Protected Forests Poorly Managed, Joint Report Says
12/3/99
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Title: Protected FORESTS Poorly Managed, Says Report
Source: Environment News Service
Status: Copyright 1999, contact source for permission to reprint
Date: December 3, 1999
WASHINGTON, DC, December 3, 1999 (ENS) - New findings released
Thursday by the World Bank/WWF Alliance reveal that less than one
quarter of declared national parks, wildlife refuges, and other
protected areas in 10 key forested countries were well managed, and
many had no management at all.
This means that only one percent of these areas are secure from
serious threats such as human settlement, agriculture, logging,
hunting, mining, pollution, war, and tourism, among other pressures,
the Alliance said.
The 10 key countries in the Paper Parks report are: Brazil, China,
Gabon, Indonesia, Mexico, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Russia, Tanzania,
and Vietnam.
The World Bank, the largest provider of development assistance in the
world, and the World Wildlife Fund, the world's largest conservation
organization, joined forces in April 1998 to protect the Earth's
forests in an Alliance for forest conservation and sustainable use.
Currently, the Alliance has projects in over 22 countries worldwide
and is continuing to form partnerships with other non-governmental
organizations and governments to make their global vision for the
future of the world's forests become a reality.
In response to these findings, World Bank president James Wolfensohn
and WWF-US president Kathryn Fuller have adopted a new target for
converting these so called paper parks into effectively-managed
areas.
"This new research highlights the urgent need to manage these
protected areas more effectively so that they are secure for the
people and wildlife who depend upon them for their survival" said
Fuller.
The target calls for 50 million hectares (125 million acres) of
existing but highly threatened forest protected area to be secured
under effective management by the year 2005.
To achieve this goal, the Alliance will continue to work with
governments, conservation organizations, indigenous people, and other
stakeholders to identify the world's most threatened parks and to
develop a system for implementation, improving and monitoring
management of these protected areas.
The Alliance operates worldwide. It works in Vietnam where it has
helped to mobilize more than $1 million private-sector investment
from the Tropical Forest Fund, an association of furniture buyers
committed to sustainable forestry. And it works in the Eastern
European nation of Georgia, where WWF and World Bank collaboration
catalyzed action that led to the passage of a new forestry code that
should halt the devastation of that country's forests.
Recognizing that many different groups have a direct interest in how
forests are used, the Alliance's Measures of Success project will
begin addressing these problems by promoting the use of performance
indicators and transparent monitoring of the management of community
forests and protected areas. Managers are encouraged to work with
forest stakeholders to set indicators that will track progress
towards locally Agreed forest management objectives.
"Alleviating poverty and protecting the environment go hand in hand,"
said Wolfensohn. "This Alliance will help leverage our contract with
nature, delivering real results on the ground."