Setting the Agenda for Urban Parks

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INTERNATIONALURBAN PARKSWORKSHOPSetting the
Agenda for Urban Parks Dublin, September 2007
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The Power of International Action Plans
A Case Study Parks Victoria the IUCN Neil
McCarthy Member, World Commission on Protected
Areas Chair, Parks Forum Trustee, Centre for
Economic Development of Australia General
Manager, Parks Marine, Parks Victoria
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Title?

• Setting the Scene
• IUCN WCPA
• World Parks Congresses
• Durban Accord 2003
• Management Effectiveness Task Force
• The Impact on a Park Agency
• Benefits

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Setting the Scene

• IUCN WCPA

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Title
CONSERVATION
RECREATION
Parks open space
PROTECTED AREAS
URBANPARKS
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• Vision
• To influence, encourage and assist societies
  throughout the world to conserve the integrity
  and diversity of nature and to ensure that any
  use of natural resources is equitable and
  ecologically sustainable.
• Purpose
• Continue to improve scientific understanding of
  what natural ecosystems provide to humans.
• Seek to ensure this knowledge is used in
  practical ways by bringing together scientists,
  policy makers, business leaders and NGOs to
  impact the way the world values and uses nature.
• Founded in October 1948
• 1,000 staff located in 62 countries (70 from
  developing countries). HQ in Gland, Switzerland.
• 1,000 member organizations
• World Conservation Congress (General Assembly)
  meets every 4 years
• Total operating revenue 2005 100.2m Swiss Francs

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Commissions
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CONSERVATION
RECREATION
Parks open space
PROTECTED AREAS
URBANPARKS
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• Vision
• To promote the establishment and effective
  management of a world-wide representative network
  of terrestrial and marine protected areas, as an
  integral contribution to the IUCN mission .
• Objectives
• To help governments and others plan protected
  areas and integrate them into all sectors,
  through provision of strategic advice to policy
  makers 
• To strengthen capacity and effectiveness of
  protected areas managers, through provision of
  guidance, tools and information and a vehicle for
  networking
• To increase investment in protected areas, by
  persuading public and corporate donors of their
  value and
• To enhance WCPA's capacity to implement its
  programme, including through co-operation with
  IUCN members and partners

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Profile

• 1300 Members worldwide
• Managers of protected areas
• Experts in the fields of interest
• Academic specialists
• NGO officials
• Ex-officio members from partner organisations
• Membership process is by nomination
• 29 staff in 6 offices worldwide
• World Parks Congress every 10 years
• 3000 delegates from around the world
• Durban Accord 2003 Call for global commitment
  and action

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ProgramHighlights

• Protected Area Management Categories
• speaking a common language
• classification according to objectives
• Promoting / prioritising action / raising
  standards
• Guidelines and standards
• Protected area management
• Conserving biological diversity
• World Heritage List
• Identify protect heritage sites of
  outstanding universal value
• Under contract from UNESCO
• Capacity Building / Awareness / Education
• PALNet on-line protected area learning network
• Conferences Management of visitors in
  recreational and protected areas

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World Parks Congresses
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World Parks Congresses

• IUCN, with leadership and support from the World
  Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA) stages World
  Park Congresses (WPC) every 10 years for the
  benefit of the conservation community and the
  world at large.
• The Congress brings together the largest global
  assembly of protected area specialists, managers
  and experts to focus on the state of the planet's
  protected areas, the challenges they face and the
  opportunities before them.
• The WPCA acts as a catalyst for global protected
  area action and recommends future directions for
  these special places on earth.

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The World Parks Congresses have been held in

• Seattle, USA, 1962
• Yellowstone, USA, 1972 Theme "National Parks - A
  Heritage for a Better World"
• Bali, Indonesia, 1982 Theme "Parks for
  Development"
• Caracas, Venezuela, 1992 Theme "Parks for Life"
• Durbin, South Africa, 2003 Theme Benefits
  Beyond Boundaries

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First World Congress - Seattle (USA) 1962

• The purpose
• to establish a more effective international
  understanding of national parks and to encourage
  further development of the national park movement
  on a worldwide scale. Issues discussed
  included
• the effects of humans on wildlife
• species extinction
• the religious significance and aesthetic meaning
  of certain parks and wilderness
• international supervision of boundary parks
• the economic benefits of tourism
• the role of national parks in scientific studies
  and
• the practical problems of park management.
• The overall consensus was that national parks
  were of international significance.

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Second World Congress Yellowstone (USA) 1972

• This coincided with the centennial of
  Yellowstone.
• By 1972 the nations of the world could count more
  than 1,200 national parks or equivalent reserves
• Issues discussed at the conference included
• the effects of tourism on protected areas
• broad aspects of park planning and management
• special, social scientific and environmental
  problems within national parks in wet tropical,
  arid, and mountain regions
• controversial aspects of wildlife management in
  protected areas
• the social, scientific and environmental problems
  of marine, island, polar and sub-polar protected
  areas
• the problems associated with communicating park
  values to visitors and engendering environmental
  awareness
• improving international training opportunities
• opportunities to expand and improve the global
  park system and
• the needs and benefits of public support for
  national parks and equivalent reserves.

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Third World Congress - Bali (Indonesia) 1982

• Focused on the role of protected areas in
  sustaining society.
• The attendance was some 350 PA professionals
• Ten major areas of concern were recognised by the
  congress
• The inadequacy of the existing worldwide network
  of terrestrial PAs.
• The global need for more marine, coastal and
  freshwater PAs.
• The ecological and managerial quality of existing
  PAs needed to be improved.
• A system of consistent categories of PAs was
  noted as crucial to balance conservation and
  development needs.
• PAs should be linked with sustainable development
  as nature conservation is not accomplished only
  by the setting aside of specially protected
  natural areas.
• Capacity to manage PAs must be developed.
• Economic tools such as cost-benefit analysis are
  needed to support and promote the true value of
  PAs.
• Monitoring is vital to ensure that PAs can meet
  the needs of society and that they are
  effectively managed.
• International cooperation mechanisms must be
  promoted.
• A global programme on PAs must be developed using
  the IUCN network.

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IVth World Congress Caracas (Venezuela) 1992

• WPCA, Caracas was the largest of all the
  congresses attracting 2,500 participants
• The major messages coming from the congress
  included
• The relationship between people and PAs is too
  often ignored
• Conserving biodiversity
• Conservation on a regional scale
• Funding for PAs
• Building a stronger constituency for
  conservation
• The goal of the "Caracas Action Plan" was to
  extend the PA network to cover at least 10 of
  each major biome by the Year 2000.

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Vth World Congress Durban, South Africa 2003

• The challenge before the 2003 Congress was to
  demonstrate how protected areas are relevant to
  the broader economic, social and environmental
  agenda for humankind in the 21st Century. The
  theme of the Congress responded to this
  challenge "Benefits Beyond Boundaries". It
  captured the opportunities for protected areas in
  the next millennium and the range of meanings or
  interpretations implicit within the terms
  "benefits" and "boundaries" provided the
  flexibility to explore a wide variety of relevant
  sub-themes for the Congress.

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Durban Accord 2003
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Durban Accord 2003

• Key Outputs
• Congress recommendations
• 80 page document containing the key
  recommendations from each of the Congress Streams
• Durban Accord
• 38 page document outlining the key directions and
  actions for the next ten years
• 186 Actions at International, Regional, National
  and Agency level

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Durban Accord -Management Effectiveness

• A key IUCN WCPA objective
• To strengthen capacity and effectiveness of
  protected areas managers, through provision of
  guidance, tools and information and a vehicle for
  networking

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Durban Accord -Management Effectiveness

• Durban Accord
• Outcome 4 There are effectively managed
  protected areas, with reliable reporting on their
  management
• International Action
• Assess globally, through the CBD process, the
  effectiveness of protected area management and
  associated compliance mechanisms..
• National Action
• Establish quantifiable, verifiable and sustained
  monitoring and evaluation systems to chart the
  state of protected areas and their key
  attributes, as developed by WCPA

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Durban Accord -Management Effectiveness

• Protected Area Authority Action
• Support the implementation of monitoring and
  evaluation systems, consistent with the WCPA
  framework for assessing management effectiveness,
  that are sustainable and resource-efficient, and
  that engage other institutions and local
  communities. Use the results to improve all
  aspects of management and to ensure that these
  results are made available to all relevant
  constituencies.

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Management Effectiveness Task Force
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Management Effectiveness Task Force

• WCPA established Task Force
• Management Effectiveness Task Force
• Chaired by a WCPA Vice-Chair
• Representatives from all continents
• Priorities include Strengthening
• Protected Area Management Effectiveness,
• Protected Area Management Categories,
• Integration of Conservation Science (including
  traditional knowledge) in management decisions,
  Tools and Mechanisms, and
• Setting and Maintaining Protected Area standards

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Management Effectiveness Task Force

• Management effectiveness as a priority
• Many protected areas around the world are not
  effectively managed.
• In response, management effectiveness will
  continue as a priority with a focus on improving
  on and learning from past approaches.
• New protocols are needed to evaluate the efficacy
  and effectiveness of management in relation to
  the IUCN Protected Areas Management Categories,
  and to take on board the increased recognition of
  cultural and spiritual factors in the effective
  management of protected areas.
• Information arising from the assessment
  management effectiveness must be better applied
  to on ground management actions and also to guide
  donor support for protected area investment.

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Management Effectiveness Task Force

• Certification as a priority
• Certification may open new opportunities,
  benefits and incentives for protected areas
  management at national and international levels.
  WCPA aims to explore this possibility with the
  full involvement of protected areas agencies and
  key PAs stakeholders. Indicators of management
  quality to assess the potential application of
  methods for certification of protected areas at
  national and international levels will be
  reviewed and applied, as appropriate

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Management Effectiveness Task Force

• Global meetings
• Melbourne 2003
• Durbin 2003
• Publications

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Management Effectiveness Task Force
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State of the Parks
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Parks Victoria
Profile

• Management of 4.1 million hectares of parks
  reserves
• 17 of State of Victoria
• 70 of Victorian coastline
• 73.5 million visitors per year
• 40 million to terrestrial parks and reserves
• 2.7 million to marine national parks
  sanctuaries
• 30.8 million to piers, jetties, bays
• Over 1,000 employees at 120 workcentres
• 75 in regional Victoria
• over half trained in emergency wildfire response
• Annual Budget of 158m
• Capital program of nearly 20m per year
• Parks Reserves Trust 60m per year
• Earned revenue growth through commercial program

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State of the Parks 2005Expanded
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Purpose of SoP

• To report on outcomes of Parks Victorias
  management of the parks network by identifying
  long-term trends in response to 10 year
  directions outlined in the Corporate Plan
• To report on all of Parks Victoria's Key Output
  Groups natural values management, cultural
  values management, visitor services and wildfire
  and other emergency management, and be released
  every five years.

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Background

• Initial SoP report produced in 2000. First in
  Australia.
• Changes from SoP 2000 and second edition
• Links to State of the Environment and State of
  The Forests
• Fits within long-term reporting within PV Output
  Model
• Strong focus on management effectiveness
• Based on world best-practice models (PSR, WCPA)
• Framework reviewed and endorsed by experts in
  State of reports, and PVs independent
  Environment Committee

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What is SoP based on?

• Use of both quantitative and qualitative data
• corporate databases (e.g. EIS, AMS)
• statewide datasets (e.g. Flora Information
  System)
• commissioned reports such as statewide risk
  assessments asset condition reports
• monitoring programs
• staff questionnaire (400 parks 250 staff)
• Review of framework by leading Science Panel

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Management Effectiveness Cycle
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ROLE of SoP in Management
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SCOPE of State of the Parks
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Benefits beyond Boundaries
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How does SoP fit in?

• International / national context
• use of SoP reporting to improve park management
  report to community
• based on world best-practice models (e.g. WCPA)

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• initial SoP report produced in 2000 (1st in
  Australia)
• links to Whole of Government (State of the
  Environment State of the Forests)

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How does SoP evaluate effectiveness?

• outlines medium-long term management objectives
  for each of NVM, CVM, Recreation etc
• establishes a framework of indicators measures
• for the parks network
• summarises trends and activities over a five year
  reporting period
• where possible reports on trends and outcomes
  (e.g. visitor satisfaction trends, impact of
  rabbits)
• highlights information gaps
• summarises progress against management objectives

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Benefits in Australia New Zealand

• Major Commonwealth, NSW Parks, Parks Victoria,
  Parks Forum and University of Queensland State
  of Parks linkage research to establish the
  ongoing benchmarks and standards for Parks
• Precursor for the international benchmark and
  certification system
• Innovative management decision making
• Levels of Service
• Levels of Protection
• Governance Park Risk Management system
• Park Business Excellence Framework Peer Review
• Major funding decisions by Government
• 3 year 100m Infrastructure redevelopment
• First actual landscape scale baseline data for
  climate change impact

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Benefits Beyond our Shores

• Ability to report on the STATE of the key
  biodiversity assets in Australia as required
  under International Treaties through the IUCN
  WCPA

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Questions ? ?
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