and peace between countries and to conserve ecosystems which do not recognize national borders. The number of TBPAs, which is more than 227 in 2007, are being established at an unprecedented rate since 1990. In 1998 there were 59 TBPAs in 136 countries. In 2001, 169 TBPAs involving over 666 countries.

The Peace Parks are classified as tiny, medium-sized and large around the world. Some examples of the large parks: Parque Internacional de La Amistad, Costa Rica/Panama, Big Bend/Maderas del Carmen, US/Mexico, Khunjerab, China/Pakistan, Balkans PP, and Albania/Kosovo/Montenegro.

Even the most avid supporters of Peace Parks admit that they aren't the solution to all the world's troubles. But they could be a small piece of the bigger solution. Peace Parks are more than expressions of goodwill between nations -- they are actively being used as a tool to resolve conflict and ensure conservation because they require the countries involved to agree to set aside and jointly manage the new reserve.

In the last ten years, about a dozen Peace Parks have been established expressly to resolve conflict, enabling the previously warring nations to cooperate in managing the area jointly.