Resolutions and Recommendations - International Union … · 3.043 Resource-based conflicts in...

Resolutions and

Recommendations

Resolutions and

Recommendations

World Conservation Congress

Bangkok, Thailand17–25 November 2004

IUCN – The World Conservation Union2005

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Citation: IUCN (2005). Resolutions and Recommendations. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland andCambridge, UK. xii + 135 pp.

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Contents

Forewordby the Chair of the Congress Resolutions Committee

General Statements on the IUCN Motions Process

RESOLUTIONS

3.001 Precedence clause – Establishingprecedence in regard to IUCN generalpolicy

3.002 Improving the transparency of the IUCNCouncil

3.003 Engagement by IUCN with local andregional government authorities

3.004 Ratification and implementation of therevised African Convention

3.005 European policy and biodiversity inoverseas territories

3.006 Protecting the Earth’s waters for publicand ecological benefit

3.007 A moratorium on the further release ofGenetically Modified Organisms (GMOs)

3.008 Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs)and biodiversity

3.009 Establishing gender equity as a mandate inthe strategic activities and themes of IUCN

3.010 HIV/AIDS pandemic and conservation3.011 Addressing the linkages between

conservation, human and animal health,and security

3.012 Governance of natural resources forconservation and sustainable development

3.013 The uses of the IUCN Red List ofThreatened Species

3.014 Poverty reduction, food security andconservation

3.015 Conserving nature and reducing poverty bylinking human rights and the environment

3.016 On the role of conservation organizationsin poverty reduction and development

3.017 Promoting food sovereignty to conservebiodiversity and end hunger

3.018 Mobile peoples and conservation 3.019 Horizontal evaluation of international

conventions, treaties and agreements onthe environment

3.020 Drafting a code of ethics for biodiversityconservation

3.021 International Covenant on Environmentand Development

3.022 Endorsement of the Earth Charter3.023 Providing support for IUCN’s Observer

Status in the United Nations 3.024 The Harold Jefferson Coolidge Medal3.025 Education and communication in the

IUCN programme3.026 Establishment of the World Conservation

Learning Network3.027 Education for sustainable development3.028 Policy on capacity building and

technology transfer3.029 Capacity building of Young Professionals3.030 Capacity building in applied and demand-

driven taxonomy3.031 Cherishing volunteers3.032 Volunteer translators and interpreters to

serve IUCN3.033 Implementation of an IUCN programme

for the Insular Caribbean3.034 Strengthening the action of the

IUCN Centre for MediterraneanCooperation

3.035 Aral Sea Basin as the hot spot forbiodiversity conservation

3.036 Antarctica and the Southern Ocean3.037 Arctic legal regime for environmental

protection3.038 Conservation and sustainable

development of mountain regions3.039 The Mediterranean mountain partnership3.040 Transboundary cooperation in mountain

areas3.041 Protection of the Macal River Valley in

Belize 3.042 Biodiversity in Southern Sudan

3.043 Resource-based conflicts in Darfur, Sudan3.044 The Haitian environmental crisis3.045 Ganges, Brahmaputra and Meghna Rivers

Commission3.046 Conservation in regions in violent conflict

of West Asia – strengthening IUCN’spresence to protect the natural and humanenvironment

3.047 Durban Action Plan and CBD Programmeof Work on Protected Areas

3.048 IUCN Guidelines for protected areamanagement categories

3.049 Community Conserved Areas3.050 Integrating protected area systems into the

wider landscape3.051 Freshwater protected areas3.052 Protected areas in the Mediterranean3.053 Protection of Chile’s first Ramsar site,

threatened by a cellulose factory3.054 Threats from Olympic Games and other

major sporting events to protected areasand biodiversity

3.055 Indigenous peoples, protected areas andthe CBD Programme of Work

3.056 Indigenous peoples living in voluntaryisolation and conservation of nature in theAmazon region and Chaco

3.057 Adapting to climate change: a frameworkfor conservation action

3.058 Military activities and the production,stockpiling and use of weapons that are ofdetriment to the environment

3.059 IUCN’s energy-related work relevant tobiodiversity conservation

3.060 Influencing private sector actions infavour of biodiversity

3.061 IUCN’s interaction with the private sector3.062 The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment3.063 Cities and conservation3.064 Conservation and sustainable management

of high-seas biodiversity

3.065 A landscape/seascape approach toconservation

3.066 The protection of seamounts, deep-seacorals and other vulnerable deep-seahabitats from destructive fishing practices,including bottom trawling, on the highseas

3.067 Strengthening stakeholder participation infisheries management

3.068 Undersea noise pollution3.069 Status of floating atomic power stations in

the world’s oceans3.070 Environmental protection of the

Mediterranean Sea from the risk ofmaritime traffic

3.071 International cooperation on forestmanagement

3.072 Legal aspects of the sustainable use ofsoils

3.073 Conservation of medicinal plants3.074 Implementing the Addis Ababa Principles

and Guidelines for the Sustainable Use ofBiodiversity

3.075 Applying the Precautionary Principle inenvironmental decision-making andmanagement

3.076 Illegal and unsustainable internationaltrade in the Association of SoutheastAsian Nations (ASEAN) and Mekongriver riparian states

3.077 Urgent measures to secure the survival ofthe critically endangered Western GrayWhale Eschrichtius robustus

3.078 Sturgeon (Acipenseriformes) conservationwithin the Caspian, and Azov and BlackSea Basins

3.079 Conservation of Gyps species of vulturesin South and Southeast Asia

3.080 Vote of thanks to the host country

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3.081 Implementation of Principle 10 by buildingcomprehensive good governance systems

3.082 The Extractive Industries Review3.083 Improving capacity to achieve sustainable

development and address the consequencesof globalization

3.084 Ratification of the Kyoto Protocol to theUnited Nations Framework Convention onClimate Change

3.085 Principles of knowledge sharing of theConservation Commons

3.086 Coordination of sustainable developmentprogrammes for energy

3.087 Financial institutions and the WorldCommission on Dams recommendations

3.088 Support for the ‘Ban Amendment’ to theBasel Convention on the Control ofTransboundary Movements of HazardousWastes and their Disposal

3.089 Humane trapping standards3.090 Implementation of the European Strategy

on Invasive Alien Species3.091 Fulfilling the right to optional use of the

official languages in the internal andexternal communication documents ofIUCN and its members

3.092 Conservation and sustainable use of seals3.093 Application of the IUCN Sustainable Use

Policy to sustainable consumptive use ofwildlife and recreational hunting insouthern Africa

3.094 Management of large terrestrial herbivoresin southern Africa

3.095 Nomination of large-scale multi-state serialWorld Heritage Routes

3.096 Inclusion of the Mont Blanc massif inUNESCO’s World Heritage List

3.097 Conservation of the Wetland Corridor ofthe Fluvial Littoral, Argentina

3.098 Conservation and sustainable managementof high-seas biodiversity

3.099 The protection of seamounts, deep-seacorals and other vulnerable deep-seahabitats from destructive fishing practices,including bottom trawling, on the high seas

3.100 Reef-fish spawning aggregations3.101 Advancing boreal forest conservation 3.102 Conservation of Mediterranean-type

ecosystems3.103 The Biosphere Reserve of the Chaco and

indigenous peoples3.104 Consolidation of a national system of

protected areas in the Dominican Republic3.105 Conservation of the Cantábrico-Burgalesa

mountain range3.106 Mitigation of the environmental impacts of

the ‘Plan Puebla Panama’ andstrengthening of protected areas adjacent tonew road sections and other infrastructureworks

3.107 Threats to the Danube Biosphere Reserve 3.108 Great Barrier Reef3.109 Transboundary protected areas in Southeast

Asia3.110 Promoting responsible management of

water resources in the Mekong Region3.111 Impact of roads and other infrastructure

through the ecosystems of Darién3.112 Establishing a marine protected area for

Blue Whale Balaenoptera musculus in thegulf of Corcovado, Chile

3.113 Conservation of Saiga Antelope Saigatatarica tatarica and Saiga tataricamongolica

3.114 Conservation of Dugong Dugong dugon,Okinawa Woodpecker Sapheopiponoguchii, and Okinawa Rail Gallirallusokinawae in Japan

3.115 Protection of the Great Indian BustardArdeotis nigriceps

3.116 Shark finning3.117 Conservation of the Bandula Barb Puntius

bandula in Sri Lanka3.118 Continued prohibition of shahtoosh

production and trade

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RECOMMENDATIONS

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It is with pleasure that I forward to IUCN’s members and other interested parties the Resolutions and Recom-mendations adopted at the Members Business Assembly at the 3rd IUCN World Conservation Congress. They,along with the Intersessional Programme, financial plan and Commission mandates, provide the Union with aframework to be more effective in pursuing our mission – and the key targets of the Millennium DevelopmentGoals. The table below provides a tally of the number of motions received, considered and adopted. It is note-worthy that the number of motions considered and adopted represents a 30 percent increase over the AmmanCongress; 25 percent more motions were discussed by contact groups and considered in Plenary – in a thirdless time than we had in Amman.

The Resolutions process remains a central element of IUCN’s governance system. It is a very important meansby which members can influence future directions in the conservation community; convey their priorities forimplementing IUCN’s intersessional programme; and seek international support and/or recognition of conser-vation issues. I would therefore like to call on members to give priority attention to following up on the Res-olutions and Recommendations which they adopted.

While the manner motions were received, reviewed and screened by the Resolutions Working Group and theprocedures followed at the Congress were improved, we have reached the upper limit of the number of motionsthat can be handled equitably and fairly at a sitting of the Congress. There is a need to consider how the processcan be further refined for future sittings of the Members Business Assembly.

In closing, I wish to convey my gratitude to the members of the Resolutions Committee and the Secretariat Sup-port Team who are listed opposite for the extraordinary support and service they provided before and during theCongress. I wish also to express my sincere thanks to the numerous contact group facilitators who volunteeredto guide the discussions. The success achieved is in large part due to their efforts on behalf of IUCN’s member-ship but was made possible only through the very constructive participation of the members themselves.

Pierre Hunkeler, ChairBangkok Congress Resolutions Committee

Foreword

Number of motions considered and adopted at Bangkok

Status of motions at stages in the process NumberDraft motions submitted before the Congress 127Draft motions consolidated with other motions by the Resolutions Working Group, or rejected -13Total approved motions forwarded for consideration at the Congress 114New motions submitted at the Congress +17Total of motions managed at Congress 131New motions not meeting sponsorship or rejected by Resolutions Committee -6Motions withdrawn at the Congress -3 Motions consolidated with other motions -2Total motions put to the vote 120Motions not approved -2Total adopted: 80 Resolutions and 38 Recommendations 118

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Bangkok Congress Resolutions CommitteePuri Canals, SpainGeorge Greene, CanadaPierre Hunkeler, Switzerland (Chair)Isaac Malasha, ZimbabweAroha Mead, New ZealandChristine Milne, AustraliaGabriel Robles, Costa RicaAlexey Yablokov, Russia

Bangkok Congress Secretariat Resolutions Support TeamSteve Edwards, Team LeadFrederik Schutyser, Deputy Team LeadDorothy Bright, Administrative Support CoordinatorNathan Murith, Data management

Motions managersMireille Atallah (volunteer)Charles Besançon (volunteer)Consuelo Espinosa Mariano Gimenez-Dixon Bryan Hugill Angella Langat Iméne Meliane Sonia MorenoDiego Ruiz Rami Salman Chucri Sayegh Maria Socorro Manguiat Wendy StrahmSebastian Winkler Shiranee YasaratneTomme Young

Text managersRichard Forrest (volunteer)Cécile GorgeratBelén RoblesGeorge SadiqMarianela Cedeno Bonilla

Help DeskMegan CartinCharmaine FernandesAdissa KouraogoVeronica Moreno RiofrioFlorence Njiriri

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Statement of the Dutch Government, on behalf of the EU, on the IUCN Motions Process

The following statement for the record was provided by The Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Qual-ity, The Netherlands, speaking on behalf of the European Union, during the 35th Sitting of Congress on 24November 2004:

The European Union strongly supports the work of IUCN and welcomes this opportunity to discuss a broadrange of issues concerning biodiversity and the natural environment. We support the majority of the motions.However, the European Union feels that the process of discussion and adoption of motions during this Congressresults in decisions that are not always based on a balanced consideration of all relevant views and positions.

An example is the motion on a moratorium on GMOs. This moratorium is not supported by the EU. The EUbelieves that decisions on GMO approval must be taken in a case-by-case fashion on the basis of a risk assess-ment, and taking into account the precautionary principle. Risk management measures taken by decision mak-ers, while based on risk assessments, must also take into account all other relevant considerations, such ashuman health and environment. This is the approach chosen by European Union law and by the CartagenaProtocol on Biosafety.

Other motions seem not to recognise that IUCN’s mission is primarily linked to biodiversity. For instance, theEU believes that the commitment to alleviate global poverty is extremely important and should be integratedin IUCN’s work to conserve biodiversity. However, it should not be the other way round.

The EU State Members believe that future congresses should hold focused discussions on the implementationof the global programme of IUCN in order to promote further involvement of the members in its implementa-tion and to provide for the integration of the motions into the programme.

Statement of the Swedish Government on the IUCN Motions Process

The following formal statement for the record was provided by the delegation of the State member Swedenduring the 37th Sitting of Congress on 25 November 2004:

Sweden has abstained from voting on motions that concern regional or local issues, or in cases where theSwedish Government lacks information and knowledge to assess the proposed motion. This concerns the fol-lowing motions:

Resolutions RESWCC3.004, 005, 014, 024, 035, 039, 041, 042, 043, 044, 045, 046, 053, 056, 070, 076, 079.

Recommendations RECWCC3.093, 094, 096, 097, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 109, 110, 111, 112, 115, 117.

Sweden would suggest that the Council considers, in consultation with the Secretariat, measures to streamlineand make more effective the motions process at the next World Conservation Congress with regard to motionsthat relate solely to local or regional matters.

Statement of the US Government on the IUCN Motions Process

The following formal statement for the record was provided by the delegation of the State member UnitedStates during the 32nd Sitting of Congress on 22 November 2004:

General Statements on the IUCN Motions Process

“The United States recognizes the importance of the motions process, which is a major feature of the WorldConservation Congress.

We are very interested in the perspectives and priorities of IUCN members, particularly NGOs, as reflected inthe 100-plus motions put forward for consideration by this Congress. We recognize that IUCN as an organi-zation has an important contribution to make to the international environmental dialogue.

Since Amman 2000, we have continued to reflect on how best we, as a State member, can participate in thismotions process. Because of the high priority we place on IUCN’s programs which contribute significantly toconservation goals we share, we have concluded that, in keeping with our approach at the last Congress, weshould focus our attention on those motions that deal with IUCN institutional, governance and broad pro-grammatic issues.

We found the new procedures of screening motions to avoid duplication and repetition to be a valuable andwelcome approach and applaud the Resolutions Committee, particularly its Chair, and the IUCN secretariatfor their efforts. We greatly appreciate the outstanding efforts made by the Resolutions Committee to reviewand provide guidance on all motions and to identify their relevance to the proposed IUCN Quadrennial Pro-gram and their cost implications.

As the Resolutions Committee indicates, a number of motions would require a significant shift in priorities,resources and funding allocations within the Quadrennial Program. This raises the central issue of how themotions process fits into the ongoing process of formulating the Quadrennial Program, which we are to final-ize during this Congress. We appreciate the efforts made to ensure that we do not allow the tail to wag the dog.

We would note, however, that a number of motions reflect the strong views of a few members on what actionsState members should take nationally, regionally or internationally on complex and often controversial issues.

We remain convinced that there are some types of resolutions on which it may not be appropriate for us, as agovernment, to engage or negotiate.

Among these is a large group of motions directed primarily to a single government or group of governments onnational, bilateral or regional issues. We often lack sufficient factual information about such issues and believethat responses to these motions are best left to the country or countries affected. We will not take a position asa government on such motions, except as they have direct implications for the US Government. In such instances,we may provide a statement for the record to help clarify the issues raised and provide our perspective.

A second group of motions are those focused on global issues that we agree are important but that are topicsof ongoing international policy debate in other fora, such as climate change, genetically modified organisms(GMOs) and undersea noise. We respect the interest of members in issues of global concern and we share manyof these interests, especially on emerging issues such as the importance of complex major river systems, suchas the Mekong, and the illegal trade in wildlife. However we do not intend to take national government posi-tions on the particular views presented in motions here or to vote on the outcome.

The positions taken by the United States on specific Resolutions and Recommendations are recorded after therelevant texts.

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3.001 Precedence clause –Establishing precedence inregard to IUCN generalpolicy

NOTING that IUCN was established in 1948 andsubsequently its members have convened 19 ses-sions of the General Assembly and three sessions ofthe World Conservation Congress;

NOTING ALSO that, in total, 788 Resolutions andRecommendations have been adopted by the mem-bers at these sessions of the General Assembly andthe World Conservation Congress;

OBSERVING with approval the establishment bythe IUCN Director General of an electronic data-base that includes all previous Resolutions and Rec-ommendations;

ACKNOWLEDGING that the World ConservationCongress, and by implication the predecessor Gen-eral Assembly, is “the highest organ of IUCN” as setforth in Article 18 of the Statutes, and as such hasthe responsibility “…to define the general policy ofIUCN…”, as set forth in Article 20(a) of theStatutes;

THEREFORE NOTING that the World Conserva-tion Congress is the general policy-setting bodywithin the Union;

NOTING FURTHER that the role of IUCN’s Coun-cil as provided for by Article 46(a) of the Statutes is“to give rulings on policy and to determine comple-mentary policy guidelines” within the general pol-icy of IUCN as adopted by the General Assemblyand World Conservation Congress;

NOTING ALSO that the IUCN Director General is“responsible for implementation of policy and theprogramme of IUCN as established by the WorldCongress and the Council” according to Article79(b) of the Statutes and that he/she is “authorized

to issue statements in the name of IUCN” accordingto Article 79(e) of the Statutes;

RECOGNIZING that through the succession of ses-sions of the General Assembly and World Conser-vation Congress, there are several instances inwhich Resolutions or Recommendations are incon-sistent, and even contradictory, on particular issues;

RECOGNIZING FURTHER that there has been nomechanism to rescind previously adopted Resolu-tions or Recommendations that were inconsistentwith positions subsequently adopted at a GeneralAssembly or World Conservation Congress; and

ACKNOWLEDGING THEREFORE the need toprovide clarity to Council and the IUCN DirectorGeneral in their roles, as well as the members, ininterpreting IUCN policy in those instances wherethe body of adopted Resolutions or Recommenda-tions is contradictory on an issue;

The World Conservation Congress at its 3rd Ses-sion in Bangkok, Thailand, 17–25 November2004:

1. AGREES that in those cases where Resolu-tions or Recommendations are inconsistent onan issue, the most recent Resolution or Rec-ommendation be accepted as providing thebasis for interpretation of IUCN policy on thematter;

2. CALLS on the IUCN Council and the IUCNDirector General, and the components of theUnion, to adopt this approach in interpretingIUCN’s policy position on matters; and

3. URGES, to the extent practicable, sponsors ofall motions submitted for consideration at theWorld Conservation Congress to expresslyprovide for the rescission of previouslyadopted Resolutions or Recommendations thatare inconsistent with the motion forwarded forconsideration.

World Conservation Congress / Bangkok, Thailand 17–25 November 2004

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RESOLUTIONS

3.002 Improving thetransparency of the IUCNCouncil

RECOGNIZING that the IUCN Council is electedby the members at each World Conservation Con-gress and that the Council is subject to the authorityof the World Congress (IUCN Statutes, Article 37);

FURTHER RECOGNIZING that Article 37 of theIUCN Statutes also states, “Subject to the authorityof the World Congress, the Council shall haveresponsibility for the oversight and general controlof all the affairs of IUCN”;

NOTING that Article 58 of the IUCN Statutesstates, “The work of the Council shall be conductedwith transparency. The minutes shall be available tothe members of IUCN and a report on decisionsshall be communicated to them”;

ALSO NOTING that Article 50 of the Regulationsstates only that, “Notice of ordinary meetings of theCouncil, with draft agenda, shall be circulated tothose entitled to be present at least forty-five days inadvance of the meeting”;

CONCERNED that the work of the Council, includ-ing draft agendas, materials and recommendationsprepared by the Secretariat, reports of decisions, andminutes are not readily available for members;

NOTING that the current Regulations do not pro-vide for a timely dissemination of agendas, docu-ments and minutes of Council meetings; and

CONCLUDING that in its oversight and generalcontrol of the affairs of IUCN, the work of theIUCN Council should be more transparent to themembers of IUCN to whom it is responsible;


1. RECOGNIZES the importance of transparencyof Council deliberations and decisions;

2. CALLS UPON the Council to establish firmprocedures to improve transparency, including,but not limited to, the following:

(a) informing IUCN members of issues to bedealt with by the Council; and

(b) making decisions and minutes of theCouncil available to IUCN members in atimely and specified way, such as by post-ing them on the web; and

3. REQUESTS the Council to consider the possi-bility of practical and equitable access toCouncil meetings by IUCN members.

The Department of State, United States, providedthe following statement for the record:

State and agency members United States abstainedduring the vote on this motion.

3.003 Engagement by IUCN withlocal and regionalgovernment authorities

CONSIDERING that, in many countries, the trans-fer of competences in the field of the environmentand nature conservation has been, or shall be, madein part to the benefit of local and regional govern-ment authorities;

CONSIDERING FURTHER that local and regionalgovernment authorities conduct or support manynature conservation activities and that they must beencouraged to pursue and improve this course ofaction;

NOTING that many authorities have committedthemselves more widely to sustainable development(e.g. Local Agenda 21, participation in the WorldSummit on Sustainable Development, decentralizedcooperation activities);

CONSIDERING that, in their capacity as theadministrative level closest to citizens, local andregional government authorities play an importantrole in encouraging society as a whole to protect theenvironment;

NOTING that IUCN brings together states, govern-mental agencies and non-governmental organiza-tions on the issue of nature conservation;

Resolutions and Recommendations

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HIGHLIGHTING the conclusions of the Vth IUCNWorld Parks Congress (Durban, 2003) requestingimproved governance and greater involvement oflocal communities for protected areas; and

CONSIDERING that IUCN must bring together allpotential parties in conservation and encourage allnature conservation policies, particularly thoseimplemented at the local level;


CALLS UPON the IUCN Council to examine andreport to members on methods by which IUCN canbetter engage with local and regional governmentauthorities.

3.004 Ratification andimplementation of therevised African Convention

RECALLING Resolution 16.10 Regional Conven-tions of the 16th IUCN General Assembly (Madrid,1984) and Recommendation 1.83 Forest Ecosys-tems of Africa of the 1st IUCN World ConservationCongress (Montreal, 1996);

NOTING the 1968 African Convention on the Con-servation of Nature and Natural Resources (AlgiersConvention), which was drafted with support fromIUCN and which, at the time of its adoption, wasrecognized as one of the most modern legal instru-ments for the conservation of the environment;

COMMENDING the Governments of Algeria,Burkina Faso, Cameroon and Nigeria for their ini-tiative to bring about the revision of the Convention;

FURTHER COMMENDING the Commission ofthe African Union (formerly the Organization ofAfrican Unity), the United Nations EnvironmentProgramme and IUCN for their endeavour inupdating the text of the 1968 African Conventionin order to take into account recent developmentsin the African environment and natural resourcesspheres, while bringing the Convention to the fore-front of current multilateral environmental agree-ments; and

WELCOMING the decision of the Assembly ofHeads of State and Government of the AfricanUnion held at Maputo, Mozambique, 10–12July 2003, to approve the revised 1968 AfricanConvention;


1. URGES African states, as far as they have notyet done so, to sign and ratify the revisedAfrican Convention in order to bring it intoforce as early as possible; and

2. REQUESTS the IUCN Director General to:

(a) assist the Chairperson of the Commissionof the African Union to take all necessarymeasures to raise awareness and under-standing of the revised Convention inorder to facilitate its implementation; and

(b) transmit IUCN’s readiness to answer thecall of the African Union to collaboratewith the Commission, the African Minis-terial Conference on Environment(AMCEN), the New Partnership forAfrica’s Development (NEPAD) andMember States of the African Union toensure the effective implementation ofthe Convention.

State member Sweden abstained from voting on thismotion for reasons given in the Swedish Govern-ment’s general statement on the motions process(see page x).


State and agency members United States refrainedfrom engaging in deliberations on this motion andtook no national government position on the motionas adopted for reasons given in the US GeneralStatement on the IUCN Resolution Process.


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3.005 European policy andbiodiversity in overseasterritories

NOTING that the European overseas territories arehome to biodiversity of worldwide importance,vastly superior to that of continental Europe as awhole;

RECALLING that European overseas territoriesare composed of seven Ultra-Peripheral Regions(UPRs) that are an integral part of the EuropeanUnion, and of 21 Overseas Countries and Territo-ries (OCTs) that benefit from a system of closeassociation;

FURTHER RECALLING that the European Unioncooperates with 78 independent states known as theAfrican, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) States, oftenlocated in the same parts of the world as the UPRsand OCTs;

IDENTIFYING therefore seven priority areas ofaction for knowledge and sustainable managementof biodiversity, namely: Macaronesia, theCaribbean, the Guyana Shield, the Indian Ocean,the South Pacific, the South Atlantic, and sub-Antarctic islands;

NOTING that Macaronesia is the only one of theseven areas to benefit from a specific European pol-icy in favour of biodiversity;

RECALLING that in June 2001, the European Sum-mit in Gothenburg made a solemn pledge to halt theloss of biological diversity before 2010;

UNDERLINING the need to pursue a specific Euro-pean policy on biodiversity in the four FrenchUPRs, in particular because the European UnionBirds and Habitats Directives are not applied there,a situation which goes against the spirit of cohesionof the European Union;

UNDERLINING ALSO the need to pursue a spe-cific European policy on biodiversity in the OCTs;

UNDERLINING FURTHER the need to give moreconsideration to biodiversity in overseas territoriesin the European Union’s Framework Programmesfor Research and Technological Development;

STRESSING that development policies supportedby the European Union in the European overseasterritories should make sufficient provision for thespecific richness and fragility of those territories;

APPROVING the efforts made to improve regionalcooperation between UPRs, OCTs and ACP coun-tries in the same geographical area, through jointmobilization of their respective financial systems;

DRAWING ON the common interest of IUCNNational Committees in France, The Netherlandsand the United Kingdom, expressed in Brussels on19th May 2004, and on the results of the Conferenceon Biodiversity and the EU held in Malahide, Ire-land, in May 2004; and

NOTING also that under the reform process theinstruments for external cooperation will be rede-fined under the European Union financial perspec-tives for 2007–2013;


1. INVITES European Union institutions, France,The Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and thelocal authorities of the UPRs and OCTs to:

(a) recognize and integrate in their policiesthe global importance of biodiversity inthe French UPRs and the OCTs of thethree countries concerned;

(b) adopt a regime or scheme for the protectionand management of important biodiversityareas in the UPRs not covered by the Euro-pean Union Birds and Habitats Directives,including sufficient financial support;

(c) ensure that under the European Union’snew financial perspectives adequateattention is given to environment and bio-diversity in the OCTs;

(d) improve consideration of biodiversity inoverseas territories in European researchand to strengthen the ability of theUPRs and OCTs to work together onthis subject;


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(e) apply strict environmental conditions andprocedures, taking account of the specificfragility of the European overseas territo-ries, which are often islands with highlevels of endemism;

(f) encourage regional cooperation on biodi-versity between the UPRs and OCTs,including neighbouring African, Carib-bean and Pacific (ACP) countries when-ever possible;

(g) develop and implement an action plan forbiodiversity conservation with ACP coun-tries in each of the following areas of pri-ority action: the Caribbean, the GuyanaShield, the Indian Ocean, the SouthPacific, the South Atlantic and the sub-Antarctic islands, to encourage, amongother things, the coherent regional use ofthe different European funds;

(h) involve non-governmental organizationsfully in the definition and implementationof these proposals, and to improve theiraccess to European funds, namely byfacilitating administrative and financialprocedures; and

(i) support and contribute to the implementa-tion of the above proposals, with the nec-essary financial means; and

2. CALLS ON the IUCN Director General tosupport the work of the IUCN National Com-mittees concerned, with the support of theIUCN Regional Office for Europe, in order topromote these proposals with the states con-cerned and the European Union institutions.




3.006 Protecting the Earth’swaters for public andecological benefit

RECOGNIZING that water is fundamental for lifeand a finite natural resource which belongs to theEarth and all species for all time;

AWARE that readily available freshwater representsless than one-half of one percent of the world’s totalwater stock;

CONCERNED that many countries currently facesevere water shortages;

ALARMED that unsustainable practices lead todepletion of aquifers, falling water tables, and pol-lution of ground and surface water;

RECOGNIZING the assertion of customary rightsby indigenous and local communities over the man-agement of their water resources; and

TROUBLED, however, that some indigenous andlocal communities have had the waters on whichthey depend polluted and exploited;


CALLS ON the IUCN Director General and thegovernmental and non-governmental members ofIUCN to promote actions consistent with the fol-lowing principles:

(a) all water resources, including the oceans, mustbe protected as a public trust so that use ofwater does not diminish their public or ecolog-ical benefits;

(b) as access to clean, sufficient and affordabledrinking water is necessary for human healthand survival, government policies and interna-tional agencies should ensure access to safeand adequate quantities of water resources forall people and wildlife on the planet and ensurethe sustainability of these resources;

(c) all members of society, including local civilsociety organizations, citizens’ associations,


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environmental groups, indigenous and localcommunities, farmers, women, workers andothers, should be afforded the opportunity formeaningful participation in decisions about theconservation, protection, distribution, use, andmanagement of water in their communities,localities, and regions;

(d) an ecosystem approach must be central tonational and transboundary governance struc-tures related to water resource management; and

(e) governments should ensure that multilateral,regional or bilateral trade and investmentagreements preserve the ability of govern-ments to protect water for people and nature.



3.007 A moratorium on thefurther release ofGenetically ModifiedOrganisms (GMOs)

RECALLING that the IUCN Intersessional Pro-gramme Framework adopted at the 2nd IUCN WorldConservation Congress (Amman, 2000) included arequest to play a major role in identifying anddefining issues that affect biodiversity and thatattention be paid to environmental impacts ofbiotechnology;

APPRECIATING that Resolution 2.31 GeneticallyModified Organisms and biodiversity, which wasadopted at the 2nd IUCN World Conservation Con-gress (Amman, 2000), noted two key concernsregarding GMOs, namely:

(a) the potential for significant reduction or loss ofbiodiversity as a result of releases of GMOsinto the environment; and

(b) the potential role of GMOs in “achievingglobal food security” which it notes “have notbeen adequately demonstrated so far”;

NOTING that there has been introduction and pro-motion of GMO products worldwide, especially indeveloping countries, with inadequate controls ontheir entry into national or regional markets, andthat there is growing concern over their safety forbiodiversity, human and animal health;

AWARE that the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafetyhas incorporated the precautionary approach, as setout in Principle 15 of the Rio Declaration on Envi-ronment and Development, in determining riskmanagement as to what is an acceptable level ofrisk;

OBSERVING that GMO introduction and promo-tion are driven primarily by the private sector,whose interests in development and marketing maybe greater than in assessing potential risks to biodi-versity or to human and animal health;

AWARE of the broad public concern about GMOsand their potential risks to biodiversity, human andanimal health; and

WELCOMING the Key Result Areas in the IUCNIntersessional Programme 2005–2008, which takeinto consideration the impact of GMOs on biodiver-sity, such as calling upon key private sector compa-nies to integrate biodiversity into their corporatesocial responsibilities and actions;


1. CALLS for a moratorium on further environ-mental releases of GMOs until these can bedemonstrated to be safe for biodiversity, andfor human and animal health, beyond reason-able doubt;

2. REQUESTS IUCN to promote informationand communication on GMOs, especially indeveloping countries, and to support initiativesto ratify and implement the Cartagena Protocolon Biosafety; and

3. URGES the IUCN Director General to compileand disseminate within one year from theadoption of this resolution a report on currentknowledge of the dispersal and impacts ofGMOs on biodiversity and human health.


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The delegations of Japan, The Netherlands andSweden indicated that they were unable to supportthis Resolution.


State and agency members United States refrainedfrom engaging in deliberations on this motion andtook no national government position on themotion as adopted for reasons given in the USGeneral Statement on the IUCN ResolutionProcess.

The Ministry of Environment, Sweden, provided thefollowing statement for the record:

Sweden is supportive of much of the sentiment ofthis Resolution. However, we cannot support thecall for a moratorium on the release of GMOs. Ourregulation is strict and we assess the environmentalimpact on a case-by-case basis.

3.008 Genetically ModifiedOrganisms (GMOs) andbiodiversity

WHEREAS there is widespread concern andincreasing controversy concerning the effects onbiodiversity of GMOs;

RECOGNIZING the consequent importance ofimplementing the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety,and applying the precautionary approach as set outin Principle 15 of the Rio Declaration on Environ-ment and Development and as reflected in the Carta-gena Protocol on Biosafety and in numerous inter-national treaties;

CONCERNED that current developments in GMOsas applied to agriculture, could affect the wholefood chain and its associated ecosystems, andthereby potentially threaten biodiversity;

APPRECIATING the potential IUCN sees inorganic and other forms of agriculture, in which theuse of GMOs is incompatible with the principles ofsuch forms of agriculture and therefore forbidden,and that IUCN is seeking ways to conserve biodi-versity while expanding production;

RECALLING Resolution 2.31 Genetically Modi-fied Organisms and biodiversity adopted by the 2nd

IUCN World Conservation Congress (Amman,2000), that among other things requests the IUCNDirector General to propose to Council options foran IUCN contribution that will advance leadership,research, analysis, and the dissemination of knowl-edge regarding the potential environmental impactof the release of GMOs into the environment, focus-ing especially on biodiversity, socio-economicimpact, and food security;

APPRECIATING the work IUCN has undertaken tosupport the implementation of the Cartagena Proto-col on Biosafety;

NOTING the approval by IUCN’s Council, at its58th Meeting, held on 2–4 June 2004, of the back-ground paper on Biosafety and Genetically ModifiedOrganisms; and

CONCERNED about the lack of knowledge andinformation development on the co-existence ofGMOs with biodiversity and ecosystems;


1. CALLS UPON the IUCN Director General, inthe context of Key Result Areas 4 and 5 of theIUCN Intersessional Programme 2005–2008,to undertake substantive work, within reason-able time and within reasonable resources, todevelop credible knowledge and informationconcerning biodiversity, nature conservationand associated risks of GMOs, based on theexisting IUCN background paper;

2. CALLS UPON IUCN’s Council to develop aplan of action, including reasonable resources,to guide IUCN members on biodiversity andnature conservation in relation to GMOs; and

3. REQUESTS IUCN to promote and support ini-tiatives to ratify and implement the CartagenaProtocol on Biosafety.

The Ministry of Environment, Seychelles, providedthe following statement for the record:

This motion is calling for a moratorium to be placedon the use of GMOs until its safe nature can be


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ascertained. We do not support this motion, eventhough it has been approved. First it is contrary tothe Cartagena Protocol which Seychelles is a partyto. The safe nature of GMOs is unlikely to be estab-lished anytime soon. In the meantime, useful valuesof GMOs, especially in the medical field will beignored.

The Ministry of Environment, Sweden, provided thefollowing statement for the record:

We are in support of the IUCN working to integratefood related issues in biodiversity conservation, but[this Resolution] is drafted in such a way that itwould mean IUCN starts to work with food safetyissues in general, which goes beyond its mandateand experience.



3.009 Establishing gender equityas a mandate in thestrategic activities andthemes of IUCN

CONSIDERING that during the conferences, meet-ings, forums, congresses and summits which havetaken place on the subject of environment anddevelopment over the last 15 years (e.g. Conventionon the Elimination of All Forms of Discriminationagainst Women, Agenda 21, World Water Forum IIand III, World Summit on Sustainable Development(WSSD), Beijing Platform for Action, the Millen-nium Development Goals) the relevance and impactof gender equity on the use, management and con-servation of natural resources, environmental man-agement and sustainable human development plan-ning have become apparent, and it is clear that thegender and environment issue is now one of the pri-ority issues on the international agenda;

REMEMBERING that during the 1st and 2nd IUCNWorld Conservation Congresses (Montreal, 1996;

Amman, 2000), resolutions were passed with a viewto incorporating the gender perspective into thework of IUCN, and that IUCN currently has a gen-der equity policy, endorsed by the Council in 1998,and has experience, takes a leading role and influ-ences public policy in this respect;

RECOGNIZING that the Union, in recent years, hasbegun to make substantial efforts to incorporate thegender perspective into the way it operates as aninstitution, but that these initiatives do not yet com-ply fully with the standards set in the institution’sgender policy and the mandates issued by the Mem-bers Business Assembly at previous World Conser-vation Congresses;

REAFFIRMING the vital importance of the genderapproach for the Mesoamerican region and for therest of the world, and the fundamental role it playsin the formulation, planning, execution and moni-toring of development policies and projects forlocal, national and regional progress, in the man-agement and preservation of natural resources andin the restoration of degraded environments, in thecreation of sustainable and ecologically viable pro-duction and consumption methods, and in the pro-tection and creation of healthy living environments;

CONSIDERING the support for an initiative toinclude the gender approach as part of a Uniondirective at the VIth Mesoamerican Members’Forum, held in El Zamorano, Honduras, from 27July to 1 August 2003; and

WELCOMING the Mesoamerican initiative toincorporate the gender-equity approach into allstrategic matters dealt with by IUCN;


1. REQUESTS the IUCN Director General andIUCN Commissions to promote actions toensure that, in the implementation of the IUCNIntersessional Programme 2005–2008, genderequity is explicitly included as an imperative inthe annual plans of programmes, initiativesand projects carried out by IUCN;

2. REQUESTS the IUCN Director General andCommissions to include the gender approach


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as an obligatory matter in all forums, work-shops and meetings promoted or organized byIUCN; and

3. REQUESTS the Director General to allocatespecific and additional funding to ensure thepresence of a representative percentage ofwomen (as representatives of partners, mem-bers, Commissions and the Secretariat) in allforums, workshops and meetings promoted ororganized by IUCN, as a means to ensure theincorporation of the issue of gender equity intothe actions to be carried out in the next fouryears as part of the IUCN Intersessional Pro-gramme 2005–2008.

3.010 HIV/AIDS pandemic andconservation

NOTING that AIDS (Acquired Immune DeficiencySyndrome) is the late stage of infection caused byHuman Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), commonlyreferred to as HIV/AIDS;

FURTHER NOTING that over 8,000 people dieevery day of AIDS-related complications, most ofthem in sub-Saharan Africa, and that there are over39.4 million people worldwide living with AIDS;

RECOGNIZING that HIV/AIDS is a pandemic,which is seriously affecting conservation success inAfrica, and is likely to have devastating impacts innext-wave countries in Eastern Europe, Asia and theCaribbean;

FURTHER NOTING that HIV/AIDS is reducingthe biodiversity management capacities of conser-vation organizations including protected area staff,and local communities and mobile peoples, and thatas AIDS-affected households lose salary earners andcapacity for heavy agricultural labour, they turnincreasingly to natural resources as a safety net,often resulting in unsustainable use of naturalresources and greater poverty;

RECOGNIZING the multiple roles of women innatural resources management, given that in mosthouseholds agricultural production is the responsi-bility of women and girls, and that most womenand girls are disproportionately vulnerable to HIV

infection and are also called upon to provide themajority of care and support;

RECALLING the commitment of world leaders in2000 to the Millennium Development Goal of com-bating HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases, andthe listing of the HIV/AIDS Pandemic and Conser-vation as Emerging Issue 11 at the Vth IUCN WorldParks Congress (Durban, 2003) in recognition thatthe pandemic impacts IUCN’s Mission and thebroader mission of the conservation community;and

AWARE of the need to acknowledge the problem,to work to understand conservation impacts better,and to take action to mitigate impacts in affectedcountries;


1. RECOMMENDS that actions needing to betaken by the conservation community, in col-laboration with other sectors, including healthand agriculture, as appropriate, include:

(a) promoting HIV/AIDS awareness and pre-vention among conservation organizationstaff and communities;

(b) developing HIV/AIDS policies and pro-cedures in conservation organizations inline with the ten institutional principlesrecommended by the InternationalLabour Organization (ILO); and

(c) finding solutions to relieve unsustainableharvesting (e.g. through non-labour-intensive micro-enterprise to supportcommunity livelihoods); and

2. REQUESTS the IUCN Director General towork with the members of IUCN to:

(a) play a leadership role in highlighting theimpact of the HIV/AIDS pandemic onbiodiversity and natural resources;

(b) encourage the development of institu-tional human-resources policies to reduceHIV/AIDS impacts;


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(c) further encourage integration ofHIV/AIDS considerations into compo-nents of conservation programmes andprojects; and

(d) facilitate information exchange onHIV/AIDS and conservation linkages toaddress this devastating issue affectingpeople and nature and the future of sus-tainable development.

3.011 Addressing the linkagesbetween conservation,human and animal health,and security

NOTING that recent outbreaks of zoonotic diseases– pathogens that move from animals to people –including bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE– ‘mad cow disease’, severe acute respiratory syn-drome (SARS), Ebola, West Nile virus and avianinfluenza – pose a serious threat to human and ani-mal health and to economic development;

CONCERNED that the health threat posed by themovement of millions of live animals and animalparts through markets annually within the globalwildlife trade has not yet been recognized, and thatefforts to regulate this trade fall far short of theimperative for action;

ALARMED that some of the measures intended tocontrol and reverse the spread of such diseasesinclude mass eradication programmes targeting wildspecies and livestock, with serious long-term conse-quences for human health, food security and biodi-versity well-being, while failing to address the chainof transmission or the sources of vulnerability andexposure;

FURTHER ALARMED that the alteration ofecosystems and their normal processes due todevelopment can lead to changes in populations ofvectors and potential hosts, to new types of host-pathogen interactions, and thus to new patterns ofdisease spread in ways which are often unforeseen,and which have real individual and societal coststhat remain unaccounted for, with potentially cata-strophic effects;

MINDFUL of a number of key decisions on the roleof IUCN in addressing the links between health andconservation, including:

(a) Resolution 14.5 Eradication of disease-trans-mitting vectors adopted by the 14th IUCN Gen-eral Assembly (Ashkabad, 1978), which recog-nized that “proposals for blanket eradication ofdisease vectors over very large areas of Africansavanna… pose direct threats to the future of[certain] parks” and recommended that eradi-cation be undertaken only “as part of an inte-grated development programme, planned inaccord with recognized conservation princi-ples in precisely circumscribed areas…[with]the strictest measures… taken to ensure thatthe effects do not damage the characteristics ofprotected areas”;

(b) Recommendation 18.17 Human populationdynamics and resource demand, adopted bythe 18th IUCN General Assembly (Perth,1990), which encouraged IUCN members andthe IUCN Secretariat “to continue to take thelead in exploring and initiating actions on therelations between… natural resources manage-ment and human health, particularly the mor-bidity and mortality of infants and young chil-dren”; and

(c) the Vth IUCN World Parks Congress, (Durban,2003), which identified Disease and ProtectedArea Management as a key ‘Emerging Issue’:“….improvements in the health of domesticand wild animals and thus their productivitycan lead to dramatic improvements in humanlivelihoods and thus the reduction of poverty.Alien invasive pathogens should be addressedwith vigour equal to that devoted to addressingmore ‘visible’ alien invasive species. The roleof disease in protected areas and the land-usematrix within which they are embedded mustbe recognized and addressed within the contextof protected area and landscape-level planningand management….”;

NOTING that wildlife health and conservation biol-ogy are areas of expertise that have heretofore beenlargely overlooked in decision-making on humanpublic health and domestic animal health, and thatthese fields of expertise must be viewed as epidemi-ologic ‘parts of a greater whole’; and


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AIMING to promote a healthier and more secureworld for all living beings;


1. RECOMMENDS that the world’s leaders, civilsociety, and national and global health-relatedand other scientific institutions:

(a) establish formal communication channelsamong the global institutions responsiblefor human, domestic animal and wildlifehealth, and forge linkages to non-govern-mental organizations with relevantexpertise;

(b) draw upon the broader multidisciplinaryexpertise available from within the IUCNnetwork in policy development, decision-making and planning related to humanand animal diseases;

(c) build capacity within national and globalinstitutions responsible for public healthand animal health to analyse and addressissues at the nexus between human,domestic animal, and wildlife health;

(d) support action to better regulate and mon-itor wildlife trade and eliminate illegalwildlife trade that threatens not only bio-diversity but also animal and humanhealth worldwide;

(e) develop a global wildlife health surveil-lance network that can collect andexchange disease-related informationwith public health and animal health com-munities in ‘real time’ for early warningof potential new and emerging diseasethreats to humans and animals;

(f) limit the mass cull of free-ranging wildlifespecies for disease control to situationswhere there is scientific evidence that awildlife population poses an urgent, sig-nificant threat to public health and safety;

(g) recognize that land- and water-usedecisions have real implications forpublic health and animal health as well

as biodiversity well-being, and integratethese implications for health risks intoproject and programme impact assess-ment and management; and

(h) invest in awareness-raising and educationon the animal health–human health link,and in policy development and imple-mentation within and among govern-ments; and

2. REQUESTS the IUCN Director General, inconsultation with IUCN Commissions andMembers, to:

(a) recognize the importance of the interac-tions between animal health and humanhealth and ecosystem integrity; and

(b) systematically review the IUCN Interses-sional Programme 2005–2008 to identifyareas where human health, animal healthand biodiversity well-being linkages canbe incorporated into IUCN activities toimprove conservation outcomes.

3.012 Governance of naturalresources for conservationand sustainabledevelopment

UNDERSTANDING ‘governance of naturalresources’ as the interactions among structures,processes and traditions that determine how powerand responsibilities are exercised, how decisions aretaken, and how citizens or other stakeholders havetheir say in the management of natural resources –including biodiversity conservation;

EMPHASIZING that the concept of ‘good gover-nance’ includes not only clear direction, effectiveperformance and accountability, but also rests onfundamental human values and rights, includingfairness, equity and meaningful engagement in andcontribution to decision-making;

RECOGNIZING the close dependence of conser-vation and sustainable development on the gover-nance of natural resources, as affirmed by thePlan of Implementation of the World Summit on


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Sustainable Development – WSSD (Johannesburg,2002) and the Millennium Development Goals;

ACKNOWLEDGING that all types of governanceof natural resources -– including government-man-aged at different levels, community-based, co-man-aged and private – can be improved towards greatereffectiveness and equity in conserving biodiversityand enhancing human livelihoods;

WITNESSING the increasing number of large-scaleconservation initiatives, including transboundaryand ecoregional programmes, where collaborationmust happen across the tiers and spheres of govern-ments, non-governmental organizations, the privatesector and civil society;

OBSERVING that the world is experiencing pro-found socio-cultural, technological, demographicand environmental changes and that countries andcivil society cope with such trends in part by adapt-ing governance arrangements;

CELEBRATING the role that IUCN and its membershave played in fostering ‘good governance’ throughtheir resolutions and programme initiatives – in par-ticular, policies and practices related to indigenousand local communities, co-management settings,transboundary conservation, management effective-ness, and business, the environment and trade;

WELCOMING the paper distributed by IUCN atthe WSSD Bali Preparatory Committee meeting,entitled IUCN and Governance for SustainableDevelopment and the important governance workundertaken by IUCN, including at the 3rd WorldWater Forum (Kyoto, 2003);

RECOGNIZING that the Report of the InternationalConference on Financing for Sustainable Develop-ment – the Monterrey Consensus (Monterrey, 2002)recognized ‘good governance’ as being “essentialfor sustainable development”, “necessary for ODAeffectiveness” and “essential for sustained eco-nomic growth, poverty eradication…” and that theWSSD Plan of Implementation considered ‘goodgovernance’ as being “essential for sustainabledevelopment”;

FURTHER RECOGNIZING that the WSSD Plan ofImplementation, the UN Millennium Declaration andthe Monterrey Consensus all highlight the impor-tance of democratic institutions and the rule of law;

HIGHLIGHTING that the Action Plan noted by theVth IUCN World Parks Congress (Durban, 2003)identifies governance as “central to the conservationof protected areas throughout the world” (Outcome8 of the Durban Action Plan), and that the Congressnoted recommendations respecting the principles ofgood governance, and the diversity and benefits ofdifferent governance types;

EMPHASIZING that the Programme of Work onProtected Areas adopted by Decision VII/28 of the7th Conference of Parties to the Convention on Bio-logical Diversity – CBD (Kuala Lumpur, 2004)includes a programme element on “Governance,Participation, Equity and Benefit Sharing” and iden-tifies concrete targets related to the full participationof stakeholders in the management of protectedareas, better governance practices and mechanismsfor the equitable sharing of conservation benefits;and

AFFIRMING improved governance of naturalresources as a priority in meeting the governancechallenges that arise, inter alia, in implementing theecosystem approach and the landscape/seascapeapproach to conservation, in managing transbound-ary conservation areas, in applying integrated man-agement of water resources, including river basins,and in implementing each of the governance princi-ples identified in the IUCN Intersessional Pro-gramme 2005–2008;


1. URGES IUCN to serve in a leadership role inrelation to governance of natural resources forconservation and sustainable developmentthrough:

(a) clarifying the nature of governance at dif-ferent levels and in different contexts;

(b) formulating principles for and approachesto ‘good governance’; and

(c) adopting a policy statement on this issueand advocating for ‘good governance’ asa major element in national and interna-tional policies;


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2. REQUESTS the IUCN Director General tofurther develop capacity and specific initia-tives for the implementation of the CBD Pro-gramme of Work on Protected Areas and otherrelevant governance initiatives;

3. REQUESTS all IUCN Commissions, withintheir mandates, to coordinate and collaboratewith each other, to work with the Secretariat toprovide leadership and support in advancing‘good governance’ of natural resources forconservation and sustainable development, andto formulate and implement specific initiativeson governance;

4. REQUESTS the IUCN Commission on Envi-ronmental, Economic and Social Policy to act,within the scope of its mandate, as a key pro-moter and convener to:

(a) advance the analysis of types and qualityof governance, with emphasis on stake-holder involvement, decentralizationprocesses, Community Conserved Areas,and transboundary conservation;

(b) develop and disseminate advice on bestpractices for the governance of naturalresources (inter alia in relation to humanrights, benefit sharing, gender equity andhuman-wildlife conflicts); and

(c) promote and support capacity-buildinginitiatives in support of improved gover-nance, in particular via participatoryaction, research, participatory evaluation,and mutual learning among institutionsand field-based initiatives engaged insimilar efforts;

5. REQUESTS the IUCN Commission on Envi-ronmental Law, within the scope of its man-date, to promote good governance in theimplementation of the treaties that are the mainfocus of the Environmental Law Programme,including:

(a) Convention on International Trade inEndangered Species of Wild Fauna andFlora (CITES);

(b) Convention on Wetlands of InternationalImportance (Ramsar Convention);

(c) World Heritage Convention;

(d) Convention on Migratory Species(CMS);

(e) Convention on Biological Diversity(CBD) and the Cartagena Protocol; and

(f) UN/ECE Convention on Access to Infor-mation, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environ-mental Matters; and

6. REQUESTS the IUCN World Commission onProtected Areas, through the refining of itsguidance on Protected Area Management Cat-egories and in other ways that are part of itsmandate, to:

(a) recognize the legitimacy of a diversity ofgovernance approaches for protectedareas, all of which are capable of achiev-ing conservation and other goals;

(b) advise on governance mechanisms thathelp integrate protected areas with thesurrounding landscape/seascape and sup-port transboundary cooperation;

(c) explore the special governance require-ments of coastal and marine protectedareas, in particular for those situatedbeyond national jurisdiction; and

(d) offer suggestions to the United NationsEnvironment Programme (UNEP) WorldConservation Monitoring Centre for morecomplete reporting of governance types inthe World Database on Protected Areas andthe United Nations List of Protected Areas.

The Ministry of Environment and Forests, Turkeyprovided the following statement for the record:

Turkey is not a Party to the Convention on Migra-tory Species (CMS). Turkey objects to making anyreference to the mentioned convention.




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3.013 The uses of the IUCN RedList of Threatened Species

EMPHASIZING IUCN’s important role of provid-ing objective information on the conservation statusof species worldwide;

ACKNOWLEDGING that the IUCN Red List ofThreatened Species represents the cornerstone ofIUCN’s information on the status of species;

RECALLING Resolution 1.25 Guidelines for Usingthe IUCN Red List Categories at the Regional,National and Sub-national Level adopted by the 1st

IUCN World Conservation Congress (Montreal,1996), which endorsed the IUCN Species SurvivalCommission (SSC) initiative for the application ofthe new IUCN Red List Categories in the IUCN RedLists and promotion of their appropriate use in otherdocuments and their utilization at the regional,national and sub-national levels;

APPRECIATING GREATLY the work of thousandsof scientists worldwide within the SSC to providethe underlying data and assessments in the IUCNRed List of Threatened Species;

ACKNOWLEDGING the work of the SSC toundertake much-needed comprehensive assess-ments of the status of species in selected taxonomicgroups;

RECOGNIZING the work of the SSC in revisingthe IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria in 1994and 2001 in order to make the listing process asobjective as possible;

FURTHER RECOGNIZING the work of the RedList Consortium to develop the Red List Index ontrends in the threat status of biodiversity, based ondata in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species;

NOTING Decision VI/20 of the 6th Conference ofParties (COP6, The Hague, 2002) to the Conventionon Biological Diversity (CBD) welcoming the fur-ther contribution that the IUCN Red List assessmenthas made to the work of the CBD Subsidiary Bodyon Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice(SBSTTA) and to the Convention, and DecisionVII/30 (COP7, Kuala Lumpur, 2004) identifying theRed List indicator as a provisional indicator for the

2010 target of reducing the rate of global biodiver-sity loss;

AWARE of the increasing uses being made of theIUCN Red List of Threatened Species by IUCNmembers and others around the world to guide con-servation policies and practice;

NOTING in particular that IUCN members havepioneered the development of various methods foridentifying priority conservation sites, includingImportant Bird Areas, Important Plant Areas, KeyBiodiversity Areas, and Alliance for Zero ExtinctionSites, and that data from the IUCN Red List ofThreatened Species are essential for the implemen-tation of these methods;

NOTING that inclusion of a species on the IUCNRed List of Threatened Species is an important toolfor raising awareness of the plight of the species andindicating cases where urgent action is needed;

NEVERTHELESS CONCERNED that applicationsof the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species to sup-port the development of national legislation need totake into account the nature of the underlying datasupporting the IUCN Red List; and that automatictriggering of conservation measures by inclusion ofa species on the IUCN Red List may not necessarilyadvance, or may even act against, the conservationof such species;

FURTHER CONCERNED that conservation meas-ures taken by governments on behalf of specieslisted as threatened on the IUCN Red List of Threat-ened Species should not unnecessarily limit much-needed research on such species, including scien-tific collecting; and

ACKNOWLEDGING the need for more guidanceto IUCN members and others on these issues;


1. REGARDING the use of the IUCN Red Listof Threatened Species to support nationallegislation:

(a) CALLS UPON governments to make useof the data in the IUCN Red List of


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Threatened Species when considering thespecies to be afforded special conserva-tion measures under national legislation;

(b) EMPHASIZES that the inclusion ofspecies in national legislative schedulesrequires information not only on the levelof threat (as recorded in the IUCN RedList of Threatened Species), but also onthe types of threatening processes and onthe conservation measures needed, and sothe correct listing of threatened species innational legislation frequently requiresadditional information beyond that avail-able in the IUCN Red List; and

(c) EMPHASIZES that it is important thatconservation action is not automaticallylinked to the inclusion of a species in anyparticular category of the IUCN Red List,but must rather be applied flexibly follow-ing a careful analysis of the processes driv-ing the threats and the measures needed tocounteract these. In particular, any possi-ble negative effect of prohibitions on har-vesting or trade should be carefullyassessed before their introduction;

2. REGARDING use of the IUCN Red List ofThreatened Species to support the implementa-tion of international conventions:

(a) EMPHASIZES that the data in the IUCNRed List of Threatened Species forms auseful basis for identifying species forconsideration for listing in the Appen-dices of the Convention on InternationalTrade in Endangered Species of WildFauna and Flora (CITES) and the Con-vention on the Conservation of MigratorySpecies (CMS), as well as under regionalagreements that list individual species;

(b) FURTHER EMPHASIZES that theappropriate listing of species underCITES, CMS and other agreements alsorequires information in addition to thatcontained in the IUCN Red List of Threat-ened Species;

(c) AFFIRMS that the data in the IUCN RedList of Threatened Species can be used to

develop indices on trends in the status ofbiodiversity at the species level, andencourages countries and IUCN membersto make use of the Red List Index method-ology developed by the Red List Consor-tium, with a view to measuring progresstowards achievement of the 2010 Targeton Biodiversity, adopted by the CBD andother bodies;

(d) REQUESTS the SSC, as a matter ofurgency, to implement the Sampled RedList Index based on repeated Red Listassessments for a stratified selection ofspecies that is representative of biomes(including marine, freshwater and aridecosystems), regions and taxonomicgroups (including invertebrates andplants); and

(e) FURTHER REQUESTS the SSC, in part-nership with other organizations, toexpand the taxonomic coverage of theIUCN Red List of Threatened Species toenhance its representativeness, therebyenabling the Red List Index to be morerobust, and with this in mind, to:

(i) complete comprehensive assess-ments for all mammals, reptiles,freshwater fish, sharks and molluscs;

(ii) regularly reassess the status ofamphibians and birds; and

(iii) give greater priority to initiating rig-orous comprehensive assessmentsfor selected groups of plants, marinespecies and invertebrates;

3. REGARDING use of the IUCN Red List ofThreatened Species for conservation planningand priority setting:

(a) ENCOURAGES IUCN members andothers to make use of data in the IUCNRed List of Threatened Species to assistin conservation planning, especiallysite-based approaches implemented atthe national level, combining Red Listdata with other datasets, as required;and


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(b) REQUESTS the SSC, working in partner-ship with IUCN members, to convene aworldwide consultative process to agree amethodology to enable countries to iden-tify Key Biodiversity Areas, drawing ondata from the IUCN Red List of Threat-ened Species and other datasets, buildingon existing approaches and paying partic-ular attention to the need to:

(i) enlarge the number of taxonomicgroups used for site-based priority-setting approaches;

(ii) have quantitative, transparent andobjective criteria to identify KeyBiodiversity Areas; and

(iii) report on progress towards achiev-ing this objective at the 4th IUCNWorld Conservation Congress; and

4. REGARDING implications of the IUCN RedList of Threatened Species for scientificresearch:

(a) EMPHASIZES the importance of gov-ernments and research institutionsencouraging research on species listed asthreatened by IUCN to enhance under-standing of the biology and conservationneeds of these species, in the spirit of the1989 IUCN Policy Statement on ResearchInvolving Species at Risk of Extinction;and

(b) REQUESTS the SSC to develop techni-cal guidance for IUCN members and oth-ers on precautions to be taken for specieslisted in particular Red List Categories,and under particular Red List Criteria, inorder to help ensure that scientific col-lecting is beneficial, and not detrimental,to globally threatened species.

3.014 Poverty reduction, foodsecurity and conservation

CONSIDERING that the conservation communityrecognizes that world poverty has risen to alarming

proportions, and that this is linked to ecosystemdeterioration and biodiversity loss;

RECALLING that over 1.3 billion people living inconditions of extreme poverty, a high percentage ofthem women, generally in areas of high biodiver-sity, depend on biodiversity for their food securityand health;

CONSIDERING that the international communityhas established the priorities defined in the Millen-nium Development Goals and the Plan of Imple-mentation adopted at the World Summit on Sustain-able Development (Johannesburg, 2002), and thoseinternational conventions which offer possibilitiesof strengthening actions aimed at poverty reductionand nature conservation, within a framework ofsocial and democratic participation;

RECOGNIZING that adopting an ecosystemapproach favours the rational use of naturalresources and the maintenance of ecosystem pro-ductivity, and constitutes an essential supportingtool for food security and consequently povertyreduction; and

RECOGNIZING the importance of education,respect for cultural diversity and free access to rele-vant information in combating poverty and conserv-ing nature;


1. DECIDES that IUCN should put into practice,within its Intersessional Programme 2005–2008 and within the framework of its Missionand Vision, actions that contribute to combatingpoverty through nature conservation;

2. CALLS UPON IUCN’s Commissions, as apart of their mandate and in collaboration withmembers from all regions, to encourage thoseundertaking poverty-reduction activities toensure that they foster sustainable use of natu-ral resources and biodiversity conservation;

3. SPECIFICALLY CALLS UPON the Commis-sion on Education and Communication, withinthe framework of the United Nations Decadeof Education for Sustainable Development, to


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implement a strategy for education about thecommitments and activities of IUCN and itsassociates in contributing to the MillenniumDevelopment Goals, poverty reduction, andnature conservation;

4. FURTHER DECIDES that initiatives andactions should be concentrated, as a priority,on ensuring tangible contributions from biodi-versity conservation to equitable food security,within the framework of the strategic areasproposed by the United Nations Food andAgriculture Organization, in application ofPrinciple 20 of the Rio Declaration (Rio deJaneiro, 1992);

5. DECIDES LIKEWISE to request multilateraland bilateral development and environmentagencies to work together with IUCN on activ-ities aimed at poverty reduction, sustainabledevelopment, quality of life improvement andbiodiversity conservation;

6. URGES IUCN and its counterparts to increasethe implementation of integrated river basinmanagement, applying the ecosystemapproach and taking account of ‘environmen-tal flows’, which are crucial for sustainabledevelopment, the conservation of naturalresources and improvements to quality of life;

7. RECOMMENDS relevant institutions to pro-mote an integrated and non-sectoral vision ofwater management, understanding the relation-ship between ecosystems and water basins, andrecognizing that, in water basins, the socio-economic and biophysical systems interact in acomplex and dynamic way;

8. FURTHER RECOMMENDS that such institu-tions consider, in particular, the importance ofan integrated, non-sectoral approach to watermanagement in resolving problems of margin-alization, poverty, environmental deteriorationand ill health, and hence in ensuring the fulfil-ment of the Millennium Development Goals;and

9. CALLS UPON IUCN to strengthen, facilitateand promote the full and active participation ofnon-governmental organizations, rural andindigenous organizations, women and youth,

and other strata in civil society, in the imple-mentation of activities which tangibly benefitpoverty reduction and nature conservation.




The Wildlife Conservation Society provided the fol-lowing statement for the record:

We would like to bring to the attention of Congressthe highly effective cooperation which took placein the contact group discussing Resolutions 3.014,3.015 and 3.016. Working together, we reconciledour differences in approach, whilst respecting theintegrity and intent of each of the three motions.All agreed that IUCN should incorporate andrespect human rights approaches to conservation(3.015), needs-based approaches to conservationwith emphasis on food and water (3.014) and bio-diversity-related approaches to conservation(3.016).

3.015 Conserving nature andreducing poverty bylinking human rights andthe environment

RECALLING that Principle 1 of the StockholmDeclaration (Declaration of the United NationsConference on the Human Environment, 1972) rec-ognizes “man’s fundamental right to freedom,equality and adequate conditions of life, in an envi-ronment of a quality that permits a life of dignityand well-being”; and Principle 1 of the Rio Decla-ration on Environment and Development (Rio deJaneiro, 1992) which proclaims that human beingsare “[e]ntitled to a healthy and productive life inharmony with nature”;


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FURTHER RECALLING Resolution 2.36 Povertyreduction and conservation of environment adoptedby the 2nd IUCN World Conservation Congress(Amman, 2000), through which IUCN and itsmembers adopted the policy of simultaneouslyaddressing poverty reduction and environmentalrehabilitation;

CONSCIOUS that the Millennium DevelopmentGoals, including the goal to eradicate extremepoverty and hunger, the health-related goals, and thegoal to ensure environmental sustainability, can beachieved by affirming human rights;

TAKING INTO ACCOUNT paragraph 138 of theJohannesburg Plan of Implementation that identifiesrespect for human rights as essential for sustainabledevelopment;

NOTING that economic, social, cultural, civil andpolitical rights that are embodied in internationally-binding legal instruments and internationally guar-anteed as human rights are essential to combatpoverty;

CONVINCED that steps to reduce poverty and pro-tect health must be taken in conjunction with envi-ronmental conservation using a human rightsapproach;

RECOGNIZING that public access to information,public participation in decision-making, and accessto justice, highlighted in Principle 10 of the RioDeclaration on Environment and Development, areessential human rights that can ensure greater par-ticipation, empowerment, and accountability of allpersons, and comprehensive solutions to povertyand environmental degradation;

ACKNOWLEDGING the progress made in imple-menting Principle 10 by the adoption of the UnitedNations Economic Commission for Europe(UNECE) Convention on Access to Information,Public Participation in Decision-making and Accessto Justice in Environmental Matters (Aarhus, 1998);

NOTING Decision 2004/119 Science and Environ-ment of the 60th Session of the United Nations Com-mission on Human Rights (Geneva, 2004);

MINDFUL that IUCN’s Mission aims to ensurethat “any use of natural resources is equitable and

ecologically sustainable”; and aware that socialequity cannot be achieved without the promotion,protection and guarantee of human rights;

AWARE that during the 2003 IUCN MesoamericanCommittee meeting, held in El Zamorano, Hon-duras, a resolution was adopted recognizing thelinks between human rights and the environmentand urging that the resolution be submitted to thepresent Congress for adoption;

WELCOMING the identification of human rightsissues as cross-cutting themes within the IUCNEnvironmental Law Programme’s Component Pro-gramme Plan for 2005–2008;

FURTHER WELCOMING the mandate of theIUCN Commission on Environmental Law (CEL)for 2005–2008, which includes as one of its objec-tives “engaging its legal and policy expertise toinnovate and promote new or reformed ethical andlegal concepts and instruments that conserve natureand natural resources and reform patterns of unsus-tainable development”; and

ADDITIONALLY RECOGNIZING that the CELhas established an Environmental Law and HumanRights Specialist Group;


1. DECIDES that IUCN should consider humanrights aspects of poverty and the environmentin the context of its overall mission, under theleadership of the IUCN Director General;

2. FURTHER DECIDES to assess the implica-tions of the use of human rights-related legalresources and actions to protect the environ-ment and the rights of those who defend it,especially through existing internationalhuman-rights protection systems;

3. ENCOURAGES IUCN’s State Members, incooperation with its non-governmental mem-bers, to analyse legislation in the field ofhuman rights and the environment in theirrespective countries and regions with the aimof providing effective access to justice in theevent of the violation of those human rights;


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4. REQUESTS the CEL to provide additionallegal research, analysis and resources, andcontribute to building the capacity of mem-bers in the enforcement of environmentallaws, in close collaboration with IUCN mem-bers; and

5. FURTHER REQUESTS the CEL to provide aprogress report to future World ConservationCongresses summarizing legal developmentsin human rights law and litigation that are per-tinent to IUCN’s Mission, with an emphasis onhuman-rights tools that may be used by IUCNand its members in pursuit of the Mission.



3.016 On the role of conservationorganizations in povertyreduction and development

AFFIRMING that poverty reduction and the con-servation of the world’s natural resources are inex-tricably linked as moral mandates for all humanity,and that conservationists must continue to strive forincreased responsiveness to the concerns of thepoor who live in and around areas of significance toconservation;

FURTHER AFFIRMING, as stated in Recommen-dation V.29 Poverty and Protected Areas noted bythe Vth IUCN World Parks Congress – WPC (Dur-ban, 2003), that “protected areas play a vital role insustainable development through protection andmaintenance of biological diversity and of naturaland associated cultural resources”, and that “pro-tected areas cannot be viewed as islands of conser-vation, divorced from the social and economic con-text within which they are located”;

RECOGNIZING that, wherever possible, sustain-able livelihoods and biodiversity conservationshould be pursued jointly, while being aware that

this may at times involve trade-offs between con-servation and poverty-reduction objectives;

UNDERSTANDING that economic growth anddevelopment initiatives on their own have failed toreduce global poverty through the equitable distri-bution of assets and gains from economic growth,and that conservationists have little scope forbroadly redressing these deficiencies on their own;

NOTING WITH CONCERN a shift in bilateral andmultilateral donor interest, concomitant with shiftsin the interests of governments, away from biodi-versity conservation programmes and objectives, adecreasing emphasis towards biodiversity values indevelopment planning, and an unwarranted confi-dence that development programmes automaticallyresult in sustainable solutions without specific con-servation activities being necessary;

CONSCIOUS of the fact that the costs of conserva-tion losses are borne disproportionately by the ruralpoor who are targeted by global poverty-reductionprogrammes;

EMPHASIZING that successful development andenvironmental conservation are inextricably linked,and that ethically the international community needsto find alternative options to those that deplete theseresources and deny their benefits to future genera-tions; and

ALARMED that without reshaping poverty-reduction strategies to include equal concern forconservation, global biodiversity will continue topay an unsustainable tax for growth, which will leadto global conservation loss and extinction;

The World Conservation Congress at its 3rd ses-sion in Bangkok, Thailand, 17–25 November2004:

1. URGES IUCN members to:

(a) understand that the poorest populationson Earth depend on continued naturalresource conservation, and that the failureof conservation will burden the poorestirremediably;

(b) reinvigorate efforts in bilateral and multi-lateral assistance agencies to incorporatebiodiversity conservation priorities in


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development projects and to improvecoordination between development andbiodiversity conservation;

(c) remind national development assistanceagencies and other key players that sus-tainability is based on the premise thatprotected areas, which are integral to bio-diversity conservation, can be key com-ponents of rural poverty reduction; and

(d) remind all key players that, as stated inWPC Recommendation V.29, “protectedareas should strive to contribute topoverty reduction at the local level, and atthe very minimum must not contribute toor exacerbate poverty”; and

2. URGES the IUCN Director General to buildpartnerships with development agencies andother key actors, and to reaffirm the core con-servation mission and values of IUCN, recog-nizing that poverty reduction is often closelylinked to them.



3.017 Promoting foodsovereignty to conservebiodiversity and endhunger

UNDERSTANDING that IUCN’s Vision of “Ajust world that values and conserves nature”inevitably depends upon ending hunger andpoverty – which is also the first and most impor-tant of the United Nations (UN) MillenniumDevelopment Goals;

NOTING with alarm that more than 800 millionpeople live in hunger and that approximately 80 per-cent of those live in rural areas and lack adequateaccess to basic productive resources such as land,according to UN data;

REMINDED that the conservation of biological andcultural diversity is critical to the world’s continuedproduction of safe, adequate and culturally appro-priate food;

OBSERVING that the existing wealth of agricul-tural biodiversity is available largely as a result ofthousands of years of careful breeding and develop-ment by small-scale producer communities (indige-nous peoples and local communities, includingfarmers, livestock keepers/pastoralists, fisher-folk,and others) and provides the basis for their foodsecurity;

AWARE that sufficient food is now produced tofeed the world, although much more effort is neededto promote sustainable means of food production;

CONCLUDING that hunger and poverty will not beended by increased globalization of food produc-tion, which is linked to an increased dependency onvery few species of crops cultivated as large-scalemonoculture systems;

AWARE that food insecurity and conservation ofthe world’s biological heritage must be addressedthrough assuring access to genetic and productiveresources and ensuring respect for human rights,particularly the progressive realization of the rightto adequate food, contained in the InternationalCovenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights;

MINDFUL that it is essential to recognize and pro-tect indigenous peoples’ and/or local communities’control of their lands, territories and natural her-itage, and their traditional collective land tenuresystems, as necessary for their survival and contin-ued ability to conserve biological resources;

FURTHER MINDFUL that security of tenure fortraditional and local communities is also necessaryfor their survival and ability to conserve biologicalresources;

CONCERNED about the increasing concentrationof ownership and access to productive resourcesconsequent to privatization of public goods andpatenting of technological processes linked to bio-logical resources and related knowledge;

TROUBLED that great biodiversity loss is due tounsustainable and dependency-generating forms of


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agriculture, such as industrial, large-scale and high-input agriculture, extensive monocultures forexport, patenting of technological processes relatedto biological resources and massive internationaltrade in agriculture;

ALARMED that in many regions the first victims ofthe loss of agricultural biodiversity and globaliza-tion of agricultural trade are women and children;

NOTING that in response to these challenges civilsociety groups, led by peasants’ movements, havedeveloped a ‘food sovereignty’ platform, i.e. a set ofalternative policies to the dominant model of liber-alization of agricultural trade;

NOTING that food sovereignty:

(a) is rooted in the right of peoples and countries todefine their own agricultural and food policies;

(b) prioritizes access of small-scale producer com-munities to productive resources;

(c) commits to respect, conserve, restore, and pro-tect all natural resources, including protectionagainst endangering technologies such as useof Genetically Modified Organisms, and pro-motes equitable and ecologically sustainablecommunity-based agricultural practices;

(d) is not opposed to trade but advocates for a sys-tem of international agricultural trade that pri-oritizes local production for local marketsbefore export; and

(e) supports agricultural research led by small-scale food producers;

WELCOMING the recommendation of the ‘UNSpecial Rapporteur on the right to food’ that “Foodsovereignty be considered as an alternative modelfor agriculture and agricultural trade” (UN Eco-nomic and Social Council documentE/CN.4/2004/10, submitted to the 60th session ofthe UN Commission on Human Rights, Geneva,2004);

RECOGNIZING many points of commonalitybetween the concept of food sovereignty and IUCNpolicy, such as concern about the environmentalimpacts of modern agriculture (IUCN Resolution

14.3 Environmental effects of modern agriculture),the green revolution (Resolution 1.63 The Promo-tion of Organic Agriculture), pesticides (Resolu-tions 15.5 Development Assistance, 16.5 Interna-tional Trade in Pesticides and Other Biocides and17.20 Transfer of Technology Relating to Contami-nating Products Including Pesticides), trade (Reso-lutions 16.22 Environmental Impact of Trade andAid on Developing Countries, 18.20 Trade Agree-ments and Sustainable Development, 19.25 TheRelationship Between Conservation and Trade, and2.33 Trade liberalization and the environment), andthe linkages between poverty and environmentaldegradation (Resolution 2.36 Poverty reduction andconservation of environment);

FURTHER REGOGNIZING that the IUCN Inter-sessional Programme 2005–2008 includes three rel-evant Key Result Areas (KRAs); KRA 2: SocialEquity, KRA 5: Ecosystems and Sustainable Liveli-hoods, and KRA 4: International Agreements,Processes and Institutions for Conservation; and

RECOGNIZING that food sovereignty offers anessential framework for examining the linksbetween poverty and environment as well as devel-oping valuable approaches to biodiversity conser-vation, cultural survival and the elimination ofhunger;


1. URGES all IUCN members, Commissionsand the IUCN Director General to give dueconsideration to policies in support of foodsovereignty as they relate to achieving theMission and Vision of IUCN and to theirapplication in all stages of biodiversity con-servation, natural resource management andpoverty eradication;


(a) take an active role in working with statesand relevant international organizationsand processes to advocate for a food sov-ereignty approach; and

(b) develop an inter-programmatic initiativeon ‘Biodiversity and an End to Hunger’ to


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enhance understanding of the relationshipbetween hunger eradication and biodiver-sity conservation (including agriculturalbiodiversity) and cultural diversity, withthe participation of IUCN Commissionsand interested IUCN members; and

3. CALLS UPON the Commission on Environ-mental, Economic and Social Policy, withinthe framework of its mandate, and the IUCNSecretariat, working with interested IUCNmembers and relevant partners, to spearheadinitiatives on food sovereignty by:

(a) enhancing and articulating the under-standing of the relationship between foodsovereignty and the IUCN Vision, andidentifying key areas of relevant work;

(b) enhancing understanding of the impactsof social and economic policies such ascommodity dumping, privatization of nat-ural heritage, and economic sanctions,including blockades on both poverty andthe conservation of biological resources,including agricultural biodiversity;

(c) enhancing understanding of conditions,methods and tools by which biodiversityconservation and an end to hunger can bepursued and achieved in a synergisticfashion, as envisioned under the conceptof food sovereignty;

(d) promoting and supporting the develop-ment of effective policies and practiceson the basis of the above understandings;and

(e) developing the relevant capacities ofIUCN component programmes, membersand partners.



The Nature Conservancy Council of New SouthWales provided the following statement for therecord:

We are concerned that [this resolution] equals amajor shift in the focus of IUCN policy away frombiodiversity conservation and towards dealing withsocio-economic issues (deserving of attention) thatwill weaken IUCN’s capacity. The alternativeapproach could be to form partnerships with socialissue-based organizations.

3.018 Mobile peoples andconservation

UNDERSTANDING that the livelihoods of mobilepeoples (e.g. nomadic pastoralists, shifting agricul-turalists, hunter-gatherers, sea-nomads, indigenouspeoples and transhumant herders) depend on exten-sive common property use of natural resources andthat their mobility is both a management strategy forsustainable resource use and conservation and a dis-tinctive source of cultural identity;

NOTING that since time immemorial, mobility hasbeen a most effective component of communitystrategies for the conservation of wild and domesticbiodiversity, the promotion of environmentalintegrity and the sustainable use of naturalresources;

STRESSING that policies of mobility restrictionand sedentarization have deprived mobile indige-nous peoples of cultural identity, access to, andcapacity to manage, natural resources, and have ledthem in many cases to destitution and abjectpoverty;

EMPHASIZING that, in the light of global environ-mental, economic and socio-cultural change and thegrowing role of transboundary and ecoregional con-servation programmes, mobility is a major contem-porary concern;

NOTING with appreciation IUCN Resolution 1.53Indigenous Peoples and Protected Areas (Montreal,1996); IUCN Recommendation 2.92 Indigenouspeoples, sustainable use of natural resources andinternational trade (Amman, 2000); the principlesof the Dana Declaration on Mobile Peoples and


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Conservation (Dana, Jordan, 2002); Recommenda-tions V.26 Community Conserved Areas and V.27Mobile Indigenous Peoples and Conservation notedby the Vth IUCN World Parks Congress – WPC (Dur-ban, 2003), as well as Outcome 3 A global system ofprotected areas, with links to surrounding landscapesand seascapes is in place and Outcome 5 The rightsof indigenous peoples, including mobile indigenouspeoples, and local communities are secured in rela-tion to natural resources and biodiversity conserva-tion of the WPC Durban Action Plan;

FURTHER NOTING the special reference tonomadic and pastoral communities made by the Pro-gramme of Work on Protected Areas of the Conven-tion on Biological Diversity (CBD) adopted at the 7th

Conference of Parties, (Kuala Lumpur, 2004) withregard to the need to promote an enabling environ-ment (legislation, policies, capacities and resources)for the involvement of stakeholders in decision-mak-ing, and the development of their capacities andopportunities to establish and manage protectedareas, including community conserved areas; and

WELCOMING the creation, on the occasion of theVth IUCN World Parks Congress, of the WorldAlliance of Mobile Indigenous Peoples (WAMIP),whose objectives include conservation of biodiver-sity as well as maintaining sustainable livelihoodsfor mobile indigenous peoples;


1. NOTES the principles of the Dana Declara-tion on Mobile Peoples and Conservation;

2. COMMENDS the IUCN Commission onEnvironmental, Economic and Social Policy(CEESP) and the IUCN World Commission onProtected Areas (WCPA) for the valuable workthey have done to bring to the fore at the Vth

IUCN World Parks Congress issues relating tomobile peoples and conservation;

3. URGES IUCN to assist its members in theimplementation of the CBD Programme ofWork on Protected Areas, and to provide tech-nical leadership and support for understandingthe relationship between mobile peoples andconservation; and

4. REQUESTS the IUCN Director General andIUCN Commissions:

(a) to incorporate, in the implementation ofthe IUCN Intersessional Programme2005–2008 and relevant Commissionmandates, due recognition of mobile peo-ples, their needs and their capacity to con-serve biodiversity;

(b) to articulate lessons learned and thepotential to enhance conservation throughmobile livelihoods, in particular withregard to:

(i) traditional knowledge and practicesfor adaptive management;

(ii) sustainable use of natural resources;

(iii) landscape conservation; and

(iv) community conserved areas in themigration territories of mobile peo-ples; and

(c) to develop conservation policies andpractices that respond to those lessonsand take advantage of the unique capaci-ties of mobile peoples.



3.019 Horizontal evaluation ofinternational conventions,treaties and agreements onthe environment

CONSIDERING that international conventions,treaties and agreements on the environment arethe subject of more than 200 texts of interna-tional relevance and more than 300 texts ofregional relevance;


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CONSIDERING that many conventions, treatiesand international agreements on the environmenthave seen undeniable success, as was the case withthe Montreal Protocol on Substances that Depletethe Ozone Layer (Protocol to the Vienna Conven-tion for the Protection of the Ozone Layer), and thatIUCN contributes significantly to the success ofimportant international conventions;

CONSIDERING NEVERTHELESS that manycommitments remain little- or un-applied, or havean extremely limited impact, and that it is neces-sary to have a horizontal assessment of theirimplementation;

CONSIDERING FURTHER the fact that the profu-sion of agreements and their decisions couldbecome counter-productive in the long term for theprotection of the world’s environment as the disper-sion of technical, human and financial means torespond to all these undertakings, in terms of work,secretariats, and conferences, leads to the slowingdown of their implementation;

NOTING that many countries are not fulfilling allof their obligations and that they have not all ratifiedthe international conventions, treaties and agree-ments that are nonetheless deemed important for theworld’s environment; and

DRAWING ON IUCN’s Observer Status at theUnited Nations;


REQUESTS the IUCN Director General to:

(a) suggest to the Secretary General of the UnitedNations that a horizontal, objective evaluationbe launched concerning the application ofinternational conventions, treaties and agree-ments on the environment, in order to assessthe progress made and difficulties encounteredby states, and to make suggestions to improvethe effectiveness and synergy of these legalinstruments as a whole, in connection with theimplementation of the Millennium Declaration(Millennium Development Goal 7 – EnsureEnvironmental Sustainability); and

(b) launch, in conjunction with the UnitedNations, a study of the general state ofprogress made in the transposition of interna-tional conventions, treaties and agreements onthe environment into national legislations inorder to gauge the extent to which states takeinternational environmental issues intoaccount.



3.020 Drafting a code of ethicsfor biodiversityconservation

RECALLING humanity’s primary responsibility forpreserving the diversity of life on Earth, taking intoaccount the past and present impact of its activitieson the environment;

REAFFIRMING the value of the existence of biodi-versity, linked to humanity’s own value, as well asto the satisfaction and well-being that its existencebrings, and the additional value it represents forfuture generations;

HIGHLIGHTING the concerns raised by the useand impact of new biotechnology tools on the futureof biodiversity, particularly with regard to certaingenetically modified organisms, and by negotiationson the patentability of living matter;

HIGHLIGHTING ALSO the limits, or even perni-cious effects, of a strictly utilitarian view of biodi-versity and the services rendered by nature;

RECALLING the first preambular paragraph to theConvention on Biological Diversity, which under-lines the intrinsic value of biological diversity andthe value of its elements at social, educational, cul-tural, recreational and aesthetic levels;

RECALLING FURTHER that the Global Biodiver-sity Strategy and IUCN’s strategy Caring for theEarth set out the basic principle that respect is due


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to all peoples and forms of life on Earth, and stipu-late that human development must not be imple-mented at the expense of future generations, northreaten the survival of other species;

REAFFIRMING its commitment to the preamble ofthe IUCN Statutes, which affirms that nature con-servation contributes to the establishment of peace,progress and human prosperity and that naturalbeauty constitutes the essential framework forhumanity’s spiritual development, which an increas-ingly mechanized existence renders necessary morethan ever; and

NOTING that many philosophical and religiousschools of thought are becoming more and moreexplicitly involved in nature conservation;


1. REAFFIRMS IUCN’s commitment to an ethi-cal view of nature conservation, based onrespect for the diversity of life, as well as thecultural diversity of peoples;

2. CALLS ON the IUCN Director General toinvite the ethics specialist group of the IUCNCommission on Environmental Law to holddiscussions with a view to drafting a code ofethics for the conservation of biodiversity,accompanied by aims to be achieved andactions to be undertaken, and to submit such acode for consideration at the next World Con-servation Congress;

3. PROPOSES that IUCN takes an interest in theefforts made by existing philosophical and reli-gious schools of thought regarding nature con-servation throughout the world; and

4. RECOMMENDS that IUCN considers subse-quently strengthening its work with states inorder to promote the adoption of nationalcodes of ethics offering each and every personrights and duties concerning respect for thediversity of life on Earth.



3.021 International Covenant onEnvironment andDevelopment

RECALLING Resolution 1.66 Draft InternationalCovenant on Environment and Developmentadopted at the 1st IUCN World Conservation Con-gress and Recommendation 2.96 Earth Charter anddraft International Covenant adopted at the 2nd

IUCN World Conservation Congress;

NOTING that the IUCN Draft InternationalCovenant on Environment and Development wasfirst launched at the United Nations Congress onPublic International Law held in New York on 13March 1995;

FURTHER NOTING that the first revised text ofthe Draft Covenant was presented to the MemberStates of the United Nations on the occasion of theclosing of the United Nations Decade of Interna-tional Law;

RECOGNIZING that the second revised text of theDraft Covenant was presented to the Member Statesof the United Nations on the occasion of the 59th

Session of the General Assembly;

FURTHER RECOGNIZING that the Plan of Imple-mentation adopted at the World Summit on Sustain-able Development (Johannesburg, 2002) has reaf-firmed the international consensus on legal principles,rights and obligations for environmental conservationand sustainable development through a renewedpledge by states and governments to ensure imple-mentation at global, regional and national levels;

GRATEFULLY ACKNOWLEDGING the participa-tion of distinguished experts, including representa-tives of the United Nations system, at a meeting heldat the IUCN Environmental Law Centre in Bonn,Germany (10–11 March 2003), convened by theIUCN Commission on Environmental Law and theInternational Council of Environmental Law, in order


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to review the results of Johannesburg and other recentdevelopments in international environmental law;

EXPRESSING further gratitude to the participatingorganizations and individuals who helped to revisethe text of the Draft Covenant based on the resultsof the above-named meeting and to update theextensive Commentary that provides further insightinto the legal foundations and precedents on whichthe collected principles are based;

THANKING ESPECIALLY the Elizabeth HaubFoundation for Environmental Policy and Law –Canada for providing the necessary funds for organ-izing the meeting, producing and publishing therevised edition of the Draft Covenant, as well as dis-tributing it to Member States of the United Nations;

ENCOURAGED by the continued initiatives drivenforward within the framework of the United Nationsto strengthen international law;

MINDFUL that the Draft Covenant was drafted bythe IUCN Commission on Environmental Law andthe International Council of Environmental Law asa model for an international framework agreementconsolidating existing legal principles related to theenvironment and development which is to serve as apossible basis for multilateral negotiations on thissubject;

CONVINCED that the Draft Covenant servesanother important function of collecting and codify-ing accepted norms and well-established principleson the conservation of the environment and sustain-able development and therefore must be continu-ously updated as a ‘living document’ until it hasserved the above-mentioned purpose;

AWARE that the current and past editions of theDraft Covenant have been used by legislators aswell as the responsible ministers and civil servantsin many states as an authoritative reference, as wellas a useful checklist for national legislationdesigned to foster sustainable development;

FURTHER AWARE that diplomats at internationalnegotiations use the Draft Covenant as a guide toensure consistency among treaty obligations forsustainable development and to coordinate theirpositions with respect to prospective multilateralagreements;

PLEASED that the most notable example of theabove is the recently revised text of the 1968 AfricanConvention (Algiers Convention) on the Conserva-tion of Nature and Natural Resources which buildsextensively on the Draft Covenant; and

NOTING with appreciation the release of the 3rd

Edition of the IUCN Draft International Covenanton Environment and Development;



(a) continue to promote the Draft Covenantamong the membership of IUCN as wellas other states and organizations associ-ated with the work of IUCN;

(b) use the principles contained within theDraft Covenant as a source of guidancefor the legal and policy advice of IUCNand its components; and

(c) ensure that the IUCN Commission onEnvironmental Law continues to serve asa custodian of the Draft Covenant andensure that its text will be revised at nec-essary intervals in order to reflect impor-tant developments in international lawpertaining to sustainable developmentand environmental conservation; and

2. STRONGLY RECOMMENDS that the DraftCovenant be used as guidance for negotia-tions on multilateral treaties, as well as for thedrafting of national legislation and policydirectives.


State and agency members United States votedagainst this motion.


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3.022 Endorsement of the EarthCharter

RECALLING Recommendation 2.96 Earth Charterand draft International Covenant adopted by the 2nd

Session of the World Conservation Congress(Amman, 2000), calling for members at the 3rd Ses-sion to consider a response to the Earth Charter;

NOTING the strong ethical purpose that inspiredthe formation of IUCN in 1948 and continues todayin the IUCN Vision of “A just world that values andconserves nature”;

FURTHER NOTING the ethical leadership shownby IUCN over the past 50 years, highlighted by theWorld Charter for Nature (adopted by the UnitedNations General Assembly in 1982), Caring for theEarth: A Strategy for Sustainable Living (1991), andthe Draft International Covenant on Environmentand Development;

ACKNOWLEDGING the international commu-nity’s commitment to the role of ethics in sustain-able development made at the World Summit onSustainable Development (Johannesburg, 2002) inthe Plan of Implementation, paragraph 6;

MINDFUL of the need for environmental pro-grammes and policies to reflect shared values inclu-sive of respect for cultural diversity and the greatercommunity of life, ecological integrity, social andeconomic justice, democracy, non-violence andpeace;

APPRECIATING the decade-long consultationprocess that generated the Earth Charter, involvingrecommendations from communities and experts inall regions of the world and close collaboration withthe IUCN Commission on Environmental Law;

ENCOURAGED by the decision of the UNESCOGeneral Conference to recognize the Earth Charteras an important ethical framework for sustainabledevelopment and to utilize it as an educationalinstrument for the United Nations Decade of Edu-cation for Sustainable Development, and noting alsothe decision of the IUCN Commission on Educationand Communication to use the Earth Charter in itsfuture programmes; and

CONVINCED that promulgation of global ethicsbased on shared values is essential to create a sus-tainable and healthy future for ‘people and nature’in our ‘one world’;


1. ENDORSES the Earth Charter as an inspira-tional expression of civil society’s vision forbuilding a just, sustainable and peaceful world;

2. RECOGNIZES, consistent with IUCN’s Mis-sion, the Earth Charter as an ethical guide forIUCN policy and will work to implement itsprinciples through the IUCN IntersessionalProgramme 2005–2008;

3. RECOMMENDS that the Earth Charter beused by IUCN to help advance education anddialogue on global interdependence, sharedvalues, and ethical principles for sustainableways of living; and

4. ENCOURAGES member organizations andstates to examine the Earth Charter and todetermine the role the Earth Charter can playas a policy guide within their own spheres ofresponsibility.


There are many laudable goals in the Earth Charterwith which the United States agrees. However, thereare many controversial propositions in that docu-ment with which the United States takes issue.

In the view of the United States, a wholesaleendorsement of the Earth Charter would not beappropriate, and it is not advisable to adopt anunqualified requirement that the Earth Charter beused as an “ethical guide” for IUCN policy.



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3.023 Providing support forIUCN’s Observer Status inthe United Nations

RECALLING Resolutions 1.80 Relations with theUnited Nations System adopted by the 1st IUCNWorld Conservation Congress (Montreal, 1996) and2.10 IUCN’s relations with the United Nations Sys-tem adopted by the 2nd IUCN World ConservationCongress (Amman, 2000), regarding IUCN’sObserver Status in the General Assembly of theUnited Nations and the Union’s relations with theUnited Nations’ system, respectively;

WELCOMING the report of the IUCN DirectorGeneral to this Congress in accordance with Reso-lution 2.10, and the measures taken by the IUCNDirector General, with the assistance of the IUCNCommission on Environmental Law, and the Envi-ronmental Law Programme, to provide staff andvolunteer experts for the Union’s Observer Missionto the United Nations;

NOTING that the agenda for the General Assemblynow has an average of at least 20 agenda itemsaddressing issues related to the environment, natureand natural resource conservation, and their rela-tionship to sustainable development, world order,and socio-economic well-being;

RECOGNIZING that IUCN is unique among theorganizations that the UN General Assembly hasinvited to serve as Observers, since it is the onlyObserver organization providing worldwide expert-ise on the conservation of nature, biodiversity andnatural resources;

AWARE that IUCN provides its State Members inthe United Nations with careful and succinct sub-missions of scientific and technical expertiseregarding the many environmental issues currentlyarising in the General Assembly and in the Eco-nomic and Social Council, and throughout many ofthe United Nations’ subsidiary bodies and special-ized agencies;

CONCERNED that the provision of this expertisewill require IUCN to devote further time of its expertvolunteers, of its Secretariat, and of its budget, inorder for IUCN to meet its responsibilities as anObserver Mission to the United Nations; and

WELCOMING and ENCOURAGING the volun-tary contributions of services, expertise or finan-cial support from IUCN’s members to assist theIUCN Director General in fulfilling the responsi-bilities of the Union’s Observer Mission, such asthe provision of postgraduate student interns fromPace University and Yale University to theObserver Mission at UN headquarters as part oftheir educational programme;


1. INVITES IUCN’s State Members to availthemselves of IUCN’s extensive expert scien-tific, legal, and technical capabilities in orderto facilitate their deliberations on environmentand sustainable development in the meetings,conferences and sessions of the UnitedNations;

2. CALLS upon the IUCN Director General tofurther identify external funding sources to runthe IUCN Observer Mission in New York;

3. REQUESTS the IUCN Director General toprovide appropriate support to IUCN’sObserver Status, including appropriate supportto the IUCN’s Observer Mission to the UnitedNations; and

4. REQUESTS the IUCN Commission on Envi-ronmental Law to continue its assistance to theIUCN Director General, through volunteerqualified legal experts, and invites the otherIUCN Commissions to assist with the submis-sion of appropriate expert scientific and tech-nical advice.

3.024 The Harold JeffersonCoolidge Medal

RECALLING the enormous personal contributionsof the many individuals who generously gave oftheir time and expertise and resources to help estab-lish IUCN in 1948;

THANKFUL for the inspiration provided by theUnion’s devoted leaders such as John C. Phillips,


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Peter Scott and Wolfgang E. Burhenne, whose serv-ice to IUCN is recalled at each World ConservationCongress;

MINDFUL that throughout IUCN there are otherindividuals who contribute enormously of theirtime, expertise and resources, and who drawencouragement to do more through the examples ofthe Union’s earlier leaders;

APPRECIATIVE of the proposal by former IUCNDirectors General, Gerardo Budowski, Lee Talbot,and Kenton Miller, that IUCN should commemoratethe extraordinary service of the late Harold JeffersonCoolidge by establishing an award in his memory;

GRATEFUL to Harold Coolidge for his leadershipas one of the founders of IUCN, as a former presi-dent of the Union and its principal fundraiser from1948 to the 1980s, as architect of IUCN’s uniqueframework of Commissions through which scien-tists and other experts contribute vastly to the workof IUCN, and as a scientist and conservationist whopioneered in expanding IUCN’s programmes intoAsia, Africa and the Americas; and

AWARE that colleagues and friends of HaroldCoolidge have offered to endow an appropriateIUCN award in his memory;


1. DECIDES to establish the Harold JeffersonCoolidge Medal, to be conferred upon individ-uals for outstanding contributions to conserva-tion of nature and natural resources;

2. REQUESTS the Council to establish the crite-ria for nomination and selection of individualsto be awarded this medal, and that the selectionbe by a jury, whose members should reflect thegeographical and other diversity of IUCN;

3. DECIDES FURTHER that the first Harold Jef-ferson Coolidge Medal should be conferred atthe 4th World Conservation Congress; and

4. DIRECTS the IUCN Director General toundertake all appropriate measures to facilitatethe establishment and award of this medal.


3.025 Education andcommunication in theIUCN Programme

CONSIDERING that IUCN has significantly con-tributed to the development of environmentaleducation worldwide as a means to inform peopleand support them to change towards sustainabledevelopment;

CONSIDERING that this has advanced the interre-lation between the natural and social sciences, aswell as contributed a renewed linkage betweenintellect and creative action for the maintenance oflife, not only to inform the population, but to makeit change;

RECOGNIZING that each region has its own cul-tural values related to nature, which influence itsmeans of communication and education so that it isappropriate to the people;

CONVINCED that education is a means to sociallearning and cultural renewal and that it developscompetencies to critically reflect, understand, assessand apply knowledge and have the skills to takeaction;

AWARE that social changes towards sustainabledevelopment require more complex processes thanthe provision of information and knowledge;

AWARE that education and communication areessential components of an empowerment strategyfor the IUCN Programme, and are a means to reduc-ing vulnerability and risk of populations, helping toalleviate poverty, to reorient consumption patterns,and to reaffirm the relationship between humansand nature;

ALARMED by the loss of positioning and politicalvisibility of environmental education on nationaland international environmental agendas duringrecent years; and


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REAFFIRMING AND EXTENDING Resolution2.50 Environmental education in the Meso-american Component Programme adopted by the2nd Session of the World Conservation Congress(Amman, 2000);


1. REQUESTS the IUCN Director General tolaunch regional programmes in order to sup-port the United Nations Decade of Educationfor Sustainable Development, to be celebratedfrom 2005 to 2014; and

2. REQUESTS the IUCN Director General toincorporate specific activities and goals oneducation and communication into the IUCNIntersessional Programme 2005–2008 pur-suant to the aforementioned point.



3.026 Establishment of the WorldConservation LearningNetwork

RECOGNIZING the Union’s significant knowledgeon conservation management and sustainable devel-opment, and the strategy of empowerment con-tained in the IUCN Intersessional Programme2005–2008;

RECALLING IUCN’s Mission to encourage, assistand influence societies, and IUCN’s work with manyorganizations in the field of capacity development;

AWARE that in today’s knowledge-based soci-eties, learning is life long and many individualsand organizations can benefit from capacitydevelopment in conservation and sustainabledevelopment;

CONVINCED that many sectors make decisionsthat negatively impact on conservation and sustain-able development due to a lack of knowledge, skillsor attitudes;

ACKNOWLEDGING the presentation to IUCNCouncil in 2003–2004 of the efforts made by theIUCN Commission on Education and Communica-tion (CEC) to initiate the World ConservationLearning Network (WCLN);

WELCOMING the initiative taken by CEC to estab-lish the WCLN; and

NOTING that the role of the WCLN will be to pro-vide a framework to further advance professionalcapacity-building for sustainability at global,regional and national levels through courses, elec-tronic learning, research, exchange and relatedactivities;


1. REQUESTS IUCN Council to give urgentconsideration to this endeavour within theUnion’s overall Programme before the nextWorld Conservation Congress;

2. REQUESTS the IUCN Director General andthe CEC to facilitate the establishment of a net-work of universities and training institutes,under the auspices of the CEC or some othernetwork associated with IUCN, with the aim ofworking with IUCN to expand access to pro-grammes for professional development thatintegrate the issues of conservation and sus-tainable development;

3. REQUESTS the IUCN Director General andthe Chair of CEC to take into account, and col-laborate with, existing international andregional capacity-development networks andinstitutions and to develop a detailed statementof goals, functions, structure and legal form ofthe WCLN for the consideration of Council; and

4. INVITES all IUCN members with an interestin advancing the WCLN to provide all possibleassistance to the IUCN Programme in thisregard.


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3.027 Education for sustainabledevelopment

CONSIDERING that IUCN provided the first inter-nationally recognized definition of environmentaleducation in 1970 and that in Caring for the Earth(1992) IUCN, the World Wide Fund For Nature(WWF), and the United Nations Environment Pro-gramme (UNEP), stated that “environmental educa-tion is the fundamental basis guaranteeing the par-ticipation of communities in the process of conser-vation of natural resources and the improvement ofthe quality of life and the environment”;

RECOGNIZING that IUCN has supported Agenda21 recommendations calling for education to bereoriented towards sustainable development;

NOTING that the United Nations (UN) declared2005–2014 the Decade of Education for SustainableDevelopment;

RECALLING that governments have made com-mitments to educate their public and move societytowards sustainable development through participa-tion in the Convention on Biological Diversity(CBD), the Convention on Wetlands (Ramsar,1971), the UN Framework Convention on ClimateChange, the UN Convention to Combat Desertifica-tion, the Plan of Implementation of the World Sum-mit on Sustainable Development (Johannesburg,2002), and in their strategies to achieve the UN Mil-lennium Development Goals by 2015;

AWARE that education for and about sustainabledevelopment requires new approaches to educationthat assist people towards future thinking, adaptivemanagement and systems thinking, requiring cre-ativity, flexibility and critical reflection throughlifelong learning;

CONVINCED that an expanded effort is requiredto engage society and assist individuals, socialgroups and organizations to make progress towards

sustainable development at local, national, regionaland international levels;

ACKNOWLEDGING that in 2003 the IUCN Coun-cil welcomed the Decade of Education for Sustain-able Development as an initiative that supports itsmission and raises the profile of this work; and

ALSO ACKNOWLEDGING that IUCN has nopolicy on education for and about sustainabledevelopment;

The World Conservation Congress at its 3rd Ses-sion in Bangkok, Thailand, 17–25 November,2004:

1. DECLARES its support for the Decade ofEducation for Sustainable Development2005–2014;

2. INVITES all IUCN members to consider howto integrate and resource education for sustain-able development in their work and to con-tribute to the Decade of Education for Sustain-able Development;

3. ENCOURAGES IUCN members to supportthe integration of education for sustainabledevelopment in basic education in pursuit ofthe Millennium Development Goals, and tofoster education for sustainable developmentin higher education, zoos, museums, botanicalgardens, tourism and in other forms of adulteducation; and

4. REQUESTS the IUCN Commission on Edu-cation and Communication and the IUCNDirector General to present to IUCN Councila draft policy on Education for SustainableDevelopment before the 4th World Conserva-tion Congress.




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3.028 Policy on capacity buildingand technology transfer

RECALLING that the importance of adequatecapacity to achieve sustainable development washighlighted at the United Nations Conference onEnvironment and Development (Rio de Janeiro,1992), the resulting Agenda 21 and subsequentMultilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs),and that this was subsequently reaffirmed at theWorld Summit on Sustainable Development (Johan-nesburg, 2002);

RECALLING that countries have committed to theMillennium Development Goals to eradicate povertythrough sustainable development, and to incorpo-rate environmental concerns into their developmentpolicies;

UNDERSTANDING that while there is diversity ofdevelopment challenges and of national develop-ment efforts globally, communities around theworld have clearly expressed their desire to be fullyincluded as part of development decision-makingprocesses and as beneficiaries of development;

RECOGNIZING that to be successful, sustainabledevelopment requires good governance, robust andeffective institutions, comprehensive legal and reg-ulatory frameworks, sensitivity to cultural diversity,fully inclusive participative processes, localempowerment, public-private partnerships andimproved access to knowledge, and that all of theabove require adequate or enhanced human andtechnical capacity;

NOTING that a key element of IUCN’s programmeof work is to further the development of local,regional, and global capacity in biodiversity conser-vation and sustainable development, in particular tosupport countries in the implementation of theircommitments under MEAs;

RECALLING Recommendation 17.20 Transfer ofTechnology Relating to Contaminating Products,including Pesticides adopted by the 17th IUCN Gen-eral Assembly (San Jose, 1988); Recommendations1.17 Coastal and Marine Conservation and Man-agement, 1.41 Environmental Law Programme,1.43 Public Participation and Right to Know, 1.73Protocol or Other Legal Instrument to the Frame-

work Convention on Climate Change, and 1.85Conservation of Plants in Europe, adopted by the 1st

World Conservation Congress (Montreal, 1996);and Recommendations 2.33 Trade liberalizationand the environment and 2.94 Climate change miti-gation and land use adopted at the 2nd World Con-servation Congress (Amman, 2000); and

FURTHER RECALLING Recommendations V.1Strengthening Institutional and Societal Capacitiesfor Protected Area Management in the 21st Century,V.2 Strengthening Individual and Group Capacitiesfor Protected Area Management in the 21st Century,and V.3 Protected Areas Learning Network noted bythe Vth IUCN World Parks Congress (Durban, 2003);


1. REAFFIRMS its commitment to capacitydevelopment and technology transfer, with par-ticular emphasis on less-developed countries;

2. RECOGNIZES that an action plan for capacitydevelopment must be based on further devel-opment and/or improvement of existing struc-tures and mechanisms whereby relevant tech-nology transfer and capacity building – fromthose countries which have appropriate tech-nology and expertise to those which havecapacity needs – can be expedited;

3. CALLS UPON those agencies, institutions andcountries with the greatest financial capacity,to provide funding where it is required toensure delivery within the shortest timeframes;and

4. CALLS UPON the IUCN Director General, inassociation with other parties sharing the sameobjectives, to develop a strategic action plan,which provides for a more coherent and coor-dinated approach to capacity developmentactivities, and for more effective programmesof capacity development.




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3.029 Capacity building of YoungProfessionals

DEFINING Young Professionals as individualsworldwide between the ages of 20 and 35, commit-ted to conservation at local, regional and/or globallevels as their profession;

ACKNOWLEDGING the support already given toyounger generations by IUCN through Outcome 6of the Durban Action Plan noted by the Vth IUCNWorld Parks Congress (Durban, 2003);

WELCOMING the initiatives of individual mem-ber organizations in establishing programmes toinvolve Young Professionals in their conservationefforts;

RECOGNIZING the ability of Young Professionalsto contribute to member organizations and theirconservation achievements by bringing innovativeknowledge, techniques, diverse perspectives, open-mindedness and enthusiasm to decision-makingprocesses; and

CONCERNED by the difficulty that young peopleface when trying to enter the conservation arena ina professional and meaningful way;

The World Conservation Congress at it 3rd Ses-sion in Bangkok, Thailand, 17–25 November2004:


(a) establish a Young Professionals Programmewithin IUCN;

(b) establish a coordinating mechanism that assistsmember organizations in developing pro-grammes for Young Professionals such as fel-lowships, internships, exchange programmes,and mentorships, according to their capacity,and collects and disseminates to Young Profes-sionals information about these programmes;and

(c) ensure that IUCN and its member organizationsmake their programmes accessible to YoungProfessionals from developing countries.



3.030 Capacity building inapplied and demand-driventaxonomy

CONSCIOUS that the ongoing decline in taxonomiccapacity has created a widely recognized ‘taxo-nomic impediment’ to the equitable and ecologicallysustainable use and conservation of biodiversity;

WELCOMING the adoption by Parties to the Con-vention on Biological Diversity (CBD) of the workprogramme of the Global Taxonomy Initiative(GTI) in April 2002 (CBD Decision VI/8);

RECALLING that the World Summit on Sustain-able Development (Johannesburg, 2002) high-lighted the importance of the GTI in realizing thetarget of significantly reducing the rate of biodiver-sity loss by 2010;

NOTING that the GTI work programme dependsfor its success on capacity building;

NOTING the key role of regional and global techni-cal cooperation and technology transfer in cost-effective capacity building;

AWARE that IUCN is a significant end-user of tax-onomy, is at the forefront of making taxonomicinformation widely available through its SpeciesInformation Service and that many components ofIUCN’s programme (thematic, regional and Com-missions) have a strong dependence on, or inter-relations with, taxonomic expertise and institutions;

NOTING that IUCN, through the wide use of taxo-nomic information and expertise by its programmesand membership, is uniquely positioned to adviseon the most urgent taxonomic demands of end-users;

AWARE OF IUCN’s keynote contribution to theThird Global Taxonomy Workshop (organized in2002 by BioNET-INTERNATIONAL, the CBD


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Secretariat, UNESCO’s Man and the Biosphere(MAB) programme and the Secretariat of the Inter-national Plant Protection Convention) and theresulting Plan of Action for demand-driven taxo-nomic capacity building in support of the GTI workprogramme; and

RECOGNIZING the urgency of capacity buildingto make taxonomic expertise, resources and infor-mation freely accessible in a timely manner and informs required by users;


1. ENDORSES IUCN’s contributions to taxo-nomic capacity building, including itsinvolvement since 2002 in member- andpartner-driven initiatives in support of theGlobal Taxonomy Initiative (GTI);

2. REQUESTS the IUCN Director General tocontinue supporting IUCN’s involvement inpromoting and delivering taxonomic capacitybuilding, especially where this supports theimplementation of Multilateral EnvironmentalAgreements (MEAs);

3. RECOMMENDS that IUCN and its membersactively participate in and help develop theGTI including, as appropriate, via participationin its Coordination Mechanism; and

4. CALLS UPON the IUCN Director Generaland the Commissions to work with members toidentify potential synergies and taxonomiccapacity-building partnerships.

3.031 Cherishing volunteers

NOTING that IUCN’s Statutes expect its Commis-sions to be networks of expert volunteers entrustedto develop and advance the institutional knowledge,experience and objectives of the Union;

APPLAUDING the fact that, largely through theCommissions, volunteers have made a unique, dis-tinguished and dedicated contribution to theachievement of IUCN’s mission and the enhance-ment of its reputation with a wide range of partners;

ACKNOWLEDGING that, while electronic mediafacilitate exchanges of material within expert net-works, they add to the time pressures faced by vol-unteers in a situation where academic and otherfunding arrangements allow little scope for non-contracted work;

RECOGNIZING that lack of funding also con-strains the ability of volunteers to attend face-to-face meetings, which remain vital for building con-fidence and reaching consensus on difficult issues;

ACCEPTING the generally recognized principlethat while volunteers agree to donate some of theirtime to IUCN, they should not personally incur out-of-pocket expenses as a result of their voluntaryactivity, over and above the time they donate, unlessthey so choose;

WELCOMING with appreciation the valuable col-lection and analysis of information contained in the2001 Species Survival Commission (SSC) report onvoluntarism (Voluntarism in the Species SurvivalCommission), which demonstrates both positive andnegative experiences of volunteers and staff underexisting arrangements; and

BELIEVING that significant unrealized potentialfor IUCN’s work could be harnessed by an overhaulof the way that it uses and manages the goodwilland expertise available to it through both Commis-sion members and other volunteers;


1. REQUESTS the IUCN Director General, inconsultation with Commission Chairs todesign and implement a ‘Volunteer Initiative’which will:

(a) add value to IUCN’s delivery of its Mis-sion and Intersessional Programme;

(b) integrate the expertise and commitmentof volunteers into its operational struc-tures more effectively; and

(c) increase the professionalism and effi-ciency of interactions between employedstaff and consultants on the one hand andvolunteers on the other;


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2. FURTHER REQUESTS that those undertak-ing the ‘Volunteer Initiative’ take into accountthe recommendations of the SSC report Vol-untarism in the Species Survival Commission,to:

(a) develop basic criteria for recognizing thevarious types of voluntary involvementsuch as Commission experts, office andadministrative assistants, and interns;

(b) set out in a signed, standard document,for each recognized volunteer, a state-ment that their contribution will be val-ued, what IUCN expects of them, andwhat it will do for them;

(c) enhance direct communication withCommission members by mail or e-mailto ensure that at least once a year they areinformed about, and therefore feel part of,the wider IUCN community;

(d) promote the use of assessments by expertgroups as an input to decision-making atall levels of IUCN, including the partici-pation of such experts in IUCN teams atappropriate meetings;

(e) assist expert groups to network with othergroups and organizations, to producemaximum synergy and to avoid resource-wasting duplication of effort;

(f) seek funding for Commission or ad hocexpert networks, especially their chairs,to function effectively, on the conditionthat such networks contribute timely anddefined outputs within IUCN’s pro-grammes;

(g) arrange capacity building for and by vol-unteers as needed, not least in data man-agement, communication and presenta-tion of expert findings; and

(h) foster regular transparent audits of thescientific capacity and integrity of Com-mission networks along with measures toincrease their national and internationalreputation.



3.032 Volunteer translators andinterpreters to serve IUCN

NOTING that much of the work of IUCN is done byexperts, non-governmental organizations and othersworking on a voluntary basis, often with interactionand sharing of ideas between people of differentlanguages;

AWARE that sometimes the transmission of knowl-edge, ideas and other work of the Union forimproved conservation is hampered by lack of lan-guage interpretation and/or translation;

RECOGNIZING that there are supporters of theUnion, as well as individuals within IUCN mem-bers, affiliates, Commissions and other organs of theUnion, who are both qualified and willing voluntar-ily to translate documents or to act as interpretersinto the official and/or target languages of IUCNand its outreach targets;

AWARE that those in the Union who need gratistranslation and/or interpretation services mostly donot know who is able and willing to help in this way;

RECOGNIZING that there is seldom translation orinterpretation across specialist groups, Commis-sions or other units and organs of IUCN;

ALSO RECOGNIZING that not all such language-qualified and willing members, affiliates, Commis-sion members and supporters have been identifiedand are contributing translations or interpretations;and

GIVEN the increasing need for translation andinterpretation within and across IUCN regions andactivities;

The World Conservation Congress, at its 3rd Ses-sion in Bangkok, Thailand 17–25 November2004:



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(a) conduct a survey of IUCN members, affiliates,Commissions, other organs and supporters toidentify individuals and organizations whowould be prepared to provide voluntary trans-lation or interpretation services and to identifyareas of need for such services;

(b) develop a steering group to investigate andreport to Council on how a coordinating mech-anism can be established to maintain a data-base or other information mechanism to allowfor the matching of such volunteers with thosein the Union who need such services for thework of the Union;

(c) consider that one option could be that volun-teers be sought to organize these voluntarytranslation and interpretation services; and

(d) consider how to maintain information on theavailability of such gratis translation and inter-pretation services and to make this informationavailable to all members, Commissions, spe-cialist groups and organs of the Union.



3.033 Implementation of anIUCN programme for theInsular Caribbean

CONSIDERING that the Insular Caribbean is anecologically coherent unit, clearly identified anddifferentiated from the surrounding regions;

CONSIDERING also that the Insular Caribbean hasbeen identified as one of the four hotspots of globalbiodiversity, containing 11 percent of the world’scoral reefs and significant terrestrial endemism;

CONCERNED about existing threats throughoutthe region, such as the destruction of habitat, sedi-mentation, overfishing, long-line fishing, and inva-sive species, among others, which are causing analarming loss of biodiversity;

AWARE that at its 19th Session, in Buenos Aires,Argentina, the General Assembly of IUCN alreadyrecognized through Resolution 19.14, The IUCN inthe Caribbean, the seriousness of the situation fac-ing marine, coastal and island ecosystems in theCaribbean, and stressed the need for action byIUCN in the region;

AWARE that the Convention for the Protection andDevelopment of the Marine Environment in theWider Caribbean Region (Cartagena Convention,1983) provides the legal framework for conserva-tion and sustainable development of the region,along with the Protocol to the Convention Concern-ing Specially Protected Areas and Wildlife (SPAW)that entered into force in 2000;

CONSIDERING that there are examples in theregion of management schemes whose sustainablepractices can contribute to development of theglobal system of IUCN;

NOTING that the Marine and Caribbean pro-grammes of the World Commission on ProtectedAreas (WCPA) can be strengthened by an increasedcollaboration and coordination of regional and inter-national members and partners, including theCaribbean Environment Programme (CEP) of theUnited Nations Environment Programme (UNEP),The Nature Conservancy and others;

AWARE of the need to promote and disseminate themost recent achievements attained through the fol-lowing programmes and initiatives:

(a) Socioeconomic Monitoring of Protected Areas(SocMon) of the WCPA;

(b) the Regional Plan for Strengthening ofMarine Reserves in the Caribbean, to directmarine reserves as a tool for the conservationof biodiversity;

(c) the Network and Forum of Wider CaribbeanMarine Protected Areas Management (CaM-PAM);

(d) the identification and nomination process forWorld Heritage Sites; and

(e) the cooperation within the WCPA CaribbeanProgramme and its potential role in the imple-mentation of SPAW; and


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CONSIDERING that members of the InsularCaribbean wish to implement relative componentsof the IUCN Intersessional Programme2005–2008;



(a) promote a greater strengthening of IUCN’spresence in the Insular Caribbean, throughregional implementation of relevant compo-nents of the IUCN Intersessional Programme2005–2008;

(b) assist in the formation of an IUCN Sub-Regional Committee for the Caribbean to pro-mote the objectives of IUCN in that region;

(c) assign a member of the Secretariat to facilitateachieving the above objectives and to assist inpromoting increased membership in IUCNamong Caribbean States and the CaribbeanNGO community; and

(d) review the viability of establishing a perma-nent IUCN Sub-Regional Office in theCaribbean.

The Bahamas National Trust, the Negril Environ-ment Protection Trust and the Government ofJamaica wished their endorsement of this Resolu-tion to be noted for the record.

3.034 Strengthening the action ofthe IUCN Centre forMediterraneanCooperation

RECALLING that previous General Assemblies ofIUCN and Sessions of the World Conservation Con-gress have approved Recommendations calling forspecific IUCN action in the Mediterranean, becauseof the serious problems faced by the marine, coastaland insular ecosystems of the region caused bydemographic concentration, economic activities andpollution;

CONSCIOUS that these serious problems still existdespite the best efforts of governments, interna-tional bodies and non-governmental organizations;

NOTING more specifically Resolution 2.7 Imple-mentation of the IUCN Component Programme forthe Mediterranean adopted by the 2nd World Con-servation Congress (Amman, 2000), as well as Rec-ommendation 19.17 An IUCN Office for theMediterranean (Buenos Aires, 1994) and Resolu-tion 1.10 IUCN’s Work in the Mediterranean (Mon-treal, 1996) calling on the IUCN Director General towork with IUCN members in the establishment of aMediterranean Regional Office;

AWARE of the work carried out under the auspicesof the Convention for the Protection of the MarineEnvironment and the Coastal Region of theMediterranean (the Barcelona Convention) throughits Contracting Parties, the Mediterranean ActionPlan’s (MAP) Co-ordinating Unit in Athens and itsMediterranean Regional Activity Centres (RACs);

NOTING the active role played by the Mediter-ranean Commission on Sustainable Development(MCSD) in recent years;

SENSITIVE to the serious problems of desertifica-tion encountered in many Mediterranean countries,notably those in the south and east of the region, andappreciating the work of the UN Convention toCombat Desertification;

TAKING ACCOUNT of the importance of the workon global climate change carried out by the UNFramework Convention on Climate Change, in par-ticular as it affects the Mediterranean region;

NOTING the contribution to conservation and wiseuse of wetlands in the Mediterranean made by theConvention on Wetlands (Ramsar, 1971), and inparticular of the MedWet initiative which concen-trates on the Mediterranean region;

AWARE of the considerable efforts made by theEuropean Union to find solutions for these Mediter-ranean problems (in particular through its Short andMedium-Term Priority Environmental Action Pro-gramme – SMAP), the more so as several additionalMediterranean states have recently become mem-bers of the European Union;


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NOTING the long-term work on fisheries in theMediterranean carried out by the United NationsFood and Agriculture Organization, based in Rome;and

RECOGNIZING the role played in sustainabledevelopment of the Mediterranean by regional andnational non-governmental organizations, many ofthem members of IUCN;


1. REASSERTS concerns expressed in previousIUCN Resolutions and Recommendations overenvironmental issues in the Mediterranean andcalls for increased attention to be paid to find-ing solutions;

2. WARMLY WELCOMES the establishment ofthe IUCN Centre for Mediterranean Coopera-tion in Malaga (Spain) in 2001 and thanksthose who have supported the establishment ofthis office, notably the Ministerio de MedioAmbiente de España (Ministry of Environmentof Spain) and the Consejería de Medio Ambi-ente de la Junta de Andalucía (Ministry ofEnvironment of the Autonomous RegionalGovernment of Andalucía);

3. REQUESTS the IUCN Director General torecognize the specific qualities of Mediter-ranean culture and the wish of members towork together at the regional level, and to takeappropriate actions to elevate the status of theIUCN Centre for Mediterranean Cooperationin response to the IUCN Regionalization andDecentralization Review;

4. FURTHER REQUESTS that the aforemen-tioned Review be completed by December2005;

5. REAFFIRMS that the primary function of theIUCN Centre for the Mediterranean Coopera-tion remains the support and promotion of theactivities of the Mediterranean members ofIUCN and cooperation with other organiza-tions, notably those mentioned in the Pream-ble to the present Resolution, which sharethe Union’s objectives (see Resolution 2.7

Implementation of the IUCN Component Pro-gramme for the Mediterranean adopted by the2nd World Conservation Congress, Amman,2000); and

6. RECOMMENDS that the IUCN Centre forMediterranean Cooperation:

(a) continues its present activities to supportIUCN members in the Mediterraneanregion in their work on the numerousenvironmental problems affecting theregion;

(b) pays particular attention to strengtheningand extending its network of contacts andcooperation with other environmentalorganizations active in the Mediterraneanregion;

(c) devotes particular attention during thenext triennium to three issues, likelyto be of critical importance to theMediterranean:

(i) establishment of transboundary pro-tected areas;

(ii) effects in the Mediterranean ofglobal climate change and its impli-cations for the management of waterresources; and

(iii) issues of marine governance, both interritorial and extra-territorialwaters; and

(d) develops, in particular in the three fieldsmentioned above, concrete projects,capable of enhancing the mobilizationand cohesion of IUCN members from thewhole Mediterranean basin.




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3.035 Aral Sea Basin as the hotspot for biodiversityconservation

RECOGNIZING the value of the Aral Sea Basin forthe survival and sustainable development of themore than 50 million Central Asian people andnature;

NOTING that this sub-region suffers from manyenvironmental problems and is the most degradedarea of the former Soviet Union due to the dramaticchanges that are continuously threatening theunique biodiversity of the area, especially aroundthe Aral Sea and in the Amu Darya and Syr Daryadeltas;

EMPHASIZING that development efforts duringthe last four decades of the 20th century (expansionof grain and cotton production beyond the tradi-tional boundaries of the ancient irrigated oases, thecreation of massive irrigation systems stretching forthousands of kilometres and accompanied by a vastnetwork of hydroelectric stations and reservoirs, thelarge-scale development of oil, natural gas, iron andcopper, and the rapid expansion of cities and indus-trial settlements) led to unsustainable redistributionof the basin’s water resources for irrigation purposesand had serious negative impacts on the region’snatural resources and landscape;

CONCERNED that even after realization of severalenvironmental programmes and spending of aboutUS$ 30 million for implementing solutions, bothpeople and natural ecosystems continue to sufferunder severe pressure from these activities;

RECALLING that the changes that happened in theAral Sea basin were recognized by the world com-munity to be one of the greatest catastrophes of the20th century;

MINDFUL of the efforts of Central Asian states toovercome the ecological crisis and to improve thesocio-economic situation through the establishmentof the International Fund for the Aral Sea and thedevelopment and approval of Plans of Action for thePeriod of 2003–2010 for the Improvement of Envi-ronmental, Social and Economic Situation in theAral Sea Basin, in agreement with the governmentsof participating countries;

AWARE of the need to protect and manage the out-standing natural areas of this region at the ecosys-tem level, even if shared among several states; and

AFFIRMING the international importance of land-scapes, biodiversity and natural ecosystems of theAral Sea Basin, and its globally unique natural andcultural heritage that is severely threatened byhuman activity;


1. REQUESTS the IUCN Director General, mem-bers and Commissions to launch a campaign tosave the biodiversity of this threatened region;

2. CALLS ON countries of the Central Asianregion to incorporate into their Aral Sea Basinprogrammes elements that promote, as the pri-ority objective, assistance for implementingprojects to rehabilitate ecological stability andbiological productivity of natural ecosystemsand to increase aquatic ecosystem stability inthe Aral Sea Basin, including restoration ofwetland systems in the deltas of the AmuDarya and Syr Darya rivers and conservationof wetland biodiversity;

3. URGES Central Asian states to conserve thebiodiversity of the region by:

(a) limiting intensive agriculture and irriga-tion, which are especially harmful for theenvironment;

(b) preserving all remaining natural ecosys-tems along the two main Central Asianrivers – Amu Darya and Syr Darya;

(c) preparing independent environmentalimpact assessments of the economic andecological consequences of irrigationprocesses; and

(d) initiating the continuation of programmeson biodiversity rehabilitation and restora-tion in the Aral Sea basin; and

4. URGES the IUCN Species Survival Commissionto support the development and implementation


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of the Strategy for Biodiversity Conservation inthe Aral Sea Basin.




3.036 Antarctica and theSouthern Ocean

RECALLING Resolutions 1.110 Antarctica and theSouthern Ocean adopted by the 1st IUCN WorldConservation Congress (Montreal, 1996) and 2.54Antarctica and the Southern Ocean adopted by the2nd IUCN World Conservation Congress (Amman,2000) as well as earlier decisions;1

ALSO RECALLING Recommendation V.23 Pro-tecting Marine Biodiversity and EcosystemProcesses through Marine Protected Areas beyondNational Jurisdiction noted by the Vth IUCN WorldParks Congress (WPC, Durban, 2003) originatingfrom the marine theme participants, calling for theestablishment and effective management by 2008of at least five scientifically and globally represen-tative high-seas marine protected areas, and recall-ing the WPC Message to the Convention on Bio-logical Diversity, calling for relevant organizationsto “by 2012, devote urgent attention to creating andexpanding marine protected area networks, includ-ing the marine biodiversity and ecosystemprocesses in the world oceans that lie beyondnational jurisdiction, including Antarctica”, withthe Ross Sea highlighted as a priority for protection

as the largest largely intact marine ecosystemremaining on Earth;

WELCOMING the entry into force in May 2002 ofAnnex V to the Protocol on Environmental Protec-tion to the Antarctic Treaty (Madrid, 1991) on AreaProtection and Management, allowing for AntarcticSpecially Protected Areas (ASPAs) and AntarcticSpecially Managed Areas (ASMAs) in both terres-trial and marine environments;

ALSO WELCOMING the establishment of a per-manent Secretariat for the Antarctic Treaty inBuenos Aires in 2004;

TROUBLED by the cumulative environmentalimpacts of the more than five-fold increase since1990 in the numbers of tourists landing in Antarc-tica, and the opening of over 100 new tourist land-ing sites since 1990, without sufficient effective reg-ulation of the tourism industry being in place;

AWARE of increasing interest in biologicalprospecting and applications for patents for com-mercial exploitation of genetic material from uniqueorganisms in the Antarctic Treaty area and the Con-vention for the Conservation of Antarctic MarineLiving Resources (CCAMLR) area of the SouthernOcean that is likely to cause conflict within theAntarctic Treaty System;

GREATLY CONCERNED about the continuedharmful levels of overfishing of certain fish speciesin the oceans around Antarctica, in particular illegal,unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, espe-cially within the area covered by CCAMLR;

AWARE of increasing interest in Antarctic krill(Euphausia superba) fishing which could becomethe largest global fishery, with the potential to sig-nificantly affect the trophic structure of the Antarc-tic marine ecosystem;

ALARMED by the continuing deaths of seabirdsin large numbers, especially from IUU long-line


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1 15/20 Antarctica environment and the Southern Ocean adopted by the 15th IUCN General Assembly (Christchurch, 1981), 16/8Antarctica I adopted by the 16th General Assembly (Madrid, 1984), Recommendations 17.52 Antarctica, 17.53 The Antarctic: min-erals activity adopted by the 17th General Assembly (San Jose, 1988), 18.75 Antarctica adopted by the 18th General Assembly (Perth,1990); Recommendations 16/9 Antarctica II adopted by the 16th General Assembly (Madrid, 1984), 18.74 The Antarctic Conserva-tion Strategy adopted by the 18th General Assembly (Perth, 1990), and 19.96 Antarctica and the Southern Ocean and 19.95 ImprovedProtection for Wildlife in Subantarctic Island Ecosystems adopted by the 19th General Assembly (Buenos Aires, 1994).

fishing operations in the oceans around Antarctica,which constitutes the main threat to albatrosses andpetrels, with 19 of the world’s 21 albatross speciesand five species of petrel now listed as CriticallyEndangered, Endangered or Vulnerable;

WELCOMING the entry into force of the Conven-tion on Migratory Species’ Agreement on the Con-servation of Albatrosses and Petrels (ACAP) on 1February 2004 and its ratification by Australia,Ecuador, New Zealand, South Africa, Spain, andUK;

ALSO WELCOMING the International WhalingCommission’s thorough scientific review andrenewed endorsement of the Southern Ocean whalesanctuary at its 56th annual meeting in Sorrento,Italy, July 2004; and

RECOGNIZING the important role of IUCN in pro-viding a forum for the discussion of issues affectingAntarctica’s environment by governmental and non-governmental bodies and in contributing to the workof the components of the Antarctic Treaty system;


1. URGES all Parties to the Protocol on Environ-mental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty andCCAMLR to take the steps necessary to:

(a) develop a comprehensive network of pro-tected areas pursuant to Annex V of theProtocol, with special urgency beinggiven to protecting marine habitats andbiological diversity;

(b) provide comprehensive protection of thewhole of the Ross Sea using a combina-tion of Antarctic Specially ManagedAreas and Antarctic Specially ProtectedAreas under Annex V of the Protocol; and

(c) complete as a matter of priority the elab-oration of rules and procedures relatingto liability for environmental damagearising from activities taking place in theAntarctic Treaty area covered by thisProtocol;

2. ENCOURAGES all Parties to the AntarcticTreaty to develop and establish a comprehen-sive Antarctic tourism management regime;

3. ALSO ENCOURAGES the Parties to theAntarctic Treaty and to CCAMLR to examineand resolve the legal and environmental issuessurrounding bioprospecting and to regulatethis activity if it is to be permitted in Antarcticaand the Southern Ocean;

4. CALLS ON all range states to accede to theAgreement on the Conservation of Albatrossesand Petrels (ACAP), especially those fewbreeding-range states that have not yet ratified,and encourages existing parties to start workingon effective implementation of the Agreement;

5. CALLS ON governments, including but notrestricted to Parties to both the AntarcticTreaty and CCAMLR, to take urgent steps tostop the illegal, unreported and unregulatedfishing for toothfish (Dissostichus spp.) in theoceans around Antarctica, to ensure that allfishing allowed follows prudent rules that willsupport conservation of these ecosystems, tointroduce a Centralized Vessel MonitoringSystem, and to strengthen and implementmore effectively the Catch DocumentationScheme for toothfish adopted at the 1999meeting of CCAMLR parties;

6. URGES those nations whose vessels undertakelong-line fishing in the Southern Ocean toassess their fisheries in terms of seabird mor-tality, if they have not already done so, and ifwarranted, to produce, adopt and implementNational Plans of Action for Reducing Inci-dental Catch of Seabirds in Longline Fisheries(NPOA-Seabirds) in terms of the InternationalPlan of Action (IPOA-Seabirds) adopted by theCommittee on Fisheries of the Food and Agri-culture Organization of the United Nations in1999;

7. STRONGLY ENCOURAGES CCAMLRmembers to further develop and strengthen theexisting precautionary management regime ofthe Antarctic krill fishery, to ensure that theimpact of fishing on krill-dependent species isminimized, particularly in local areas and atcritical times of the year for krill predators;


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8. REQUESTS the IUCN Director General:

(a) in consultation with Parties to theAntarctic Treaty and IUCN members,Commissions and Council, to seek toensure, subject to availability of resources,a balanced and effective set of IUCNAntarctic-related activities, and in particu-lar to support actively:

(i) establishment and management ofnew Antarctic protected areas, withspecial emphasis given to marinesites;

(ii) conclusion of negotiations to elabo-rate rules and procedures relating toliability for environmental damagearising from activities taking placein the Antarctic Treaty area coveredby the Protocol; and

(iii) further steps to ensure that cumula-tive environmental impacts areunderstood and taken into account indecision-making within the Antarc-tic Treaty System;

(b) in consultation with IUCN’s World Com-mission on Protected Areas, to ensure thatthe entire area to which the Protocol onEnvironmental Protection applies is con-sidered for inclusion in future versions ofthe list of protected areas produced by theUNEP World Conservation MonitoringCentre;

(c) in consultation with IUCN’s members,Commissions and Council, as well as Par-ties to CCAMLR, to promote new meas-ures and enforcement of existing meas-ures in order to ensure the viability ofecosystem management of Antarcticmarine ecosystems, and in particular tostop illegal harvesting and other forms ofoverfishing in the region;

(d) to participate in meetings of AntarcticTreaty System components where suchparticipation will contribute to achievingthe objectives referenced above;

(e) to continue and strengthen the capacity ofthe Antarctic Advisory Committee toadvise the IUCN Council, IUCN DirectorGeneral and IUCN Commissions, includ-ing with additional funds and Secretariatsupport; and

(f) to designate the Antarctic Advisory Com-mittee as an inter-Commission TaskGroup, which will allow formal links tobe established with all relevant IUCNCommissions, thereby enhancing effec-tive communication and collaborationwith IUCN members who have expertiseconcerning the Antarctic region;

9. RECOMMENDS that the IUCN Director Gen-eral should:

(a) continue to develop and put forward pol-icy advice, especially on:

(i) effective implementation of theProtocol on Environmental Protec-tion, including the designation ofmarine and terrestrial protectedareas under Annex V of the Envi-ronmental Protocol;

(ii) negotiation of rules and proceduresrelating to liability for environmen-tal damage arising from activitiestaking place in the Antarctic Treatyarea and covered by this Protocol;

(iii) stopping illegal, unreported andunregulated fishing in the oceansaround Antarctica and improvingCCAMLR’s management andenforcement systems; and

(iv) preventing seabird mortality fromby-catch in long-line fisheries;

(b) develop more effective collaboration withIUCN members and other bodies andorganizations which have relevant experi-ence concerning the Antarctic; and

(c) contribute to raising public awarenessabout Antarctic and sub-Antarctic conser-vation issues, through seminars, technicalsessions and publications; and


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10. CALLS ON IUCN members to mobilize theresources needed to enable this Resolution tobe implemented.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan providedthe following statement for the record:

Although this Resolution includes some itemswhich Japan can and does support, such as stepsto stop the illegal, unreported and unregulated(IUU) fishing, other items are problematic. Forexample, no scientific and logical reason is pre-sented to justify the proposed declaration of thewhole Ross Sea as an Antarctic Specially ProtectedArea (ASPA). Therefore, Japan cannot support thisResolution.



Wolfgang Burhenne provided the following state-ment for the record:

The organizations I represent* have voted in favourof [this Resolution] in spite of the fact that a proto-col on liability (legally required in the Protocol Pro-tection of the Antarctic) has not yet been finalized –mainly due to opposition from the US government.

*Schutzgemeinschaft Deutsches Wild (Organisation zurErhaltung der freilebenden Tierwelt), Germany; GermanWater Protection Association; Commission Interna-tionale pour la Protection des Alpes, Liechtenstein;Schutzgemeinschaft Deutscher Wald Bundesverband,Germany; Bund Heimat und Umwelt in Deutschland,Germany; Verband Deutscher Sportfischer, Germany.

3.037 Arctic legal regime forenvironmental protection

RECALLING Resolution 1.7 An IUCN Strategy forthe Arctic and Recommendation 1.106 Protection ofthe Arctic Ocean of the 1st IUCN World Conserva-tion Congress (Montreal, 1996);

RECALLING Resolution 2.22 IUCN’s work inthe Arctic of the 2nd IUCN World Conservation

Congress (Amman, 2000), recognizing the circum-polar Arctic as a priority ecosystem for IUCN;

NOTING the release of the study entitled ArcticLegal Regime for Environmental Protection, IUCNEnvironmental Policy and Law Paper no. 44, initi-ated by the IUCN Environmental Law Centre (ELC)and the International Council of Environmental Law(ICEL), and representing an initial inquiry intowhether the current approach can adequatelyaddress threats to the Arctic;

NOTING the meeting of experts held in Ottawa,Canada from 24–25 March 2004, convened by theELC and ICEL as a follow-up to the above-namedstudy, which resulted in an indicative list of issuesrequiring further analysis, while paying particularattention to preserving the ecosystem and whilerespecting the needs of indigenous peoples and localcommunities; and

EXPRESSING GRATITUDE to the Government ofCanada for providing logistical support to the meet-ing in Ottawa, and to other government authoritiesfor sending officials to participate in the meeting, aswell as to the Elizabeth Haub Foundation for Envi-ronmental Policy and Law, Canada;


1. REQUESTS the IUCN Director General, onbehalf of IUCN, to continue to cooperate withvarious groups and programmes under the Arc-tic Council’s work;

2. REQUESTS the IUCN Commission on Envi-ronmental Law (CEL) to participate in thework of the Arctic Council, if needed, by mak-ing its services and expertise available to theArctic Council in relation to appropriate legalframeworks; and

3. REQUESTS that the reports of the meetingsheld in March 2004 in Ottawa be distributed tothe Arctic Council and the Arctic indigenouspeoples represented in the Council, and thatsteps be taken to ensure that the Arctic Counciland Arctic indigenous peoples are involved inany further relevant work programmes involv-ing the CEL.


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3.038 Conservation andsustainable development ofmountain regions

NOTING that mountain regions occur on all conti-nents, occupy almost a quarter of the Earth’s terres-trial surface, and are inhabited by almost one eighthof the world’s human population;

RECOGNIZING that mountain regions providevital goods and services to at least half the globalpopulation, including the provision of not onlywater, food, forest products, and minerals, but alsoplaces for recreation and tourism, and are of spiri-tual value;

ACKNOWLEDGING the increased awareness ofthe values of mountain regions that resulted fromthe International Year of Mountains, 2002, duringwhich the World Summit on Sustainable Develop-ment, in Johannesburg, South Africa, specificallyaddressed mountain regions in Chapter 42 of itsPlan of Implementation;

ACKNOWLEDGING the establishment of theInternational Partnership for Sustainable Develop-ment in Mountain Regions, which, in Resolution57/245, adopted at its 78th plenary meeting on 20December 2002, the General Assembly of theUnited Nations invited the international communityand other relevant partners to join;

FURTHER RECOGNIZING that mountain regionssupport distinctive ecosystems and species consti-tuting an important component of global biodiver-sity, and that these include animals, plants and otherorganisms of economic importance, including theancestors of many of the world’s major crops;

HAVING CONSIDERED the Programme of Workon Mountain Biological Diversity adopted by the 7th

Conference of Parties to the Convention on Biolog-ical Diversity – CBD (Kuala Lumpur, 2004);

RECOGNIZING the large number of projects under-taken in mountain regions by IUCN and its members;

RECALLING Resolution 2.45 Conservation ofmountain ecosystems in Europe, which was adoptedby the 2nd IUCN World Conservation Congress(Amman, 2000);

RECALLING Recommendation V.6 StrengtheningMountain Protected Areas as a Key Contribution toSustainable Mountain Development, which wasnoted by the Vth IUCN World Parks Congress (Dur-ban, 2003); and

APPRECIATING the joint establishment of theMountain Initiative Task Force by the Chairs of theIUCN Commission on Ecosystem Management andthe IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas;


1. CALLS ON national governments, interna-tional agencies and the non-governmentalcommunity, in particular those that are mem-bers of IUCN, to implement the effective con-servation and sustainable use of the biologicaldiversity and ecosystem resources of mountainregions, as called for in the CBD Programmeof Work on Mountain Biological Diversity andin other recent fora cited in the preamble; and

2. URGES the IUCN Director General to recog-nize the vital global importance of IUCN activ-ities in mountain regions in contributing toIUCN’s Global Programme, particularly withregard to Key Result Area 5 of the IUCN Inter-sessional Programme 2005–2008 on Ecosys-tems and Sustainable Livelihoods, by:

(a) considering the expansion of the Moun-tain Initiative Task Force to include rep-resentatives from all relevant Commis-sions and Programmes of IUCN in orderto ensure that IUCN takes a comprehen-sive, Union-wide approach to its activi-ties in mountain regions;

(b) making appropriate provision to theMountain Initiative Task Force to under-take a critical review of past and current


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projects of IUCN and its members inmountain regions, in order to widely pro-mote and facilitate the sharing of lessonslearned from experience with mountain-related policy and practice;

(c) Ensuring that IUCN engages fully in theInternational Partnership for SustainableDevelopment in Mountain Regions and inthe implementation of the CBD Pro-gramme of Work on Mountain BiologicalDiversity, capitalizing on its unique anddiverse membership and its conveningcapacity to contribute to improved policy-making for conservation and sustainabledevelopment in mountain regions; and

(d) Ensuring that IUCN works with membercountries and organizations in conduct-ing its mountain initiatives by engagingin local and regional partnershiparrangements.



3.039 The Mediterraneanmountain partnership

NOTING that the mountain ranges of the Mediter-ranean cover about 1.7 million square kilometres,equivalent to 21 percent of the combined surfacearea of all the countries concerned, and are home to66 million people, representing 16 percent of theregion’s total population;

CONSCIOUS of the fundamental role that moun-tain systems have played over centuries – and con-tinue to play today – in ensuring the resources nec-essary for the development of coastal areas and theirsettlements;

RECOGNIZING the direct influence that mountainshave on plains and coastal urban areas, home to 60to 80 percent of the population of the Mediterraneancountries, particularly with regard to the stability ofhydro-geological cycles and the quantity, qualityand availability of water resources;

RECOGNIZING that today the majority of cleanfreshwater, timber products and agricultural andlivestock supplies to the coastal cities of Mediter-ranean countries in Europe, the Middle East andNorth Africa come from mountains;

CONSIDERING that the Mediterranean biogeo-graphic region is one of the world’s richest in termsof biodiversity and at the same time among thosemost threatened by desertification, climate changeand other land transformation processes, and thatthe highest concentration of biodiversity andendemic species are in its mountain areas;

NOTING that many areas of high biodiversity valueare located in the geographical context of theMediterranean mountains, such as the many Impor-tant Bird Areas and Important Plant Areas found inthese mountains;

RECOGNIZING that the rich biodiversity in theMediterranean area is intimately connected to andlargely the result of the landscape diversity resultingfrom the interaction over millennia between environ-mental conditions and human cultures and identities;

NOTING that existing protected areas in theMediterranean basin are found mostly in mountainareas;

CONSIDERING the diverse systems of protectedareas that cover the Mediterranean mountains (Alps,Apennines, Littoral and pre-littoral CatalanCordillera, Sierra Morena, Dinaric Alps, Atlas, Tau-rus, etc.) and that, if adequately coordinated, willpromote sustainability of the vast territorial andenvironmental systems of which they are part;

CONSIDERING that the goal of conserving biolog-ical diversity heritage and particularly that of theMediterranean mountains is intimately linked tostrategies for local development and for the rein-forcement of landscape and cultural protection;

RECALLING Chapter 13, Managing FragileEcosystems: Sustainable Mountain Development, ofAgenda 21 of the United Nations Conference onEnvironment and Development (UNCED, Rio deJaneiro, 1992), inviting all those countries withmountains to strengthen their national capacity forsustainable development of mountain areas and toprepare long-term action plans for these areas;


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CONSIDERING the work in progress through theMountain Group of the Convention on BiologicalDiversity (CBD);

RECALLING Recommendation V.6 noted by the Vth

IUCN World Parks Congress (Durban, 2003),Strengthening Mountain Protected Areas as a KeyContribution to Sustainable Mountain Development;

RECALLING the Convention for the Protection ofthe Mediterranean Sea Against Pollution adopted inBarcelona in 1976, and that management policiesfor mountain areas can provide an important contri-bution to its implementation, tackling at source theproblems and key issues affecting river mouths,coastal and marine areas;

RECALLING the final documents of the BishkekGlobal Mountain Summit and the JohannesburgWorld Summit on Sustainable Development, bothheld in 2002, which reinforce the calls to action andthe definition of priority actions for sustainabledevelopment in mountain areas;

RECALLING ongoing conservation developmentsin the Mediterranean, such as the Pyrenees Conven-tion, the Alpine Convention, and other ‘system proj-ects’ based on protected areas and covering:

(a) the littoral and pre-littoral Catalan Cordillera;

(b) the Sierra Morena in Andalusia; and

(c) the Apennine Park of Europe (APE);

RECALLING the Naples Declaration agreed by theIUCN Members’ Conference of MediterraneanCountries held in June 2004, in which IUCN and allMediterranean countries are requested to coordinatetheir actions aiming to promote strategic plans forthe conservation of the most significant environ-mental systems of the Mediterranean, such asmountain areas, large watersheds, coastal marinesystems, islands and the open sea;

NOTING the absence, for Mediterranean moun-tains, of specific environmental policies to promotethe sustainable development of investments foraccess to basic services (particularly education andhealth care), and for the creation of new employ-ment opportunities based on the promotion of natu-ral, landscape and cultural resource heritage; and

CONSIDERING the importance that the Mediter-ranean mountain partnership can have in promotingpolicies of cooperation and sharing of responsibili-ties among national and regional institutions, andfriendship and fraternity among communities andpeoples still involved in national, cultural and reli-gious conflicts;


1. CALLS on national, regional and local institu-tions to promote national and, where appropri-ate, transnational plans of action, for each ofthe major mountain ranges of the Mediter-ranean for the conservation and improved sta-tus of their richness in biological, landscapeand cultural diversity;

2. REQUESTS that these action plans provide foran important role for protected areas in imple-menting actions and policies towards the sus-tainable development of the environmental andterritorial systems in which they are located;

3. URGES that these action plans assist localinstitutions and communities to be proactivein the promotion and implementation ofactions, and to reinforce their capacity forundertaking integrated and coordinated terri-torial initiatives;

4. REQUESTS that these action plans:

(a) represent an opportunity for coordination,integration, implementation, applicationand experimentation of the provisions ofprojects and initiatives at national andinternational levels, aiming at the protec-tion and management of the resources,landscapes, and the common heritage ofthe Mediterranean mountains; and

(b) be recognized as a political and institu-tional basis for cooperation amongnational, regional and local institutions,stakeholders and protected area authorities;

5. URGES Mediterranean governments to agreeon working towards a partnership for Mediter-ranean mountains, including the organization


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of a forum to be held before the next IUCNWorld Conservation Congress; and

6. REQUESTS the IUCN Director General topromote and facilitate the establishment of thispartnership among all relevant parties toimplement the above actions.




3.040 Transboundarycooperation in mountainareas

RECALLING Resolution 2.45 Conservation ofmountain ecosystems in Europe adopted at the 2nd

IUCN World Conservation Congress (Amman,2000);

RECALLING Chapter 13 of Agenda 21;

NOTING the successful conclusion of the Interna-tional Year of Mountains and its culminating event,the Global Mountain Summit held at Bishkek, Kyr-gyzstan, 29 October–1 November 2002;

WELCOMING the entry into force of the AlpineConvention and its eight Implementation Protocols;

FURTHER COMMENDING the signing of theFramework Convention on the Protection and Sus-tainable Development of the Carpathians(Carpathian Convention), at Kiev, Ukraine on 22May 2003; and

WELCOMING the fact that IUCN has joined theInternational Partnership for Sustainable Develop-ment of Mountain Regions;



(a) transmit a note to Parties to the Alpine Con-vention congratulating them for initiating theimplementation process of the Convention andits eight Protocols, commending them espe-cially for the introduction of a compliancereview mechanism of model character, as wellas encouraging them to continue their work onconcluding further Implementation Protocols;

(b) apply for observer status with the CarpathianConvention and assist its Secretariat and Par-ties in the further development and success-ful implementation of this Framework Con-vention; and

(c) in cooperation with the other components ofIUCN, initiate a study identifying where thedevelopment of legal frameworks for trans-boundary cooperation on sustainable develop-ment in mountain areas would be a practicableand realistic option.



3.041 Protection of the MacalRiver Valley in Belize

RECALLING that the 2nd World Conservation Con-gress (Amman, 2000) adopted Recommendation2.86 Protection of the Macal River Valley in Belize;

RECALLING that Recommendation 2.86 identifiedthe tropical forests of Belize as providing some ofthe richest and best-preserved habitat for endan-gered flora and fauna in Central America, and inparticular, described the outstanding conservationvalues of Belize’s Macal River Valley, an area thatfeatures important habitat for species of interna-tional significance, including the Jaguar (Pantheraonca), Morelet’s Crocodile (Crocodylus moreletii),Belize’s national animal, the Central American


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Tapir (Tapirus bairdii), and a local sub-species ofScarlet Macaw (Ara macao cyanoptera), numberingfewer than 200 in Belize;

RECALLING that Recommendation 2.86 alsoreferred to the proposal to build a hydroelectric stor-age dam, known as the ‘Chalillo Project’ on theUpper Macal River, which would flood parts of theprotected Mountain Pine Ridge Forest Reserve,Chiquibul Forest Reserve, and parts of theChiquibul National Park;

FURTHER RECALLING that Recommendation 2.86:

(a) Urged the sponsors of the Chalillo Project toconduct a fully transparent and participatoryenvironmental impact assessment (EIA) of theproposed hydroelectricity facility, and to agreeto terminate the project unless such EIA showsthat the project would not cause significantdegradation or destruction of wildlife habitatand the natural environment;

(b) Called on the government of Belize to requirethat a fully transparent and participatory EIAbe conducted for the project and not to allowconstruction of the project unless such an EIAshowed that the project would not cause sig-nificant degradation or destruction of wildlifehabitat and the natural environment; and

(c) Requested the IUCN Director General to pro-vide technical and scientific support to Belizeduring the preparation, review and evaluationof the EIA;

FURTHER RECALLING that the 2nd World Con-servation Congress adopted Recommendation 2.87Protected areas and the Mesoamerican BiologicalCorridor, which highlighted the various initiativessigned and supported by regional governments con-cerning the Corridor, and which called on the Statesof Mesoamerica to continue implementation of, andcompliance with, their regional and internationalenvironmental commitments;

NOTING that the Belize Electricity CompanyLimited (BECOL), owned by Fortis Inc. of New-foundland, Canada, submitted an EIA of theChalillo Project, prepared with financial supportfrom the Government of Canada, to the Govern-ment of Belize in August, 2001;

AWARE that the wildlife study for the EIA, con-ducted by the Natural History Museum of London,concluded that the project would cause significantdegradation and destruction of wildlife habitat andthe natural environment, resulting in “significantand irreversible reduction of biological diversity inBelize” and the “fragmentation of the proposedMesoamerican Biological Corridor”;

AWARE that this wildlife study recommended thatif a decision were made to continue planning for theproject, substantial additional research about thepotential impacts on wildlife should be undertaken,and stated that “much more information is requiredfor an informed and defensible decision”;

NOTING that IUCN Mesoamerica provided atechnical analysis of the EIA that concluded thatthe EIA was insufficient and required “more bio-logical, ecological, geological, hydrological andsocio-economic baseline studies, from which tohave a justified and solid final decision”;

AWARE that the National Environmental AppraisalCommittee (NEAC) of Belize nonethelessapproved the EIA, that the Department of Environ-ment allowed the project to go forward, that thecourts refused to overturn such approval, and thatconstruction began in May 2003 and is currentlyongoing;

NOTING that approval for the Chalillo Project wasconditional upon fulfilment of an environmentalcompliance plan that includes studies of the safetyand geological suitability of the site, studies of theMaya heritage sites that would be affected by theproject, monitoring of the project site and evalua-tion of the construction effects on wildlife and thenatural environment;

FURTHER NOTING that access to the projectconstruction site has been restricted and that thereis no publicly available information about anyfollow-up to the studies and assessments referredto above, including the results of any archaeolog-ical or monitoring studies, or studies of theeffects of construction on wildlife and the naturalenvironment;

REAFFIRMING the view expressed in Recom-mendation 2.86 that all decisions regarding theproject must take into account the best interests of


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the people of Belize and their desire to achieve bal-anced development; and

RECOGNIZING that a public and transparentaccounting of the benefits and effects of this projectserves the best interest of the people of Belize;


1. CALLS on the Government of Belize to createan independent commission of national andinternational experts, including those identi-fied by local communities, to:

(a) investigate and report on the potentialbenefits of the project, as well as theimpacts of the continued construction ofthe project on public safety, water qualityfor downstream communities, wildlifepopulations, and on the MesoamericanBiological Corridor; and

(b) include in this report recommendationsfor future action, including measures tominimize harmful impacts on wildlifeand wildlife habitat, and steps to ensurecompliance with these measures;

2. CALLS on BECOL and Fortis Inc. to makeavailable to the public, and to any such com-mission as referred to in paragraph 1 above, allavailable data that are relevant to the project’spotential benefits, safety issues, and environ-mental effects; and

3. REQUESTS the IUCN Director General toprovide, to the extent possible, technical andscientific support for the proposed commissionto assist in determining the project construc-tion impacts on public safety, water quality andwildlife populations, and on the MesoamericanBiological Corridor.

The Environment Department, Norway, providedthe following statement for the record:

We regard [this resolution] as debating an internalmatter and will urge members not to forward suchresolutions to a world congress as it is out of line forothers to take a stand on it.




3.042 Biodiversity in SouthernSudan

RECALLING the 20-year old war in the southernregions of Sudan and its tragic impacts such as thedeaths of millions of people and animals, extensivedestruction of property, displacement of about fourmillion citizens and widespread decline in livingconditions to sub-human standards;

MINDFUL of the serious damage inflicted by thewar on natural ecosystems including the eighteenprotected areas and one of the world’s most exten-sive wetlands (the Sudd region) together with spe-cial habitats such as the equatorial mountain areas;

THANKFUL to the international community for itsefforts in promoting the conclusion of the peaceagreement and for its promised support; and

CONSCIOUS of the fact that during the six-yeartransitional period provided for in the agreement,the priorities of donors will centre on resettlementof the displaced population, rehabilitation of urbanand rural support systems, creation of livelihoodopportunities, construction of infrastructure andprovision of basic services;

The World Conservation Congress at its 3rd Ses-sion in Bangkok, Thailand, 17–25 November2004;


(a) assess the impacts of the war on the naturalresources of southern Sudan with an emphasison special habitats and protected areas;


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(b) develop a conservation strategy for southernSudan; and

(c) develop urgent action programmes for address-ing conservation and sustainable developmentissues such as capacity building for biodiver-sity conservation, and management of pro-tected areas and special habitats.




3.043 Resource-based conflicts inDarfur, Sudan

NOTING the fragile arid and semi-arid ecosystemof the Darfur region in western Sudan, which hasbeen subjected to recurrent droughts and intensivedesertification;

ALSO NOTING that human and domestic animalpopulation increases from within the region, inSudan as well as in neighbouring countries, coupledwith environmental conditions, are leading to seri-ous degradation of the environment and destructivecompetition over land resources between settledcultivators and nomadic pastoralists, and are alsoleading to famines;

CONSCIOUS of the transboundary movement ofhumans and animals, the easy proliferation offirearms into the area and the failure of governmentsto sustainably manage land resources for the differ-ent users; and

ALARMED by the fact that the ongoing conflicthas persisted for more than 16 months and hasclaimed many lives, destroyed properties anddisplaced at least a million citizens and that the

war which started as a resource-based conflictcould develop into an ethnic war and couldspread into other regions of Sudan and neigh-bouring countries;


REQUESTS the IUCN Director General, as securityconditions allow, to:

(a) recommend to the Government of Sudandevelopment of a conservation strategy for theDarfur region with special emphasis on areasprone to desertification;

(b) contribute to the design of a land-use plan forDarfur to ensure sustainability of naturalresources for all users;

(c) assist development of management plans foreach of Jebel Mara, Radom National Park andWadi Howar National Park incorporating sus-tainable development as well as biodiversityconservation; and

(d) promote the building of local capacity for nat-ural resource management.




3.044 The Haitian environmentalcrisis

CONSIDERING the extreme degradation of theenvironment in Haiti and the ensuing threats tobiodiversity;


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ALARMED that the degradation of the Haitianenvironment has now reached a stage where it iscapable of causing loss of life on a massive scale (aswas proven during recent hurricanes);

CONCERNED that this degradation and the ensu-ing loss of biodiversity is accelerating and will con-tinue to have negative impacts on the environment;and

UNDERSTANDING that socio-economic recoveryand development, the protection of lives and liveli-hoods, the protection of biodiversity, and the bene-fits of a healthy environment in Haiti are all inextri-cably linked;

The World Conservation Congress at its 3rd ses-sion in Bangkok, Thailand, 17–25 November,2004:

PROPOSES that the IUCN Director General,IUCN’s members, Commissions and partners pro-mote greater understanding of the environmentalconditions in Haiti, in order to undertake immediateand substantial efforts at environmental remediation.




3.045 Ganges, Brahmaputra andMeghna RiversCommission

RECALLING that the Plan of Implementation ofthe World Summit on Sustainable Development(Johannesburg, 2002) included Integrated WaterResources Management as an important goal andthat the Millennium Development Goals also high-light the importance of sustainable water resourcesdevelopment;

RECOGNIZING that IUCN can provide a forum fordiscussion of sustainable natural resource manage-ment, including water resource development, andthe importance of saving the natural systems ofrivers and of encouraging the principle of low flow,in keeping with international norms and practicesand relevant United Nations conventions; and

RECALLING Resolution 19.1 The Strategy ofIUCN – The World Conservation Union, which wasadopted by the 19th IUCN General Assembly(Buenos Aires, 1994), and which states that IUCNmust give particular support to its members indeveloping countries;


1. CALLS UPON civil society and governmentsin the Ganges, Brahmaputra and MeghnaRivers Basin Area to promote dialogue andcooperation towards sustainable developmentof international water resources;

2. URGES all bilateral and multilateral devel-opment assistance agencies and other gov-ernment agencies to support a Ganges,Brahmaputra and Meghna Rivers Commis-sion, to promote regional cooperation andsustainable management of internationalwater resources; and

3. URGES the IUCN Director General, in con-sultation with IUCN Commissions and mem-bers to promote basin-wide river managementand regional cooperation in all internationalriver basins and, to this end, help the processof setting up a Ganges, Brahmaputra andMeghna Rivers Commission by providinginformation and technical support with theaim of sustainable development of interna-tional water resources and conservation of nat-ural river systems.

The Ministry of Environment and Forests, Indiaprovided the following statement for the record:

Integrated Water Resources Management ofGanges, Brahmaputra and Meghna Rivers is pri-marily a bilateral issue between respective coun-tries of the region. It is therefore important that


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such bilateral issues have wider stakeholder con-sultations and consensus is evolved at the politicallevel. Such a motion may set a bad precedence.

While we share technical expertise and interna-tional experiences in this regard, we urged that themotion be withdrawn.




3.046 Conservation in regions inviolent conflict of WestAsia – strengtheningIUCN’s presence to protectthe natural and humanenvironment

NOTING with concern the detrimental impacts ofwar and violent conflict on natural and humanenvironments;

TAKING into account in particular the use of inter-nationally banned weapons and radioactive materialsuch as depleted uranium, and the erection of segre-gating walls;

ALARMED at the continued violence, disastrousenvironmental impacts and loss of human life inWest Asia;

DEEPLY CONCERNED by the resulting degrada-tion of land and biodiversity in the region, includingglobally significant wetland areas and some of therichest sources of world agro-biodiversity, and itssevere impacts on the food sovereignty and foodsecurity of the people;

AWARE that conflict-related activities (destructionof homes, infrastructure, habitats, forests and agri-cultural lands and pollution of water) have equallydetrimental impacts on ecosystems, including soil,water and biota and seriously compromise the liveli-hoods and welfare of present and future generations;

RECOGNIZING that socio-economic and politicalstability are necessary for ensuring environmentalsecurity and ecological integrity in the region;

AFFIRMING that only just peace processes lead toopportunities to protect the environment and humanlife in the region;

RECALLING Principles 23, 24 and 25 of the RioDeclaration on Environment and Developmentadopted by the United Nations Conference on Envi-ronment and Development (Rio de Janeiro, 1992);

REMINDED of Recommendation 2.98 To securethe environment of Gaza Strip, West Bank, andJerusalem adopted by the 2nd World ConservationCongress (Amman, 2000);

CONSIDERING that the Vision of IUCN is to cre-ate “A just world that values and conserves nature”,and that this Vision includes peace and respect forhuman rights; and

TAKING into account the Observer Status of IUCNwithin the United Nations;


1. REQUESTS the IUCN Director General, incollaboration with relevant IUCN Commis-sions, members and other partners, tostrengthen the influence and activities of theUnion in war-torn West Asia through:

(a) arranging a comprehensive and participa-tory assessment of the environmentalimpacts of violent conflicts in Palestine,Iraq, Afghanistan and Kuwait, withinavailable resources and the prevailingsecurity situation;

(b) highlighting and disseminating informa-tion concerning the consequences of


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conflicts and occupation on biodiversity,natural resources and sustainable liveli-hoods in the region, with particular refer-ence to the segregating wall in Palestine,declared as illegal according to the advi-sory opinion of the International Court ofJustice;

(c) promoting capacity-building for officialconservation agencies and non-govern-mental organizations, and developingfield programmes for the restoration ofbiodiversity and sustainable livelihoodsin the region, in collaboration with inter-ested members and other partners;

(d) convening relevant actors at local,national, regional and international levelsto develop and implement solutions to theproblems of transboundary ecosystems inthe region;

(e) appealing to the international communityto prevent further deterioration of biodi-versity and natural heritage in the region;and

(f) collaborating with the United Nations andother international organizations to pro-mote respect for human life and environ-mental principles and to ensure the pro-tection of livelihoods, life-supportingecosystems and biodiversity consistentwith international law; and

2. CALLS UPON donors, specifically thosefocusing on West Asia, to provide financialsupport for the above activities as well as forother environmental restoration programmesin Palestine, Iraq, Afghanistan and Kuwait.



The United States believes that the World Conser-vation Congress should not consider this resolu-tion. Whereas the resolution contains some useful

elements related to some very real conservationneeds, these elements are unfortunately lost in polit-ical rhetoric that is outside the mandate of IUCN.State and agency members United States votedagainst this motion.

3.047 Durban Action Plan andCBD Programme of Workon Protected Areas

RECALLING the Vth IUCN World Parks Congress(WPC), generously hosted by South Africa in Dur-ban, 8–17 September 2003, which adopted the Dur-ban Accord, and the Message to the Convention onBiological Diversity on the importance of protectedareas and noted the Durban Action Plan and the 32Recommendations;

WELCOMING the achievements of the WPC andin particular its success in influencing the decisionsof the 7th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties tothe Convention on Biological Diversity – CBD(Kuala Lumpur, 2004);

NOTING in particular the welcome adoption of aDecision and Programme of Work on ProtectedAreas (CBD Decision VII/28), which stronglyreflects guidance from the WPC, and includes animportant set of tasks specifically addressed toIUCN and its World Commission on ProtectedAreas;

ALSO NOTING the joint non-governmental organ-ization (NGO) commitment on protected areasmade during the 7th Conference of the Parties, whereBirdLife International, Conservation International,Fauna and Flora International, The Nature Conser-vancy, Wildlife Conservation Society, World WideFund For Nature, and World Resources Institute allcommitted themselves to supporting Governmentsin implementing the CBD Programme of Work onProtected Areas;

WELCOMING the collaborative approach betweengovernments and civil society that has beenenhanced for the implementation of this Programmeof Work, and in particular the establishment ofagreements between countries and national NGOsfor this purpose; and


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BELIEVING that IUCN should give urgent atten-tion and priority to the actions called for in Durbanand Kuala Lumpur, as there are now greater andmore precise international and inter-governmentalexpectations of IUCN in the field of protected areas;


1. REQUESTS the IUCN Director General toensure that IUCN-led actions in the DurbanAction Plan that have been incorporated intorelevant components of the IUCN Interses-sional Programme 2005–2008 are undertakenin a timely and effective way; and

2. DECIDES that actively supporting the CBDProgramme of Work on Protected Areas bemade a programmatic priority for all relevantIUCN component programmes, including atnational and regional levels.

3.048 IUCN Guidelines forprotected areamanagement categories

RECALLING the endorsement of the protected areamanagement categories by the IUCN GeneralAssembly at its 19th Session, held in Buenos Aires inJanuary 1994 (Resolution 19.4 National Parks andProtected Areas), which led to the publication of the1994 IUCN Guidelines on this topic;

WELCOMING the results of the research workSpeaking a Common Language undertaken in prepa-ration for the Vth IUCN World Parks Congress –WPC (Durban, 2003) on the impact of the IUCN pro-tected area management categories, the final reportof which was completed in preparation for the pres-ent Congress and which contains valuable lessons onthe operation and development of the system;

WELCOMING Recommendation V.19 IUCN Pro-tected Area Management Categories noted by theWPC, which clarifies the role of the system as “aninternationally recognized conceptual and practi-cal framework for the planning, management andmonitoring of protected areas”, and which makes anumber of recommendations that seek to improve

use of the categories at national and internationallevels;

MINDFUL of the importance of Decision VII/28 ofthe Conference of Parties to the Convention on Bio-logical Diversity (CBD), which, inter alia, calls ongovernments and relevant organizations to assignprotected area management categories to their pro-tected areas and to provide information consistentwith the IUCN protected area management cate-gories for reporting purposes;

RECOGNIZING that there is a need to broadenunderstanding of the IUCN protected area manage-ment categories in order to respond to Recommen-dation V.19 noted by the WPC and CBD DecisionVII/28; and

WELCOMING the action of the World Commissionon Protected Areas (WCPA) in setting up a TaskForce on the system of protected area managementcategories;


1. REAFFIRMS the value to conservation of the1994 system of protected area managementcategories, and in particular, that the six-cate-gory, objectives-based approach should remainthe essential foundation for the system;

2. REQUESTS the IUCN Director General,WCPA, and other IUCN Commissions asappropriate, to work closely together to:

(a) undertake, as a priority, a review andupdate of the 1994 IUCN Guidelines onProtected Area Management Categories,including their application in marineareas;

(b) work with governments on the applica-tion and use of the IUCN protected areamanagement category system as part oftheir response to CBD Decision VII/28;and

(c) in light of (b), develop and implementprogrammes for further guidance, aware-ness raising, capacity building, monitoring


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and research, along the lines indicated inRecommendation V.19 noted by the Vth

IUCN World Parks Congress and takinginto account the lessons learnt fromSpeaking a Common Language, with theaim of improving the effectiveness of theapplication and use of the category sys-tem, and specifically including improvedassignment of categories of protectedareas; and

3. ENCOURAGES all IUCN members to sup-port governments in implementing the aboveprogrammes.

3.049 Community ConservedAreas

AWARE that a considerable part of the Earth’s sur-viving biodiversity is located on territories under theownership, control, and/or management of indige-nous peoples and local communities, includingmobile peoples;

NOTING that such peoples and communities areconserving many sites within these territoriesthrough traditional or other means, and that suchsites: add considerably to humanity’s efforts to pro-tect and conserve biodiversity, serve as examples ofhow to reconcile the objectives of conservation,livelihood, food sovereignty, and local sustainabledevelopment, and often demonstrate how to managediverse landscapes and seascapes that contain bothwildlife and agricultural diversity;

RECALLING Recommendation V.26 CommunityConserved Areas noted by the Vth IUCN WorldParks Congress (Durban, 2003) which defines Com-munity Conserved Areas (CCAs) as “natural ormodified ecosystems, including significant biodi-versity, ecological services, and cultural values, vol-untarily conserved by indigenous peoples and localcommunities through customary laws or other effec-tive means”, and provides a clear direction on theneed to recognize and support CCAs;

RECOGNIZING that the world includes a wealth ofCCAs that meet the objectives of at least one of theprotected area categories in the IUCN protected areamanagement categories system;

WELCOMING the relevant parts of the DurbanAccord and the specific targeted actions for therecognition and support of CCAs, in the Programmeof Work on Protected Areas, adopted by decisionVII/28 of the 7th Conference of the Parties to theConvention on Biological Diversity – CBD (KualaLumpur, 2004);

AWARE that, at present, most CCAs remain unrec-ognized in national and international conservationsystems, and are largely outside official protectedarea networks;

RECOGNIZING that many CCAs are facingthreats, such as those resulting from unclear andinsecure tenure arrangements, unsustainable devel-opment projects, de-legitimization of customaryrights, centralized political decision-makingprocesses, inequities of a social, economic andpolitical nature, loss of knowledge, cultural change,and commercialization of resources; and that com-munities need support and facilitation to be able torespond to these threats; and

CELEBRATING the importance given to CCAs inthe CBD Programme of Work on Protected Areas;

The World Conservation Congress, at its 3rd Ses-sion in Bangkok, Thailand 17–25 November2004:

1. RECOGNIZES and affirms the conservationsignificance of Community Conserved Areas(CCAs) and the role of indigenous peoples andlocal communities, including mobile peoples,in managing such sites;

2. URGES IUCN to provide leadership and sup-portive roles in local, national, and interna-tional recognition of CCAs, including through:

(a) promoting the recognition of CCAs as alegitimate form of biodiversity conserva-tion, and where appropriate and commu-nities so choose, their inclusion withinnational and subnational systems of pro-tected areas;

(b) providing guidance and case materials tomembers, countries and communities,that would help in the implementation ofthe Durban Action Plan and the relevant


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elements of the CBD Programme of Workon Protected Areas;

(c) supporting existing CCAs, and facilitatingnew ones, through measures includingsupport to the restitution of traditional andcustomary rights, consistent with nationallaws, and other means considered appro-priate by the communities concerned;

(d) advocating support to communities toprotect CCAs against external threats, byapplying the principles of Prior InformedConsent, participatory environmentalimpact assessments, and other measuresas elaborated in CBD decision VII/28;and

(e) facilitating self-monitoring and evalua-tion of CCAs by relevant communities,participatory monitoring and evaluationby outside agencies/actors, and the estab-lishment of effective mechanisms ofinternal and external accountability;

3. REQUESTS the World Commission on Pro-tected Areas (WCPA) to:

(a) ensure that the concept of CCAs formspart of the governance dimension in theforthcoming revised IUCN Guidelines onprotected area management categories,and work towards identifying examplesof CCAs that fit into each of the cate-gories;

(b) guide relevant bodies in the revisions to,or updating of, the World Database onProtected Areas, the UN List of ProtectedAreas, the State of the World’s ProtectedAreas, and any other such databases ordocuments to ensure appropriate inclu-sion of CCAs;

(c) promote the conservation values ofCCAs; and

(d) include substantive work on CCAs withinits 2005–2008 programme;

4. REQUESTS the Commission on Environmen-tal, Economic, and Social Policy (CEESP) to:

(a) commission or support inventories andparticipatory studies of CCAs in variousparts of the world, in particular regardingbest practices and lessons learnt so far;

(b) guide relevant national and internationalbodies on issues at the interface of CCAsand livelihoods, food security and foodsovereignty, poverty eradication,equity/gender and other social issues(including problems of human-wildlifeconflicts); and

(c) facilitate the development of guidelinesfor the participatory assessment and mon-itoring of CCAs;

5. URGES WCPA and CEESP to work togetheron the above activities, with other IUCN Com-missions as appropriate; and

6. REQUESTS the IUCN Director General todevelop Secretariat capacity and specific ini-tiatives for carrying out the above effectively.

3.050 Integrating protected areasystems into the widerlandscape

AWARE that for protected areas to be effective, andto achieve biodiversity conservation and othergoals, they must be managed in the context of thebroader landscape and seascape;

UNDERLINING the importance of conservation ofbiological diversity not only within, but also out-side, protected areas in order to achieve a signifi-cant reduction of the rate of biodiversity loss by2010;

RECALLING the Message of the Vth IUCN WorldParks Congress (WPC, Durban, 2003) to the Con-vention on Biological Diversity (CBD), whichstates that the global system of protected areasneeds to comprise an ecologically representativeand coherent network of land and sea areas, includ-ing protected areas, corridors and buffer zones, andcharacterized by interconnectivity with the land-scape and existing socio-economic structures andinstitutions;


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RECALLING the decision of the 7th Conference ofParties to the CBD that by 2015 all protected areasand protected area systems are to be integrated intothe wider land- and seascape, and relevant sectors,by applying the Ecosystem Approach and takinginto account ecological connectivity and the conceptof ecological networks;

AWARE that protected areas, ecological networks,corridors, buffer zones, rehabilitated and restoredhabitats, and ecosystems can provide opportunitiesfor protection of ecological services, stakeholderparticipation and sustainable planning and manage-ment, thus meeting the objectives of conserving bio-diversity, sustainable use of biological diversity, theequitable sharing of benefits, and social and eco-nomic development;

RECOGNIZING that the presence and needs ofhuman populations consistent with biodiversity con-servation within and in the vicinity of protectedareas should be reflected in the overall design andmanagement of protected areas and the surroundinglandscapes;

ACKNOWLEDGING the importance of engagingindigenous and local communities and relevantstakeholders in participatory planning and gover-nance, recalling the principles of the EcosystemApproach; and

AWARE that the challenges of climate changerequire broad conservation strategies that includeelements such as the creation of new protected areasthat are specifically designed to be resilient tochange and the creation of corridors to protect bio-diversity from the effects of climate change;


1. URGES IUCN, in accordance with the CBDProgramme of Work on Protected Areas, toactively support the development of appropri-ate measures to integrate regional, national andsubnational systems of protected areas intobroader land- and seascapes, inter alia throughthe establishment and management of ecologi-cal networks, ecological corridors and/orbuffer zones, where appropriate, to maintainecological processes and also taking intoaccount the needs of migratory species;

2. ENCOURAGES IUCN to promote the appli-cation of the Ecosystem Approach and supportinvolvement of all relevant sectors and localand indigenous communities, NGOs and pri-vate enterprises in the management of pro-tected areas, ecological networks, bufferzones, corridors and areas which are the focusof ecological restoration;

3. ENCOURAGES IUCN to continue work onthe identification of opportunities for adequatefunding of protected areas and ecological net-works, including through the ecological serv-ices they provide and the marketing of the ben-efits of sustainable management;

4. REQUESTS IUCN to contribute to the devel-opment of programmes for communication,education and public awareness in support ofpolicy approaches that integrate protected areasystems in the wider landscape and seascape;and

5. CALLS on IUCN to assist in mainstreamingprotected areas and other areas important forbiodiversity into national and internationaldevelopment planning and policy, particularlypoverty-reduction strategies and implementa-tion of the Millennium Development Goals.

3.051 Freshwater protected areas

RECALLING Recommendation 19.38 Targets forProtected Areas Systems, of the 19th IUCN GeneralAssembly (Buenos Aires, 1994), as well as Recom-mendation 16 of the IVth IUCN World Parks Con-gress (Caracas, 1992), which urged governments toensure that protected areas should cover a minimumof 10 percent of each biome by the year 2000;

RECALLING that Recommendation 17.38 Protec-tion of the Coastal and Marine Environment,adopted by the 17th IUCN General Assembly (SanJose, 1988), Recommendation 1.37 Marine Pro-tected Areas, adopted by the 1st World ConservationCongress (Montreal, 1996), and Resolution 2.20Conservation of marine biodiversity, adopted by the2nd World Conservation Congress (Amman, 2000),support the establishment of protected areas inmarine aquatic environments;


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RECALLING that Resolution 2.47 Conservation ofthe last wild rivers of Europe, adopted by the 2nd

World Conservation Congress (Amman, 2000),urges IUCN to review and promote development ofan international classification of river categoriesaccording to their degree of naturalness;

RECALLING that Recommendation V.31 ProtectedAreas, Freshwater and Integrated River Basin Man-agement Frameworks, noted by the Vth IUCN WorldParks Congress (Durban, 2003), supports the estab-lishment and implementation of integrated riverbasin management in which networks of protectedareas and regimes of protection are a key develop-ment strategy;

RECALLING that Decision VII/4 of the 7th Meetingof the Conference of the Parties to the Conventionon Biological Diversity – CBD (Kuala Lumpur,2004) adopts a goal of establishing and maintainingcomprehensive, adequate and representative sys-tems of protected inland water ecosystems withinthe framework of integrated catchment/watershed/river basin management;

CONCERNED that the use of freshwater resourcesand the rate of degradation of freshwater habitatsare increasing;

ALSO CONCERNED that the World Wide FundFor Nature’s Living Planet Index indicates thatfreshwater biodiversity has fallen at a greater ratethan in either the forest or marine biomes, decliningby 55 percent from 1970–2000;

FURTHER CONCERNED that an estimated 17 per-cent of freshwater fish species in the 20 countriesfor which assessments were most complete are clas-sified by the IUCN Red List of Threatened Speciesas threatened with extinction;

COMMITTED to the adoption of integrated riverbasin management as an essential means of achiev-ing sustainable use of freshwater ecosystems and ofmaintaining aquatic biological diversity;

ACKNOWLEDGING there is an urgent need toensure that a substantial portion of all ecosystems isconserved to act as reference, replenishment andrefuge areas;

CONVINCED that freshwater protected areas rep-resent an important method for conserving biodiver-sity and contributing to the sustainable use of fresh-water resources;

NOTING that the IUCN Guidelines for ProtectedArea Management Categories identify a range ofprotected area types and that systems of protectedareas in freshwater environments should be comple-mented by systems of integrated river basin man-agement; and

NOTING further that wetlands may be specificallyprotected through listing under the Ramsar Conven-tion on Wetlands, a treaty focused on conservationand wise use of a particular biome and encompass-ing the world’s largest protected areas network forwetlands;


1. RECOMMENDS that all states:

(a) establish protected areas representative ofall freshwater ecosystems, including butnot limited to riverine, lacustrine, wet-land, estuarine and groundwater-depend-ent ecosystems, in cooperation with localcommunities and resource users, so as tosafeguard the biodiversity of each of theirfreshwater ecosystems, and set targets forprotection where useful and appropriate;

(b) establish their systems of freshwater pro-tected areas within an integrated riverbasin management approach taking advan-tage of the full range of governance types;

(c) as part of their overall programmes,establish viable freshwater protectedareas, to ensure the inclusion of areaswhich meet the protection criteria forIUCN Management Categories I and II;

(d) that are Parties to the CBD implement thetargets adopted in the CBD Programmeof Work on Protected Areas in relation tofreshwater habitat, including enhancedimplementation of the Ramsar Conven-tion on Wetlands; and


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(e) develop and implement national actionplans on these issues;

2. RECOMMENDS that the World Commissionon Protected Areas develop guidance on theapplication of the IUCN Guidelines for Pro-tected Area Management Categories in fresh-water environments; and

3. FURTHER RECOMMENDS that IUCNstrengthens its work with the Ramsar Conven-tion on Wetlands in order to facilitate bettermanagement and assessment, monitoring andreporting on freshwater protected areas,including through application of IUCN’sGuidelines for Protected Area ManagementCategories.

3.052 Protected areas in theMediterranean

RECOGNIZING that the Mediterranean region, dueto its particular geomorphological formation and itshistory, is one of the areas of the world with thegreatest biological and landscape diversity, harbour-ing unique endemism and ecosystems;

RECALLING that throughout the millennia theMediterranean basin has been the cradle of develop-ment for great civilizations representing some of themost extraordinary examples of human culture inour time;

OBSERVING that the Mediterranean region is anarea of special importance for global biodiversity,characterized by a continual influence of agricul-ture, fishing and tourism, as well as by its history,economy and landscape;

STRESSING the importance of maintaining theagrarian cultural landscape and breeds of domesticanimals and horticultural varieties associated withtraditional farming and livestock practices;

EMPHASIZING that the cultural relations existingacross the different coastal countries have givenrise to the formation of a cultural substratumshared by all of the peoples and a strong sense ofidentity and solidarity with respect to a commonsea;

CONSIDERING that protected areas in theMediterranean are often of relatively smalldimensions with high interaction with localcommunities;

OBSERVING the growing number of protectedareas in the Mediterranean region with significantdevelopment of innovative management models andsolutions;

MINDFUL that most Mediterranean countries sharecommon themes of conservation and economicdevelopment, despite the existence of significantdifferences among coastlines in terms of grossnational product and percentage of national territoryunder protection;

RECALLING Resolution 1.10 IUCN’s Work in theMediterranean adopted by the 1st World Conserva-tion Congress (Montreal, 1996);

RECOGNIZING the work carried out by IUCNthrough its Centre for Mediterranean Cooperation toestablish cooperative ties and programmeexchanges in the Mediterranean region;

RECALLING also the important role of Mediter-ranean ecosystems and culture in the achievementof objectives set for 2010 by the Convention on Bio-logical Diversity, as well as the United Nations Mil-lennium Development Goals; and

MINDFUL of the Naples Declaration adopted at theIUCN Mediterranean Members Meeting in June2004;


REQUESTS all Mediterranean countries and IUCNto:

(a) coordinate their actions with the aim of pro-moting strategic plans for conservation of themost significant environmental systems in theMediterranean; and

(b) increase cooperation among states and organi-zations for the purpose of establishing a pro-tected areas system representative of marine andterrestrial ecosystems in the Mediterranean and


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effective management of such protected areas,suitably mindful of the April 2004 ‘Malibu Dec-laration’ concerning Cities and Conservation inMediterranean-type Ecosystems.



3.053 Protection of Chile’s firstRamsar site, threatened bya cellulose factory

NOTING that the Carlos Andwandter Nature Sanc-tuary of Rio Cruces constitutes the first Ramsar Sitein Chile;

RECALLING that wetlands are high-priorityecosystems in IUCN’s strategies for the conserva-tion of aquatic resources and biodiversity;

CONSIDERING that the wetlands of Carlos And-wandter Nature Sanctuary host a wide variety ofspecies of flora and fauna, especially birdlife,including the country’s largest concentration ofblack-necked swans (Cygnus melancoryphus);

CONSIDERING that in February 2004 a cellulosefactory started operations 15 kilometres upstream ofthe protected wetlands, authorized by a rulingissued by the competent Chilean government envi-ronmental authorities, stipulating the appropriateoperating conditions; and

TAKING INTO ACCOUNT that the country’s envi-ronmental agency has detected a failure to complywith the authorized environmental operating condi-tions and that deaths of black-necked swans havebeen recorded, along with strong odour emissionsthat have alarmed the population;


1. REQUESTS that the Commission on Environ-mental Law, World Commission on ProtectedAreas and Commission on Ecosystem Man-agement lend their support to the steps beingtaken by the IUCN National Committee forChile in order to preserve and conserve theendangered wetlands; and

2. ASKS the IUCN Director General to expresshis concern about this situation to the Chileanauthorities and to recommend the strengthen-ing of the necessary measures for the protec-tion of these wetlands.




3.054 Threats from OlympicGames and other majorsporting events toprotected areas andbiodiversity

CONCERNED by the threats to rare and threatenedspecies as well as to valuable existing protectedareas, including National Parks, Biosphere Reservesand World Heritage Sites, that would be incurred bymany applications for Olympic Games, World SkiChampionships and other major sporting events;

RECALLING the essential role of well-conservedprotected areas for the well-being of nature as wellas human populations, as underlined once again bythe 7th Conference of the Parties to the Conventionon Biological Diversity (Kuala Lumpur, 2004);

ACKNOWLEDGING that consumption of vulnera-ble species is a significant, and often the most sig-nificant, threat to biological diversity;


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RECALLING also that the International OlympicCommittee (IOC), the International Ski Federation(FIS) and other relevant international sports federa-tions very often mention environmental issues asbeing important selection criteria;

AWARE that the environmental impact of majorsporting events are often irreversible; and

ALSO AWARE that proper independent environ-mental impact assessments are rarely made beforestarting activities, or that their results are not ade-quately taken into account;


1. CALLS on the IUCN Director General to offerIUCN’s assistance to help identify informationand sources of expertise that could be used bythe IOC, FIS and other international sportsorganizations to ensure the integrity of nation-ally and internationally recognized protectedareas;

2. RECOMMENDS that the IOC, the FIS andother relevant international sports federations:

(a) address the concerns of the conservationcommunity regarding the effects somepast sporting events have had on theintegrity of protected areas, other areas ofrecognized biodiversity importance, andon the conservation of threatened species;

(b) respect the integrity of designated pro-tected areas and other areas of recognizednatural or cultural importance as arequirement when selecting the locationfor sporting events;

(c) seek early, thorough, and independentenvironmental impact assessments, andensure that:

(i) public access to the results of suchenvironmental impact assessmentsis assured; and

(ii) full consideration is given to theseimpacts during the whole process,

including site selection, realizationand post-event rehabilitation work;and

(d) ensure host and candidate host nations donot offer either Red List ThreatenedSpecies, or natural products or partswhere identification of species has notoccurred, for sale, consumption or as giftsat events or functions; and

3. CALLS ON all relevant international initia-tives, programmes, agreements and organiza-tions, such as the World Heritage Convention,the UNESCO Man and the Biosphere Pro-gramme, the Convention on Wetlands (Ram-sar, 1971), and regional conventions, to workwith the IOC, FIS and other internationalsports federations.



3.055 Indigenous peoples,protected areas and theCBD Programme of Work

RECALLING previous IUCN Resolutions and Rec-ommendations that note, recognize, promote andcall for the appropriate implementation of conserva-tion policies and practices that respect the humanrights, roles, cultures and traditional knowledge ofindigenous peoples in accordance with internationalagreements and their right to self-determination;

NOTING the international development commu-nity’s commitments to the Millennium DevelopmentGoals and their inextricable link to conservationthrough the promotion of sustainable livelihoods,poverty reduction and a human rights-basedapproach to development;

RECALLING the outcomes of the Vth IUCN WorldParks Congress – WPC (Durban, 2003), the DurbanAccord, the Durban Action Plan and the Message tothe Convention on Biological Diversity, all of whichestablished a ‘new paradigm’ of protected areas


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according to which indigenous and local communi-ties’ rights are recognized, respected and upheld inthe planning, establishment and management ofprotected areas; and

DRAWING ATTENTION TO Decision VII/28 ofthe 7th Conference of Parties (COP7) to the Conven-tion on Biological Diversity – CBD (Kuala Lumpur,2004) which “Recalls the obligations of the Partiestowards indigenous and local communities in accor-dance with article 8j and related provisions andnotes that the establishment, management and mon-itoring of protected areas should take place with thefull and effective participation, and the full respectfor the rights of, indigenous and local communitiesconsistent with national law and applicable interna-tional obligations”;


1. CALLS UPON the IUCN Director General,Secretariat, World Commission on ProtectedAreas and members to:

(a) take urgent and substantive actions atinternational, national and local levels topromote the effective implementation ofOutput 5 of the Durban Action Plan andRecommendations V.13 Cultural andSpiritual Values of Protected Areas, V.24Indigenous Peoples and Protected Areasand V.26 Community Conserved Areasnoted by the WPC;

(b) promote and support the full implemen-tation of Programme Element 2 (Gover-nance, Participation, Equity and Benefit-sharing) of the Programme of Work onProtected Areas established at CBDCOP7, taking into account the Akwé:Kon Voluntary Guidelines for the Con-duct of Cultural, Environmental andSocial Impact Assessment RegardingDevelopments Proposed to Take Placeon, or Which are Likely to Impact on,Sacred Sites and on Lands and WatersTraditionally Occupied or Used byIndigenous and Local Communitiesendorsed by CBD COP7 DecisionVII/16, section F;

(c) conduct an implementation review ofResolution 1.53 Indigenous Peoples andProtected Areas adopted by the 1st IUCNWorld Conservation Congress (Montreal,1996) and the IUCN/WCPA/WWF 1999Indigenous and Traditional Peoples andProtected Areas: Principles and Guide-lines, with the full participation of repre-sentatives of indigenous and local com-munities, and where necessary, proposeamendments to the 1999 Principles andGuidelines for consideration by the 4th

IUCN World Conservation Congress;and

(d) ensure these tasks are included in IUCN’sown programme of work, in particular theIUCN Intersessional Programme 2005–2008, and ensure they are carried out withthe full and effective participation ofindigenous peoples; and

2. URGES international development agenciessuch as the World Bank, the Global Environ-ment Facility, Regional Development Banksand bilateral development agencies, to update,amend and implement their policies relevant toindigenous peoples in accordance with interna-tional best practice on protected areas estab-lished in the outcomes of the Vth IUCN WorldParks Congress and CBD COP7.



3.056 Indigenous peoples livingin voluntary isolation andconservation of nature inthe Amazon region andChaco

AWARE that the Amazon region and Chaco con-tain a high concentration of both biological andcultural diversity, the latter encompassing over 400


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indigenous groups that have been critical to themaintenance of the region’s biodiversity, includingover 64 indigenous groups that live in voluntaryisolation;

RECOGNIZING that the physical and cultural sur-vival of these isolated groups fundamentallydepends on the integrity of their lands and territoriesand the continued access to the resources uponwhich their livelihoods and cultures depend;

AWARE that the lands and territories inhabited byindigenous peoples living in voluntary isolation arerich in biological diversity and minimally disturbed,precisely because they constitute refuges located farfrom the destructive impacts of development trends;

CONCERNED about the threats to the lives, health,culture and natural resources of indigenous peoplesliving in voluntary isolation posed by the invasionof their lands and the extraction of natural resourcesby others;

CONCERNED that actions taken to date to protectindigenous groups living in voluntary isolation havenot halted the violent encounters, epidemics andforced assimilation that have resulted in the disap-pearance of entire ethnic groups, decimation of theircultures and degradation of the natural resourcesupon which they depend;

CONCERNED that the disappearance of indigenousgroups living in voluntary isolation in the Amazonregion and Chaco signifies a loss of the irreplace-able cultural heritage of the last indigenous groupsthat have maintained harmony with their surround-ings, as well as their invaluable knowledge of biodi-versity and forest management;

RECOGNIZING the duty of humanity to respect thedignity, life, culture, lands and territories of indige-nous groups living in voluntary isolation, in addi-tion to the preservation of natural and cultural diver-sity of the planet for present and future generations;

RECOGNIZING the need to take immediate actionsat national, regional and international levels todevelop programmes that promote a closer articula-tion between the conservation of nature in the Ama-zon region and Chaco and the protection of the livesand territories of indigenous peoples living in vol-untary isolation;

RECOGNIZING that indigenous peoples have theright to various modalities of property, possessionand use of their territories within the legal frame-work established by the states that they inhabit;

AWARE that the International Labour Organization(ILO) Convention 169 on Indigenous and TribalPeoples in Independent Countries, ratified by themajority of countries of the Amazon region andChaco, establishes in Articles 14 and 15 that “Therights of ownership and possession of the peoplesconcerned over the lands which they traditionallyoccupy shall be recognized (…) Governments shalltake steps as necessary (…) to guarantee effectiveprotection of their rights of ownership and posses-sion (…) rights of the peoples concerned to the nat-ural resources pertaining to their lands shall be spe-cially safeguarded”;

RECOGNIZING that the concept of the ‘(indige-nous and local) Community Conserved Areas’, asdiscussed and approved by the Vth IUCN WorldParks Congress (Durban, 2003) and mentioned inDecision VII/28 of the 7th Conference of Parties tothe Convention of Biological Diversity (KualaLumpur, 2004), respects the rights of local commu-nities and indigenous peoples to define and managetheir protected areas by themselves, while alsoallowing recognition from governments and listingby the United Nations;

MINDFUL of the resolutions and recommenda-tions relating to indigenous peoples and conserva-tion adopted at the 1st World Conservation Con-gress (Montreal, 1996), as well as at other Con-gresses and General Assemblies of IUCN, whichhave reaffirmed the institution’s commitment tointernational legislation relating to indigenouspeoples, including ILO Convention 169, the CBDand Agenda 21, as well as the Political Declara-tion of the World Summit on Sustainable Devel-opment (Johannesburg, 2002) that reaffirmed thevital role indigenous peoples play in sustainabledevelopment;

FURTHER MINDFUL of human rights recog-nized in diverse international instruments such asthe Universal Declaration of Human Rights, theConvention for the Prevention of Genocide andUNESCO’s Universal Declaration on CulturalDiversity;


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CONCERNED that, in spite of the above resolu-tions and recommendations, the treatment of thespecial case of indigenous peoples living in volun-tary isolation still remains as a fundamental gap ininternational agreements; and

ALSO CONCERNED that the survival of theindigenous peoples living in voluntary isolation inthe Amazon region and Chaco requires immediateand urgent action, as does the conservation of thebiological diversity of their lands and territories;


1. REQUESTS the IUCN Director General,Commissions, and members, within availableresources, to promote the necessary coordina-tion with the governments of the Amazonregion and Chaco, in order to develop andimplement proposals aimed at protecting thelands and territories of indigenous groups liv-ing in voluntary isolation, as part of the respec-tive countries’ indigenous peoples policies andconservation strategies in the Amazon regionand Chaco;

2. FURTHER REQUESTS that this should bedone in cooperation with the Amazon Cooper-ation Treaty Organization, indigenous organi-zations at local, national and regional levels,and other relevant non-governmental organiza-tions, and should be based upon the followingprinciples:

(a) indigenous peoples living in voluntaryisolation have the right to the protectionof their lives, ownership of their landsand territories, and sustainable utilizationof natural resources located within theselands and territories;

(b) indigenous peoples living in voluntaryisolation have the right to freely decide toremain isolated, maintain their culturalvalues, and to freely decide if, when andhow they wish to integrate into nationalsociety; and

(c) as established by the CBD, measures forthe conservation of biological diversity,

in particular the establishment and man-agement of protected areas, should betaken with full respect for the rights ofindigenous peoples (CBD DecisionVII/28);

3. URGES the governments of the Amazonregion and Chaco, in close coordination withnational and local indigenous organizations, toimmediately take regional and national initia-tives that ensure respect for the right of indige-nous peoples living in voluntary isolation totheir lands and territories and to the effectiveprotection of such lands and territories, as wellas of the cultural diversity that these indige-nous peoples represent, including through pro-vision of sufficient financial resources andensuring law enforcement;

4. REQUESTS that this work should be groundedin a common agenda that recognizes the syner-gies between the rights of indigenous people involuntary isolation and the conservation ofnature; and

5. RECOMMENDS that multilateral, bilateral,and non-governmental organizations and otherentities interested in the survival of indigenouspeoples combine forces with the concernedcountries, indigenous organizations, and theconservation community to secure the effec-tive protection of the lives, lands and territo-ries, nature, cultures and communities ofindigenous peoples that live in voluntary isola-tion in the Amazon region and Chaco.





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3.057 Adapting to climatechange: a framework forconservation action

RECALLING Resolutions 2.16 Climate change,biodiversity, and IUCN’s Overall Programme and2.17 Climate and energy and Recommendation 2.94Climate change mitigation and land use – whichpromote the need for urgent action to reduce green-house gas emissions – adopted by the 2nd IUCNWorld Conservation Congress (Amman, 2000); and

FURTHER RECALLING Recommendation V.5Climate Change and Protected Areas noted by theVth IUCN World Parks Congress (Durban, 2003),which requested the IUCN World Commission onProtected Areas to, inter alia:

(a) expand partnerships and deepen its expertise inthe provision of advice to practitioners, man-agement agencies and communities on optionsand guidelines for adapting protected areas tothe forces of global change; and

(b) identify and communicate best practices toestablish methods to anticipate the impacts andopportunities from global change, and adaptmanagement to those changes;


1. AFFIRMS that conservation actions are likelyto fail unless they are adjusted to take accountof climate change;

2. AFFIRMS the benefits of early action to assistecosystems to adapt to climate change;

3. REQUESTS the IUCN Director General toestablish a working group that will:

(a) gather information on existing strategies,plans and actions to adapt to climatechange;

(b) review existing measures and considerinnovative approaches;

(c) develop guidance on conservation bestpractice in relation to climate change;

(d) disseminate and promote this guidance;and

(e) report annually on progress to IUCNmembers;

4. INVITES members of IUCN to submit infor-mation to the abovementioned working group;and

5. CALLS UPON members of IUCN to adjusttheir conservation programmes, plans andstrategies in the light of observed and projectedimpacts of climate change and to incorporateconservation and biodiversity concerns in theirclimate change adaptation strategies andactions.



3.058 Military activities and theproduction, stockpiling anduse of weapons that are ofdetriment to theenvironment

RECALLING Resolution 19.41 Armed Conflict andthe Environment adopted at the 19th IUCN GeneralAssembly (Buenos Aires, 1994) and Resolution1.75 Armed conflict and the environment adopted atthe 1st IUCN World Conservation Congress (Mon-treal, 1996);

RECALLING Recommendation V.15 Peace, con-flict and protected areas noted by the Vth IUCNWorld Parks Congress (Durban, 2003);

RECOGNIZING international instruments andprovisions to protect the environment during thecourse of armed conflict, referring in particularto the Geneva Conventions, the Convention onthe Prohibition of the Development, Productionand Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons


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and on Their Destruction, Convention on theProhibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Productionand Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and ontheir Destruction, and the Convention on Prohi-bitions or Restrictions on the Use of CertainConventional Weapons Which May be DeemedExcessively Injurious or to Have IndiscriminateEffects;

AWARE that in recent conflicts provisions con-tained in the above-named international agreementshave not been fully observed;

COGNISANT of the desk studies compiled by theUnited Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)on the deleterious effects and lasting impact ofrecent armed conflicts;

WELCOMING the study entitled Legal Regulationof the Effects of Military Activity on the Environ-ment prepared in 2004 on behalf of the German Fed-eral Environmental Agency and presented to theExecutive Director of UNEP;

RECOGNIZING that amongst the recommenda-tions of the above study the Draft Convention onthe Prohibition of Hostile Military Activities inProtected Areas prepared by the IUCN Environ-mental Law Programme appears to have the bestprospect of success of any substantive reformproposal;

DEEPLY CONCERNED not only about the imme-diate impact of armed conflict, but also the lastingeffects on the human population and the environ-ment, including the loss of wildlife and its habitat,as well as the severe limitation of prospects for sus-tainable development;

ALSO CONCERNED that the relevant multilaterallegal agreements, especially vis-à-vis the stockpil-ing, removal and destruction of chemical weaponsand anti-personnel mines, focus almost exclusivelyon humanitarian aspects, while putting a lesseremphasis on environmental concerns, although ithas been demonstrated that even in times of peacethe production and storage of such weapons cancause significant environmental harm; and

WELCOMING the work undertaken by the MemberStates of the United Nations to develop measures to

guarantee the Observance of Environmental Normsin the Drafting and Implementation of Agreementson Disarmament and Arms Control;


1. REQUESTS the IUCN Director General toensure that higher priority is given within theIUCN Intersessional Programme 2005–2008and its components to address the concernslisted above;

2. PROPOSES that the IUCN Director Generalinitiates an exchange of opinions among theIUCN membership, as well as selected expertsin this field, with a view to developing practi-cal proposals for introducing appropriate legalmeasures;

3. INVITES the Executive Director of UNEP toact upon the recommendation contained withinthe above-named study to undertake a compre-hensive review of the environmental effects ofwarfare, to which IUCN will offer its scientificexpertise; and

4. INVITES the IUCN Director General in thelight of IUCN Resolutions 19.41 (BuenosAires, 1994) and 1.75 (Montreal, 1996), torespond favourably to the recommendationcontained in the recent study proposing negoti-ations on the basis of the IUCN Draft Conven-tion on the Prohibition of Hostile MilitaryActivities in Protected Areas.




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3.059 IUCN’s energy-relatedwork relevant tobiodiversity conservation

NOTING that sound and sustainable energy poli-cies are essential to fulfilment of IUCN’s missionand in particular to the conservation of the Earth’sbiodiversity;

NOTING that global warming is primarily causedby energy-related combustion of fossil fuels andthat it threatens disastrous consequences to biodi-versity and natural resources;

APPRECIATING the work presently being done byIUCN to address the impact of climate change andto promote sustainable energy policies;

WELCOMING the work that the IUCN Environ-mental Law Programme, through the IUCN Envi-ronmental Law Centre and the Climate and EnergySpecialist Group of the IUCN Commission on Envi-ronmental Law, has done to promote the concept ofenergy law for sustainable development;

AWARE that the 2nd IUCN World ConservationCongress (Amman, 2000) adopted Resolution 2.17Climate and energy, recognizing the importance ofenergy to IUCN’s mission and specifically request-ing the IUCN Director General “to request IUCNRegional Offices… to help educate governmentofficials, civil society and the private sector aboutthe World Energy Assessment and about cleaner,more affordable available energy options evaluatedtherein”;

RECALLING that Agenda 21 of the United NationsConference on Environment and Development calledupon all nations to promote sustainable developmentutilizing the precautionary principle; that the 9th Ses-sion of the Commission on Sustainable Developmentcalled on all nations to promote clean energy poli-cies; that the Plan of Implementation adopted at theWorld Summit on Sustainable Development (Johan-nesburg, 2002) contains specific guidance for imple-menting those policies; and that the 14th Session ofthe Commission on Sustainable Development in2006–2007 will be devoted to energy policy issues;

NOTING that in the IUCN Intersessional Pro-gramme 2005–2008 it is stated that: “Energy is

likely to become a more important issue in the com-ing years” and that “The effectiveness of our futurework…will depend not only on rich disciplinaryknowledge, but also on the capacity to integrate dif-ferent knowledge fields”;

EMPHASIZING the need to recognize IUCN’senergy-related work as a central part of its pro-gramme, and mindful that there now exists no for-mal IUCN plan of action specifically dedicated topromotion of energy for sustainable developmentand no focal point within the IUCN Secretariat tocoordinate and facilitate the development of IUCN’senergy-related work and ensure that this work con-tributes to carrying out IUCN’s mission; and

THANKING the Commission on EnvironmentalLaw, its Energy Law and Climate Change SpecialistGroup and the IUCN Centre for Environmental Lawfor their leadership since the 1st World ConservationCongress in relation to the Union’s technical adviceon energy policy and law;

The World Conservation Congress at its 3rd Ses-sion in Bangkok, Thailand 17–25 November2004:

1. CALLS ON IUCN to provide leadership inadvancing ecologically-sound energy systemsfor sustainable development, as a necessaryand core part of the biodiversity conservationobjectives of the Union and in preparation forIUCN’s active participation in the 14th and 15th

Sessions of the Commission on SustainableDevelopment;

2. REQUESTS the IUCN Director General todevelop a plan of action within the IUCN Pro-gramme on ecologically-sound energy systemsfor sustainable development, climate stabiliza-tion, and conservation of biological diversity,in advance of the 14th session of the Commis-sion on Sustainable Development;

3. INVITES all IUCN Commissions, within theirmandates, to continue working with the IUCNDirector General in the implementation of theIUCN Programme and plan of action withrespect to ecologically-sound energy systemsfor sustainable development, climate stabiliza-tion, and conservation of biological diversity;and


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4. URGES all stakeholders and donors to giveevery consideration to providing the supportnecessary to enable the development andimplementation of new energy conservationand efficiency systems, and new and renew-able sources of energy, as being fundamental tosustainable development.



3.060 Influencing private sectoractions in favour ofbiodiversity

CONVINCED that the actions of private sectoractors have a large bearing on the goal and missionof IUCN;

NOTING that the impact of the private sector on theconservation of biodiversity can be both positiveand negative;

BELIEVING that, historically, IUCN has not prior-itized and often not engaged effectively with the pri-vate sector for the achievement of its mission;

NOTING that IUCN has, during the past quadren-nium, taken steps to engage in dialogue with com-panies, including through providing expert adviceon biodiversity conservation in selected sectors andundertaking expert exchanges;

RECOGNIZING that IUCN will not make optimalprogress towards achieving its Mission unless anduntil it improves its interactions with key actors inthe private sector;

FURTHER RECOGNIZING that a range of IUCNmembers, including non-governmental organiza-tions and government agencies, are increasinglyworking with the private sector to minimize itsimpact on the environment and to bring positiveimprovements in the environmental and social per-formance of corporations; and

AWARE of the importance of avoiding the nameand reputation of the Union being used as ‘greenwash’ to mask misbehaviour on the part of corporateactors and;

BELIEVING that the Union should adopt principlesand guidelines for such engagement;


1. INVITES the IUCN Director General toreview and make publicly available IUCN’spast experience with the private sector and les-sons learned, and propose compiling a work-plan for a limited number of pilot initiativeswith the private sector that will advance themission of IUCN, with a view to pinpointingthe optimal areas for IUCN interaction with theprivate sector in the future;

2. ASKS the IUCN Director General, before theend of 2005, to submit this workplan for con-sideration by the IUCN Council;

3. URGES the IUCN Council to explore andadopt principles, guidelines and mechanismsfor engaging with the private sector, such asthrough the establishment of a knowledge net-work on biodiversity and corporate action; and

4. FURTHER INVITES the IUCN Director Gen-eral to submit a detailed proposal for IUCN-private sector relations to the 4th IUCN WorldConservation Congress.



3.061 IUCN’s interaction withthe private sector

NOTING that the private sector can play a majorrole in achieving sustainable development, promot-ing biodiversity conservation and contributing to theMillennium Development Goals;


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CONSIDERING that this is often not achievedbecause of a lack of effective citizens’ and indige-nous peoples’ participation, illegal and unjust busi-ness practice, poor company standards and codes ofconduct, and inadequate national and internationalpolicy and regulatory frameworks;

RECALLING the Recommendations of the IUCN-sponsored World Commission on Dams (WCD), theWorld Bank’s Extractive Industries Review (EIR)and the Vth IUCN World Parks Congress (Durban,2003);

NOTING that IUCN’s Strategy for EnhancingIUCN’s Interaction with the Private Sector calls forfuture interaction and dialogue with the private sec-tor to be based on clear principles;

RECOGNIZING that this Strategy reiteratesIUCN’s goals of promoting a more accountableprivate sector, which contributes to sustainabledevelopment, including conservation and socialequity;

CONCERNED that, unless interactions and dia-logues with the private sector are based on clearprinciples and guidelines, there is a risk of tarnish-ing the reputation of IUCN and compromising itsindependence; and

FURTHER RECALLING IUCN Resolutions 1.81Productive Relationships between IUCN and thePrivate Sector, and 1.82 Private Sector FinancialOperations, adopted at the 1st IUCN World Conser-vation Congress (Montreal, 1996) and DecisionC/60/59 of IUCN’s Council, taken at its 60th Meet-ing, on the IUCN/International Council for Miningand Metals (ICMM) Dialogue;


1. CALLS on the IUCN Director General to initi-ate an open and participatory process tostrengthen the principles of engagement anddevelop guidelines to guide further dialogue,partnership agreements and other interactionswith the private sector;

2. RECOGNIZES that these principles andguidelines should be elaborated so as to inform

the workplan to be prepared under operativeparagraph 2 of Resolution 3.060 Influencingprivate sector actions in favour of biodiversityadopted at the present Congress;

3. NOTES THAT priority should be given tostrengthening the principles and elaboratingguidelines with respect to:

(a) transparency through ensuring publicaccess to information; and

(b) participation of all stakeholders, espe-cially vulnerable groups, in dialogueswith the private sector;

4. RECOMMENDS the IUCN Director Generalto promote the principle of Free Prior andInformed Consent, as recommended by theWorld Commission on Dams, the ExtractiveIndustries Review, the CBD Bonn Guidelineson Access to Genetic Resources and Fair andEquitable Sharing of the Benefits Arising outof their Utilization and the CBD Akwé: KonVoluntary Guidelines for the Conduct of Cul-tural, Environmental and Social ImpactAssessments regarding Developments Pro-posed to Take Place on, or which are Likely toImpact on, Sacred Sites and on Lands andWaters Traditionally Occupied or Used byIndigenous and Local Communities, in all for-mal dialogues and interactions between the pri-vate sector and the IUCN Secretariat, Council,and Commissions;

5. RECOMMENDS that priority be given tocooperation with the private sector in areaswhich address the root causes of biodiversityloss, where – as stated in IUCN’s Strategy forEnhancing IUCN’s Interaction with the PrivateSector – action can be most effective; and

6. REQUESTS that the IUCN Director Generalprepare an annual report for IUCN memberson the implementation of the above-mentionedStrategy, including steps taken to ensureadherence to agreed-upon principles andguidelines.

The Ministry of Environment and Forestry ofTurkey provided the following statement for therecord:


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The Republic of Turkey objects to any reference tothe World Commission on Dams.



3.062 The Millennium EcosystemAssessment

RECALLING Resolution 2.55 Millennium Ecosys-tem Assessment adopted by the 2nd IUCN WorldConservation Congress (Amman, 2000) thatdescribes the challenge of effectively managing theEarth’s ecosystems;

RECOGNIZING the contribution that the Millen-nium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) is making to theemergence of a widely accepted conceptual frame-work to assess ecosystems and human well-beingand to the consolidation of a solid foundation of sci-entific information on the current state, future sce-narios and response options in relation to ecosys-tems and human well-being;

RECOGNIZING the relevance of local, nationaland regional integrated assessments of ecosystemsand human well-being as tools for decision-makingfor sustainable development;

NOTING the active involvement of IUCN mem-bers, Commissions, and Secretariat as authors andreviewers of the MA, and the representation ofIUCN on the Board of the MA; and

REAFFIRMING the request in Resolution 2.55 thatthe IUCN Director General and IUCN memberscontinue to support and be involved in the MA;


1. WELCOMES progress made in the MA globaland sub-global assessments, and in the recogni-tion of science and traditional knowledge assources of knowledge on the status of ecosys-tems and how they can be managed to contribute

to human well-being while maintaining biodi-versity and the delivery of ecosystem services;

2. REQUESTS the IUCN Director General todisseminate proactively to IUCN members thefindings of the MA when they are released;

3. ENCOURAGES the IUCN membership tomake full use of the findings of the MA toengage in public discussions and policy dia-logues, to identify areas of priority action andto help promote the conservation and sustain-able use of ecosystems;

4. REQUESTS that the IUCN Director Generaland IUCN Commissions, and in particular theCommission on Ecosystem Management andthe Commission on Education and Communi-cation, facilitate the communication of the MAfindings to members and the dissemination ofthe tools and methods developed in the MAthrough, inter alia, relevant training and capac-ity-building activities; and

5. REQUESTS IUCN to take an active role, incooperation with other international organiza-tions, in particular the United Nations Environ-ment Programme (UNEP), to promote the emer-gence of stable mechanisms at multiple scales tocarry out ongoing assessments of ecosystemsand their links with human well-being.

3.063 Cities and conservation

RECOGNIZING that almost half the world’s peoplelive in cities and that this proportion is expected togrow to 60 percent by 2030;

CONSIDERING that nature provides many signifi-cant benefits to cities and urban residents;

CONSIDERING that conservation organizationsdepend on support from voters, leaders, opinion-shapers, and financial resources largely concen-trated in cities;

RECALLING that IUCN has acknowledged the crit-ical roles that cities, urban people, and urban institu-tions play in achieving its mission, for example, inCaring for the Earth (1990) and at the Union’s 50th

Anniversary Celebration (Fontainebleau, 1998);


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AWARE that Recommendation V.14 Cities and pro-tected areas noted by the Vth IUCN World ParksCongress (Durban, 2003) calls on IUCN to:

(a) incorporate an urban dimension into its Inter-sessional Programme 2005–2008;

(b) link biodiversity conservation to human settle-ments to advance implementation of sustain-ability objectives, including the UnitedNations Millennium Development Goals;

(c) recruit as members organizations engaged inurban environmental issues, and invite promi-nent leaders and experts in urban managementto participate in IUCN; and

(d) develop partnerships with key organizationsengaged in the urban environment;

AWARE that several activities have been organizedat the present Congress to demonstrate that protect-ing nature and improving city life are interdepend-ent goals; and

CONCERNED that consideration of urban issues isinadequately represented in the IUCN IntersessionalProgramme 2005–2008;


1. REQUESTS the IUCN Director General, inconsultation with IUCN’s Commissions andmembers, to:

(a) systematically review the IUCN Inter-sessional Programme 2005–2008 to iden-tify opportunities for strengthening exist-ing and planned themes, component pro-grammes, and projects by incorporatingan urban component in them;

(b) consider how the urban dimension ofconservation can best be representedwithin IUCN’s structure, for example bya focal point in the Secretariat, and aninter-Commission task force; and

(c) identify and recruit as IUCN members,and develop partnerships with, key inter-

national and national organizationsengaged in the urban environment; and

2. ENCOURAGES Commissions to recruit andactively involve in their work prominent lead-ers and experts in urban management.

3.064 Conservation andsustainable management ofhigh-seas biodiversity

RECALLING IUCN’s commitment to the goal ofimplementing effective protection, restoration andsustainable use of biological diversity and produc-tivity and ecosystem processes on the high seas(including the water column and seabed) and theestablishment of a representative system of marineprotected areas, at regional and global scales, thatincludes the high seas (e.g. Resolution 2.20 Conser-vation of marine biodiversity adopted by the 2nd

IUCN World Conservation Congress, Amman,2000);

ALARMED that the rate of degradation of the highseas due to human activities is accelerating;

ACKNOWLEDGING that the United Nations Con-vention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) providesthe overarching legal framework for high-seas gov-ernance, including the conservation and manage-ment of living resources and the protection andpreservation of the marine environment, and recog-nizes that the area of the sea bed and ocean floor andthe subsoil thereof, beyond the limits of nationaljurisdiction, as well as its resources, are the com-mon heritage of mankind;

ALSO ACKNOWLEDGING that the Conventionon Biological Diversity (CBD) provides the over-arching legal framework for the conservation ofbiological diversity, the sustainable use of its com-ponents and the fair and equitable sharing of thebenefits arising out of the utilization of geneticresources and recalling in particular, DecisionsVII/5 and VII/28 of the 7th Conference of the Par-ties – COP7 (Kuala Lumpur, 2004);

AWARE of the need for urgent action andRECALLING the calls for action to protect andmaintain high-seas biodiversity and biological


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productivity as expressed in the World Summit onSustainable Development (WSSD) Plan of Imple-mentation (Johannesburg, 2002); the UN GeneralAssembly (UNGA) Resolutions in 2002, 2003 and2004; the Vth IUCN World Parks Congress (Durban,2003); and CBD COP7; and

WELCOMING the decision of the United Nations59th General Assembly inter alia “to establish an AdHoc Open-ended Informal Working Group to studyissues relating to the conservation and sustainableuse of marine biological diversity beyond areas ofnational jurisdiction”;


CALLS upon the IUCN Director General, andmembers of IUCN to facilitate the following actionsby states and relevant international organizations,both individually and collectively, to:

(a) become party to, comply with, and enforcemeasures associated with, UNCLOS, CBD, theWorld Heritage Convention, the UN FishStocks Agreement (FSA), the Convention onMigratory Species (CMS) and its Agreements,the UN Food and Agriculture Organization(FAO) Compliance Agreement, and the Inter-national Maritime Organization, as well asregional agreements that have complementaryaims, and to implement non-binding instru-ments such as the FAO Code of Conduct forResponsible Fishing and international plans ofaction;

(b) further develop expert processes within IUCNin order to contribute to the Ad Hoc Open-ended Working Group established by theUNGA and to the Ad Hoc Open-ended Work-ing Group on Protected Areas established bythe CBD, to identify gaps and deficiencies inexisting governance arrangements, and to rec-ommend options for improved governancearrangements to overcome such gaps and defi-ciencies for the better conservation and man-agement of marine biodiversity beyondnational jurisdiction;

(c) consider the development and adoption withinthe UNCLOS framework of new international

instruments and/or additional mechanisms,tools and approaches for the effective gover-nance, protection, restoration and sustainablemanagement of marine biological diversityand productivity in the high seas;

(d) investigate the development of new mecha-nisms under the World Heritage Conventionand other relevant instruments to enable therecognition and protection of sites of outstand-ing universal value in marine areas beyondnational jurisdiction;

(e) take immediate action to prevent, deter andeliminate illegal, unreported and unregulated(IUU) fishing and ensure that fishing activitiesare conducted in a manner consistent with stateresponsibilities for the conservation of livingmarine resources and the protection of biodi-versity under international law;

(f) agree to upgrade urgently regional fisheriesmanagement organizations to conform to theprinciples set forth in the UN FSA, the FAOCode of Conduct, and the CBD, notably thatfisheries management takes into account andminimizes the impacts on and protects thewell-being of the entire ecosystem and incor-porates an ecosystem-based and precautionaryapproach to fisheries management;

(g) urgently explore ways in which existing rulesand mechanisms can be more effectively imple-mented or strengthened to ensure enforcementof internationally agreed rules and standards forships where the flag state fails to control itsdomestically registered ships in accordancewith its international legal obligations;

(h) cooperate to establish representative networksof marine protected areas beyond nationaljurisdiction, consistent with international law,and to develop the scientific and legal basis fortheir establishment and contribution to a globalrepresentative network by 2012; and

(i) support marine scientific research, particularlycapacity-building collaborative research, toenhance understanding of high-seas biologicaldiversity and productivity and ecologicalprocesses and to ensure the sustainability ofhuman activities.


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The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Japan, provided thefollowing statement for the record:

Although Japan can support some parts of this res-olution such as the idea to implement measures toeliminate the illegal, unreported and unregulated(IUU) fishing, we cannot support the other parts ofthis resolution. We believe that it is the responsibil-ity of regional fisheries management organizationsto conduct conservation and management measuresthat are appropriate in view of the characteristics ofeach region. We should recognize that most of theissues mentioned in this resolution are alreadybeing dealt with by many regional fisheries man-agement organizations.

Also, we believe that all marine resources, bothwithin and beyond national jurisdiction, should beused in a sustainable manner, with due considera-tion to marine environment, on a scientific basis.The issue of marine protected areas has not beenwell discussed what types of measures are appropri-ate in order to conserve marine environment. Fur-ther, the influence of fishery activities to the envi-ronment has not been discussed. Therefore, Japancannot support this Resolution.

The Ministry of Environment and Forests, Turkey,provided the following statement for the record:

Turkey is not a party to the United Nations Conven-tion on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). Turkeyobjects to making any reference to the mentionedConvention.



3.065 A landscape/seascapeapproach to conservation

RECALLING the outcome of the Vth IUCN WorldPark Congress (Durban, 2003) concerning theimportance of a global system of protected areaslinked to the surrounding landscapes and seascapes,and the crucial role of landscape/seascape policiesand plans as means for spreading the benefits ofprotected areas beyond their boundaries;

AWARE of the provisions of the Convention onBiological Diversity, the Ramsar Convention onWetlands, the Convention on the Conservation ofMigratory Species and the UNESCO-MAB WorldNetwork of Biosphere Reserves in favour of theEcosystem Approach and means of protecting bio-diversity in the wider landscape/seascape;

NOTING that, notwithstanding the impressive 11.5percent terrestrial coverage already achieved by theglobal protected areas network, most of the world’sbiodiversity exists outside of protected areas anddepends on effective biological connectivity andecological networking;

RECOGNIZING that the landscape/seascapeapproach includes measures to protect and addvalue to the biological and cultural diversity ofwhole territories and seascapes, as demonstrated byinitiatives such as the Project APE (Apennine Parkof Europe) in Italy, the Regional Natural Parks ofFrance, the National Parks of the UK and the Bios-phere Reserves of Spain;

NOTING that many such initiatives involve the useof IUCN Management Category V protected areas(Protected Landscapes and Seascapes);

FURTHER NOTING that the landscape/seascapeapproach can help restore the relationship betweenpeople and places, to strengthen local identities andcultures, and to enhance the awareness and capacityof local communities to manage their naturalresources and conserve their natural and culturalheritage;

STRESSING that much is still to be understoodabout the relationship between biological and cul-tural diversity in the landscape/seascape, in particu-lar with regard to mobility and other traditional pat-terns of resource use that enhance biodiversitythrough biological connectivity, and human liveli-hoods and cultures through social connectivity;

RECALLING the European Landscape Conventionof the Council of Europe (Florence, 2000), whichstates that the “landscape has to be recognized as anessential component of people’s surroundings, apowerful expression of the diversity of their sharedcultural and natural heritage and a foundation oftheir identity”;


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CONSIDERING that the implementation of thatConvention’s principles depends on effective andequitable forms of governance at thelandscape/seascape level and strong links betweenprotected area and landscape/seascape policies, andthat it can promote new alliances between peopleand nature; and

RECOGNIZING that such alliances are crucial inall regions of the world and in places in Europe andthe Mediterranean where biodiversity depends onlong and complex processes of human interactionswith nature, and it can be demonstrated that land-scape/seascape diversity reflects a tight intertwiningof natural and cultural values;


1. CALLS upon IUCN members, national andregional governments and civil society at largeto develop innovative governance systems andstrategic programmes fostering the integrationof protected areas in their landscapes/seascapes, strengthening transboundary coop-eration, enhancing the engagement of relevantcommunities and promoting the conservationof both biological and cultural diversity;

2. EXHORTS interested parties to adhere to theEuropean Landscape Convention and todemonstrate its effective implementation inprotected areas and their regional contexts,integrating nature conservation with effectiveenhancement of their landscape/seascapes;

3. URGES IUCN to play a much more active rolein assisting IUCN members to draw the fullbenefits of the landscape/seascape approach by:

(a) clarifying and articulating what the land-scape/seascape approach entails anddeveloping/disseminating examples ofrelevant policies, plans, methods andtools;

(b) promoting exchanges of experience andnetworking about IUCN members andpartners that have developed and imple-mented policies and practices inspired bythe landscape/seascape approach;

(c) reviewing lessons learned and potentialfor improvement, in particular withregard to landscapes/seascapes crucial forbiodiversity conservation and sustainablelivelihoods;

(d) adopting a formal statement about thelandscape/seascape approach, includingadvice on governance mechanisms thathelp integrate protected areas and otherforms of conservation within the land-scape/seascape; and

(e) advocating the approach in national andinternational policies, supporting trans-boundary cooperation and fostering thedevelopment of national and internationalenabling frameworks; and

4. REQUESTS the IUCN Director General todevelop Secretariat capacity and specific ini-tiatives in support of the above, in associationwith the IUCN Commission on EcosystemManagement, the IUCN Commission on Envi-ronmental, Economic and Social Policy, andthe IUCN World Commission on ProtectedAreas.


Protected areas should be established based on sci-entific evidence and after careful considerationregarding its necessity among all relevant sectorsand stakeholders.

3.066 The protection ofseamounts, deep-sea coralsand other vulnerable deep-sea habitats fromdestructive fishingpractices, including bottomtrawling, on the high seas

RECOGNIZING recent scientific investigationsdocumenting previously undiscovered species, greatspecies diversity, and very high endemism rates indeep-sea ecosystems;


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AWARE that destructive fishing practices, includ-ing deep-sea bottom-trawling, represent the mostserious and immediate threat to seamounts, deep-sea coral, and other deep-sea habitats;

ACKNOWLEDGING that the United Nations Con-vention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) providesthe overarching legal framework for high-seas gov-ernance, including the conservation and manage-ment of the living resources and the protection andpreservation of the marine environment, and recog-nizes that the area of the seabed and ocean floor andthe subsoil thereof, beyond the limits of nationaljurisdiction, as well as its resources, are the com-mon heritage of mankind;

RECOGNIZING that bottom-trawl fishing is com-pletely unregulated in extensive areas of the highseas, and few of the Regional Fisheries Manage-ment Organizations (RFMOs) or other arrange-ments that have jurisdiction to control such fishinghave done so to protect sensitive habitats;

WELCOMING HOWEVER the regulatory stepstaken by the North East Atlantic Fisheries Commis-sion and the Convention on Conservation of Antarc-tic Marine Living Resources to protect sensitive deep-sea marine ecosystems, including closures of somespecific areas to bottom-trawling and static gear;

FURTHER RECALLING Decision VII/5 Marineand coastal biological diversity of the 7th Confer-ence of the Parties to the Convention on BiologicalDiversity (Kuala Lumpur, 2004), which stressed theneed for rapid action to address threats to the marinebiodiversity of areas such as seamounts, hydrother-mal vents, coldwater corals and other vulnerablemarine ecosystems and features beyond nationaljurisdiction, and called upon the United NationsGeneral Assembly (UNGA) and other relevantinternational and regional organizations to “urgentlytake the necessary short-term, medium-term andlong-term measures to eliminate/avoid destructivepractices, consistent with international law, on a sci-entific basis, including the application of precau-tion” through, for example, on a case by case basis,the “interim prohibition of destructive practicesadversely impacting the marine biological diversityassociated with [these] areas…”;

RECALLING numerous IUCN Resolutions andRecommendations, beginning in 1972, calling on

states to end the use of destructive fishing gear andpractices and curtail unsustainable internationalfisheries, e.g., 11.16 (Banff, 1972), 12.2 (Kinshasa,1975), 14.7 (Ashkabad, 1978), 19.61 (Buenos Aires,1994), 1.16 (Montreal, 1996); to apply the Precau-tionary Principle to the conservation and manage-ment of high-seas fisheries, e.g. 12.8 (Kinshasa,1975), 19.55 and 19.56 (Buenos Aires, 1994); and toratify and implement international agreementsdesigned to prevent, deter, and eliminate unregu-lated fishing and to apply ecosystem and precau-tionary approaches to fisheries conservation andmanagement, e.g. 1.17 and 1.76 (Montreal, 1996),2.78 (Amman, 2000);

FURTHER RECALLING IUCN Resolution 2.20Conservation of marine biodiversity highlightingthe need for conservation of marine biodiversity,and adopted by the 2nd World Conservation Con-gress (Amman, 2000);

TAKING NOTE of growing international concernover threats to vulnerable deep-sea ecosystems,notably at the 2003 Defying Ocean’s End Confer-ence, the 2003 Vth IUCN World Parks Congress, andthe 2003 Deep Sea Fisheries Conference, as the pro-tection of deep-sea biodiversity is a matter of inter-est to all nations and peoples;

NOTING the Consensus Statement issued in Febru-ary 2004 by over 1000 marine scientists fromaround the world calling for swift action to protectimperilled deep-sea coral and other ecosystems atthe annual meeting of the American Association forthe Advancement of Science, and urging an imme-diate moratorium on bottom trawling on the highseas;

ENCOURAGED by increasing recognition by gov-ernments of the urgent need to protect seamounts,deep-sea corals and other vulnerable deep-sea habi-tats, e.g. at the UNGA in 2002, 2003 and 2004; the2002, 2003 and 2004 meetings of the UN InformalConsultative Process on Oceans and the Law of theSea, and the 2003 Ministerial Meeting of theOSPAR Commission under the Convention for theProtection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic;

NOTING the resolution on sustainable fisheriesadopted by the 59th session of the UNGA callingupon states “to take action urgently, and consider on


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a case-by-case basis, and on a scientific basis,including the application of the precautionaryapproach, the interim prohibition of destructivefishing practices, including bottom trawling that hasadverse impacts on vulnerable marine ecosystems”and calling upon regional fisheries managementorganizations to “urgently adopt in their regulatoryareas appropriate conservation and managementmeasures in accordance with international law toaddress the impact of destructive fishing practicesincluding bottom trawling that has adverse impactson vulnerable marine ecosystems”; and

APPRECIATING IUCN’s participation at a technicallevel in the UNGA’s consideration of the protectionof marine biodiversity from destructive fishing prac-tices, including bottom-trawling, on the high seas;


REQUESTS the IUCN Director General to promoteand strive to ensure the conservation of seamounts,deep-sea corals and other vulnerable deep-sea habi-tats by:

(a) calling upon members of regional fisheriesmanagement organizations or arrangementswithout the competence to regulate bottomfisheries and the impacts of fishing on vulner-able marine ecosystems to expand the compe-tence, where appropriate, of their organizationsor arrangements in this regard;

(b) calling upon states to urgently cooperate toestablish new Regional Fisheries ManagementOrganizations or arrangements, where neces-sary and appropriate, with the competence toregulate bottom fisheries and the impacts offishing on vulnerable marine ecosystem inareas where no such relevant organization orarrangement exists;

(c) calling upon states to effect controls, consis-tent with international law, over their vessels,nationals and ports, to eliminate destructivefishing practices including unregulated bot-tom-trawling on the high seas;

(d) calling upon the UNGA at its 60th session, forareas not covered by RFMOs and/or other

management arrangements with the legal com-petence to manage bottom fisheries, tourgently adopt a resolution calling for aninterim prohibition on high-seas bottom-trawling, until such time as a legally bindingregime is developed and adopted to conserveand protect high-seas biodiversity from theimpacts of destructive fishing practices includ-ing bottom-trawling and protect biodiversity,consistent with the UN Convention on the Lawof the Sea (1982), the UN Fish Stocks Agree-ment (1995), the Food and Agriculture Organi-zation’s (FAO) Compliance Agreement (1993),the Convention on Biological Diversity(1992), the FAO Code of Conduct for Respon-sible Fisheries (1995) and the FAO Interna-tional Plan of Action to prevent, deter andeliminate Illegal, Unregulated and UnreportedFishing (2001);

(e) calling upon the UNGA at its 61st session in2006 to adopt a resolution calling for the elim-ination of destructive fishing practices, and foran interim prohibition on high-seas bottom-trawling in areas covered by RFMOs and othermanagement arrangements, until such time aseffective conservation and management meas-ures to protect the deep-sea environment havebeen adopted in accordance with internationallaw;

(f) ensuring that the IUCN Intersessional Pro-gramme 2005–2008 is adequately resourced tomaintain its active involvement in interna-tional fora, including the UNGA, whichaddress destructive fishing practices; and

(g) assisting in the organization of an ocean sum-mit at the appropriate time.

The Government of Canada provided the followingstatement for the record:

Canada is very concerned about destructive fishingpractices, as is everyone at this Congress. The pre-amble to this Motion summarizes the shared con-cerns about this issue well.

However, there are differences of opinion at theCongress and in the world community about the bestway forward to reduce and eliminate destructivefishing practices on the high seas.


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Canada indicated within the contact group that wewould have to have some further internal discussionon the two options put forward [Editor’s note: foroperative paragraphs 1(d) and 1(e)], to see whetherwe could support either of these.

After such reflection we are not able to supporteither of the options – we simply do not feel that amoratorium on high-seas trawling is an optionwhich should be pursued at this time. The recentUNGA discussion spent long hours on this anddeveloped wording like that in operative para-graphs 1(a) and 1(b) of this Motion, which westrongly support – and we feel that the next steps areto work along the lines of the GA resolution.

We believe that it is extremely important andurgent for states to ensure that their fishing fleetsare adequately regulated, and for regional organi-zations with mandates for fisheries managementand marine conservation to ensure that their man-dates cover destructive fishing practices – man-dates should be upgraded where necessary. Statesand regional organizations should ensure that fish-eries management is consistent with the UN fishstocks agreement and with the FAO Code of Con-duct, both of which insist on an ecosystemapproach and a precautionary approach to fish-eries management.

Accordingly we support paragraphs 1(a) to 1(c) and1(f) of this Motion but do not support 1(d) or 1(e).

The Government of Iceland provided the followingstatement for the record:

Iceland, being a responsible fisheries nation, con-siders it important to respond to vulnerable marineecosystems located beyond and within nationaljurisdiction. Iceland has worked on this issue withother states within the Regional fisheries manage-ment organizations in its region and was a party toan agreement within The North East Atlantic Fish-eries Commission, at its last meeting, to close fiveseamounts within its area.

A call from the IUCN upon states to act in relevantfora for an action to be taken within a definedtimetable to address the issue of vulnerable marineecosystems is a reasonable way for the IUCN tocommunicate its concern.

In the working group on the motion, a consensuscould not be reached as some of the participantswould not accept to use a text carefully negotiatedat the UN General Assembly that defines the prob-lem to be addressed, by whom it should be done andon what basis.

The UN text, paragraph 66, reads: “calls uponstates, either by themselves or through regional fish-eries management organizations or arrangements,where these are competent to do so, to take actionurgently, and consider on a case by case basis, andon a scientific basis, including the application of theprecautionary approach, the interim prohibition ofdestructive fishing practices, including bottomtrawling that has adverse impacts on vulnerablemarine ecosystems, including seamounts,hydrothermal vents and cold water corals locatedbeyond national jurisdiction, until such time asappropriate conservation and management meas-ures have been adopted in accordance with interna-tional law”.

Iceland regrets that a consensus on such a call couldnot be reached at this Congress. Iceland is of theview that such a call, endorsed by both NGOs andthe majority of states that conduct fisheries, wouldhave sent a much stronger message on the urgencyof action to states and relevant international forathan the one we have now. It was for this reason thatIceland abstained from voting on this motion.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Japan provided thefollowing statement for the record:

Demanding a general moratorium that only appliesto bottom-trawling is inconsistent with the basicidea of this year’s United Nations resolution that“calls upon states to consider on a case-by-casebasis, and on a scientific basis, the interim prohibi-tion of destructive fishing practices".

Further, issues on fisheries regulation should be dis-cussed in such organizations as Food and Agricul-ture Organization or regional fisheries managementorganizations with enough scientific knowledge andexperience. It is not appropriate to discuss fisherytopics in the United Nations General Assembly asthere is no expert on fisheries.

The Japanese basic point of view is that all marineresources, both within and beyond national jurisdic-


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tion, should be used in a sustainable manner on ascientific basis, with due consideration for marineenvironment. This issue of bottom trawling regula-tion should be discussed from this viewpoint.

Thus, Japan cannot support this Resolution.

The Ministry of Environment, Norway, indicated itssupport for the positions taken by Canada, Icelandand Japan.





3.067 Strengthening stakeholderparticipation in fisheriesmanagement

RECALLING Resolution 2.21 IUCN Marine Com-ponent Programme adopted by the 2nd IUCN WorldConservation Congress (Amman, 2000) and Rec-ommendations V.1 Strengthening institutional andsocietal capacities for protected area managementin the 21st century, V.2 Strengthening individual andgroup capacities for protected area management inthe 21st century and V.16 Good governance of pro-tected areas noted by the Vth IUCN World ParksCongress (Durban, 2003);

RECALLING that the UN Convention on the Lawof the Sea (UNCLOS) aims to “promote the peace-ful uses of the seas and oceans, the equitable andefficient utilization of their resources, the conserva-tion of their living resources, and the study, protec-tion and preservation of the marine environment”(UNCLOS Preamble);

NOTING the increasing importance of the work ofthe IUCN Marine Programme;

RECOGNIZING the socio-economic importance ofmarine resources to the planet’s human populationand especially coastal communities;

EMPHASIZING the need for increasing coherencebetween existing programmes and conventionsrelated to fisheries management and the marineenvironment;

EMPHASIZING also the importance of taking intoaccount the knowledge of all stakeholders, includ-ing fishers, in developing and implementing marineconservation programmes;

RECOGNIZING that fisheries are directly depend-ent upon the health of the marine environment;

TAKING NOTE of the global recognition of theneed for stakeholder participation in fisheriesmanagement;

CONSIDERING that the effective regulation offisheries is important for the conservation of marinebiological diversity and productivity; and

RECOGNIZING that involvement of fishers in thedevelopment of effective fisheries regulations andtheir compliance with those regulations is critical toattaining sustainable fisheries;


1. REQUESTS the various components of IUCNto work more closely with fisheries authorities(national and regional), to ensure that all stake-holders, including fishers, are involved in ini-tiatives and/or actions related to fisheries andocean management;

2. REQUESTS IUCN to encourage the involve-ment of all stakeholders, including fishers, inresearch to improve the protection of themarine environment; and

3. CALLS ON IUCN to promote transparency infisheries management by requesting all fish-eries management authorities to engage in fullstakeholder consultation and participation,including environment organizations, in fish-eries management processes.


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The Republic of Turkey is not a party to the UnitedNations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).Turkey objects to making any reference to the saidConvention.

3.068 Undersea noise pollution

RECOGNIZING that anthropogenic ocean noise,depending on source and intensity, is a form of pol-lution, comprised of energy, that may degrade habi-tat and have adverse effects on marine life rangingfrom disturbance to injury and mortality;

CONCERNED that, over the last century, noise lev-els in the world’s oceans have increased as a resultof human activities such as oil, gas and mineralexploration and production, vessel traffic, and mili-tary testing and training;

DISTURBED by reports of mass strandings anddeaths of cetaceans coincident with the use of mili-tary sonar and with the use of technologies in min-eral exploration, and by experimental evidence ofphysiological and behavioural impacts of sound onseveral species of fish;

AWARE that some types of anthropogenic noise cantravel hundreds and even thousands of miles under-water and, like other forms of pollution, are notrestricted by national boundaries;

WELCOMING steps taken by governments to alle-viate the impact of anthropogenic noise on marinespecies, but noting that certain sources of intensenoise may not presently be subject to mitigation andthat few protected areas are managed for noiseimpacts;

RECOGNIZING that further research on the effectsand mitigation of anthropogenic noise on marinespecies is urgently needed and must be conducted tothe highest standards of science and public credibil-ity, avoiding conflicts of interest;

MINDFUL that the International Maritime Organi-zation, in its Guidelines for the Designation of Spe-cial Areas and the Identification of ParticularlySensitive Sea Areas, has identified shipping noise as

a pollutant that can adversely affect the marine envi-ronment and living resources of the sea;

NOTING that Resolution 1998-6 of the Interna-tional Whaling Commission (IWC) identified theimpacts of anthropogenic noise as a priority topicfor investigation within its Scientific Committee,and that the Scientific Committee, in its report to the56th meeting of the IWC, concluded that militarysonar, seismic exploration, and other noise sourcessuch as shipping pose a significant and increasingthreat to cetaceans, both acute and chronic, andmade a series of recommendations to member gov-ernments regarding the regulation of anthropogenicnoise;

APPLAUDING Resolution 5 Effects of Noise and ofVessels adopted by the 4th Meeting of Parties to theAgreement on the Conservation of Small Cetaceansof the Baltic and North Seas (ASCOBANS), andResolution 2.16 Assessment and Impact Assessmentof Man-Made Noise adopted by the 2nd Meeting ofParties to the Agreement on the Conservation ofCetaceans of the Black Sea, Mediterranean Sea andContiguous Atlantic Area (ACCOBAMS);

RECALLING that the IUCN Species SurvivalCommission (SSC) Cetacean Specialist Group, inits current Conservation Action Plan for Dolphins,Whales and Porpoises, has identified the rise ofocean noise as a threat to cetaceans and hasobserved that such noise is likely to increase unlessserious steps are taken to curtail it; and

FURTHER RECALLING IUCN’s strong commit-ment to the conservation of marine species andhabitat, as reflected in Resolution 2.20 Conserva-tion of marine biodiversity adopted by the 2nd IUCNWorld Conservation Congress (Amman, 2000), andRecommendations 1.17 Coastal and Marine Con-servation and Management and 1.37 Marine Pro-tected Areas adopted by the 1st IUCN World Con-servation Congress (Montreal, 1996);


1. REQUESTS the IUCN Director General, withthe assistance of the Union’s members, Com-missions, and Council, to identify and imple-ment measures to promote among world


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governments the reduction of anthropogenicocean noise, such as by drawing this resolutionto the attention of the secretariats of, and meet-ings of Contracting Parties to, UNEP RegionalSeas Programmes, UNEP Governing Council,and other relevant intergovernmental organiza-tions, particularly those with whom IUCNenjoys observer status, and by keeping Unionmembers informed of progress on this issue;

2. FURTHER REQUESTS the IUCN DirectorGeneral to encourage IUCN members andCommissions to support and conduct furtherresearch on the effects and mitigation of anthro-pogenic noise on marine species, to ensure thatsuch research is conducted to the highest stan-dards of science and public credibility, avoidingconflicts of interest, and to encourage the appli-cation of the results of research in mitigatinganthropogenic noise pollution;

3. CALLS ON the IUCN constituency to recog-nize that, when there is reason to expect thatharmful effects on biota may be caused bysuch noise, lack of full scientific certaintyshould not be used as a reason for postponingmeasures to prevent or minimize such effects;

4. FURTHER CALLS ON:

(a) the SSC, in cooperation with its special-ist groups, to take account of noise pollu-tion as a potential impact on species andbiodiversity when applying the IUCNRed List categories and criteria and todevelop research projects and manage-ment recommendations that advance theconservation of marine species in light ofsuch pollution;

(b) the World Commission on ProtectedAreas (WCPA) to consider anthropogenicnoise in all its work related to marine pro-tected areas and refuges and specificallyin its assessments of the conservation sta-tus of World Heritage sites and in itsefforts to implement the revised Pro-gramme of Work on marine and coastalbiological diversity adopted by decisionVII/5 of the 7th Meeting of the Conferenceof Parties to the Convention on BiologicalDiversity (Kuala Lumpur, 2004); and

(c) the Commission on Environmental Law(CEL) to make recommendations on legaland policy issues arising out of the inter-national management of undersea noisepollution, and to counsel IUCN members,governments, and intergovernmentalorganizations on such issues, particularlyin the drafting of legal instruments;

5. ENTREATS IUCN member governments,through the mechanisms available to themunder domestic and international law, includ-ing the development of legal instruments to:

(a) monitor for and investigate, in a publiclyopen, inclusive, and transparent manner,the impacts on marine species, includingbut not limited to mass strandings anddeaths, that are associated with the use ofintense anthropogenic noise;

(b) encourage the development of alternativetechnologies and require the use of best-available control techniques and othermitigation measures in reducing impactsfrom individual noise sources;

(c) consider how to limit the use of powerfulnoise sources until their short-term andlong-term effects are better understood,and, to the maximum extent possible, toavoid the use of such sources in habitat ofvulnerable species and in areas wheremarine mammals or endangered speciesmay be concentrated;

(d) in the case of military active sonar, actwith particular urgency to reduce impactson beaked whales, and other potentiallyvulnerable species, by restricting trainingto low-risk areas, and by working dili-gently toward the development of inter-national standards that regulate its use;

(e) consider noise restrictions in their man-agement guidelines for marine protectedareas; and

(f) work together with national and interna-tional non-governmental organizationsand with the scientific community inaccomplishing these goals; and


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6. URGES IUCN member governments that are:

(a) Member States of the United Nations towork through the United Nations Con-vention on the Law of the Sea and otherauthorities, and members of the Interna-tional Maritime Organization to workthrough the International Convention forthe Prevention of Pollution from Ships(MARPOL 73/78) and other relevantinstruments and bodies, to develop mech-anisms for the control of undersea noise;

(b) Member States of the European Union(EU) to recognize under Article 12 of theHabitats Directive (Council Directive92/43/EEC) that underwater noise is apotential source of disturbance to marinespecies listed on Annex IV(a) and toensure that the EU’s Marine Strategyaddresses the regulation of harmful noisein the marine environment; and

(c) Parties to UNEP Regional Seas Agree-ments, and to other regional marineagreements and conventions, to includethe control of anthropogenic noise pollu-tion in their strategies, action plans,and/or measures for the preservation ofhabitats and the conservation of marinebiological diversity.

The Ministry of Environment, Norway provided thefollowing statement for the record:

We think the resolution is premature and the extentof the problem first should be identified.




The United States shares the underlying concernswith the potential effects of anthropogenic oceansound on marine life and would like a number ofclarifying points included in the Record.

● We recognize that some anthropogenic oceansound may have adverse effects, ranging fromchronic to acute, on marine life.

● The United States is a leader in fundingresearch on all aspects of the issue.

● The United States is a leader in implementingscience-based management programs to assessand mitigate the adverse effects of some anthro-pogenic sound on marine mammals and endan-gered and threatened species.

● The United States supports continued relianceupon science in making regulatory decisionsabout activities associated with anthropogenicocean sound.

● The United States encourages an internationalapproach to advance scientific understanding ofthis issue and to promote science-based meansof addressing adverse effects.


3.069 Status of floating atomicpower stations in theworld’s oceans

NOTING WITH CONCERN that the constructionof the first floating atomic power station in theworld is expected to be completed in 2005 inSeverodvinsk (Arkhangelskaya oblast of the Russ-ian Federation) with governmental support, and thattalks with several countries are under way on theterms of leasing of such stations;

CONSIDERING that any additional input of artifi-cial radionuclides in the ocean is liable to cause athreat to biodiversity and to legitimate uses of thesea;

AWARE that any atomic power station inevitablyrepresents a powerful source of radioactive andthermal discharges and emissions to its surroundingenvironment;


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RECALLING the need to prevent the proliferationof fissile materials in the world for the sake of pro-moting global security, including the reduction ofthe threat of international terrorism; and

RECALLING FURTHER that any deliberate dis-posal at sea of wastes or other matter from vessels,aircraft, platforms or other man-made structures atsea is regulated worldwide by the Convention on thePrevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping ofWastes and Other Matter (London, 1972), and thatsuch disposal at sea of all radioactive wastes is pro-hibited in accordance with Annex I of this conven-tion as amended by Resolution LC.51(16) ofNovember 1993;


1. URGES the Government of the Russian Feder-ation to renounce all plans to construct floatingatomic power stations and instead to makeincreased use of opportunities for developingalternative clean and safe sources of energy forensuring power supply to remote regions;

2. RECALLS the Government of the RussianFederation’s commitment to lift its reservationto Resolution LC.51(16) whereby Annexes Iand II to the London Convention, 1972 wereamended to prohibit disposal at sea of allradioactive wastes;

3. CALLS UPON the Government of the RussianFederation to act in accordance with this com-mitment, and to lift expeditiously its reserva-tion to Resolution LC.51(16);

4. ALSO CALLS UPON all states which havenot yet done so to ratify the London Conven-tion, 1972 and its 1996 Protocol;

5. URGES all states to refrain from consideringthe use of floating atomic power stations fromany country, including the purchase of power,and to inform competent international organi-zations of their unwillingness to accept suchfloating atomic power stations in the vicinityof their territorial seas, their Exclusive Eco-nomic Zones (EEZs), as well as internalwaters;

6. CALLS UPON all relevant internationalorganizations to review any plan for the build-ing and use of floating atomic power stationswith the aim of preventing the proliferation offissile materials as well as marine pollution;

7. CALLS UPON the Contracting Parties to theLondon Convention, 1972, as well as relevantregional instruments (including the UNEPRegional Seas Programmes, the OSPAR Com-mission for the Protection of the Marine Envi-ronment of the North-East Atlantic, the BalticMarine Environment Protection Commission(HELCOM), the Inuit Circumpolar Confer-ence, and the Arctic Council, among others) toconsider the compatibility of their provisionswith plans to build, lease or otherwise deployfloating atomic power stations; and

8. REQUESTS the IUCN Director General to drawthis resolution to the attention of the Governmentof the Russian Federation, the secretariats of andmeetings of Contracting Parties to the LondonConvention 1972, UNEP Regional Seas Pro-grammes, UNEP Governing Council and otherrelevant intergovernmental organizations, partic-ularly those with whom IUCN enjoys observerstatus, and to keep Union members informed ofprogress on this issue as a matter of urgency dur-ing the 2005–2008 intersessional period.



3.070 Environmental protectionof the Mediterranean Seafrom the risk of maritimetraffic

RECOGNIZING that the Mediterranean region,because of its distinctive geomorphology and his-tory, is one of the richest areas of biological andlandscape diversity in the world, with uniqueecosystems and endemism, which makes it a globalbiodiversity hotspot;


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NOTING that the Mediterranean is a closed seawith a water exchange period of 80 years, wherewater temperature and climatic conditions make therisk of pollution particularly dangerous;

CONSIDERING the importance of the Mediter-ranean Sea for global maritime traffic;

UNDERLINING the important role of the Conven-tion for the Protection of the Marine Environmentand the Coastal Region of the Mediterranean(Barcelona Convention) and its specific protocolsand of the International Maritime Organization inproviding support to Parties in dealing with issuesrelated to maritime traffic risks, prevention andresponse to accidents;

TAKING INTO ACCOUNT the Naples Declara-tion, agreed by IUCN Mediterranean members inJune 2004, particularly where this requests arenewed and enhanced effort for implementation ofthe Barcelona Convention, encouraging states toratify and implement the Convention’s protocolsespecially those on navigational safety, on SpeciallyProtected Areas and the Strategic Action Plan onBiodiversity (SAP-BIO);

RECOGNIZING the important role played byIUCN in deepening knowledge on transboundaryenvironmental issues and issues related to the highseas, in raising awareness of these issues, and inempowering members and other parties with thisknowledge; and

RECOGNIZING the increased attention of IUCN toMediterranean issues, for instance through its estab-lishment of the IUCN Centre for MediterraneanCooperation;



(a) assess the current and future threats toMediterranean biodiversity arising from mar-itime traffic through the Mediterranean Sea,including with the assistance of the Special-ist Group on Ocean Law and Governance ofthe IUCN Commission on Environmental

Law, and to propose appropriate forms ofaction drawing on existing internationalagreements;

(b) propose pilot actions and support the activitiesof IUCN Mediterranean members in the con-text of international agreements focused onthis topic; and

(c) raise in relevant international fora, includingthe International Maritime Organization, andas appropriate, the United Nations GeneralAssembly, the issues related to environmentalprotection of the Mediterranean Sea from therisk of maritime traffic.




3.071 International cooperationon forest management

RECALLING Resolutions 1.20 Biological Diver-sity and Forests and 1.21 Forest Concessions of the1st IUCN World Conservation Congress (Montreal,1996) and Resolution 2.39 Corruption in the forestsector of the 2nd IUCN World Conservation Con-gress (Amman, 2000);

RE-EMPHASIZING that:

(a) forests play a critical role in maintaining biodi-versity and embody complex ecologicalprocesses that are the basis for the present andpotential capacity to provide resources to satisfya wide range of human needs and environmen-tal services, and as such their sustainable useand conservation are of ongoing concern; and


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(b) the maintenance of forest ecosystems is criticalto the protection of these needs and servicesand to the conservation of biodiversity wellbeyond their boundaries;

NOTING the outcome of the United Nations Con-ference for the Negotiation of a Successor Agree-ment to the International Tropical Timber Agree-ment, Geneva, Switzerland, 26–30 July 2004; andthe further negotiations to be held in Geneva, 21–25February 2005;

FURTHER NOTING the report of the UnitedNations Forum on Forests (UNFF) Ad Hoc ExpertGroup’s 7–10 September 2004 meeting on Consid-eration with a View to Recommending the Parame-ters of a Mandate for Developing a Legal Frame-work on all Types of Forests;

WELCOMING the upcoming country-led initiativethat will build on the technical and scientific advicealready provided by the above-mentioned Ad HocExpert Group and which will be held in Guadala-jara, Mexico, on 25–28 January 2005 in support ofthe upcoming fifth session of the UNFF to be heldin New York, 16–27 May 2005; and

RECOGNIZING IUCN’s contributions to the Col-laborative Partnership on Forests;


1. REQUESTS the IUCN Director General toensure the Union’s continued participation in,and active role at, regular meetings of the UNFF,the ITTO, and any fora that may result as an out-come of the proceedings mentioned above; and

2. REQUESTS the IUCN Director General, incooperation with the other components ofIUCN, to:

(a) widely distribute the results of IUCNwork, for example under the Forest Land-scape Restoration Initiative, to those fora;

(b) further the future work and synergies ofthe Collaborative Partnership on Forestsas well as the Country-Led Initiative insupport of the fifth session of the UNFF;

(c) contribute knowledge for assessing exist-ing regional and international instrumentsand processes that would determine thenature of an international arrangement onforests; and

(d) take into account any reports prepared bythe UNFF, whether arising from the AdHoc Expert Group or otherwise, whichrelate to the feasibility of an internationallegal framework on forests.

3.072 Legal aspects of thesustainable use of soils

RECALLING that one of the objectives of the Inter-national Union for the Conservation of Nature andNatural Resources (IUCN) since its founding in1948 was the establishment of laws and treaties forthe protection of nature;

RECOGNIZING the important contributions madeby IUCN since 1965 towards establishing the fieldof environmental law;

NOTING the significant and substantial work doneby the IUCN Environmental Law Programme(ELP), through the Commission on EnvironmentalLaw’s Specialist Group on Sustainable Use of Soilin implementing Resolution 2.59 Legal aspects ofthe sustainable use of soils adopted by the 2nd WorldConservation Congress (Amman, 2000), in cooper-ation with the soil science community, for theimprovement of environmental law and policy forthe sustainable use of soils, particularly in regard tothe ecological functions of soil for the conservationof biodiversity and the maintenance of human life,including:

(a) Publication of IUCN Environmental Policy andLaw Paper (EPLP) No. 45 – Legal and Institu-tional Frameworks for Sustainable Soils;

(b) Publication in 2004 of EPLP No. 52 – DraftingLegislation for Sustainable Soils: A Guide;

(c) Communicating widely the outcomes of theIUCN ELP Sustainable Use of Soil programmeamong the international environmental lawand soil-science communities and receiving


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substantial support and encouragement for theintroduction of a global instrument for the sus-tainable use of soil; and

(d) Having undertaken the necessary preliminaryinvestigation work to now proceed to thepreparation of various options for an interna-tional instrument for the sustainable use ofsoil; and

ACKNOWLEDGING that a specific global envi-ronmental law instrument for the sustainable use ofsoils is now justified;


1. REQUESTS the IUCN Director General towork with IUCN members to prepare outlinesof the various options for a global legal instru-ment for the sustainable use of soils, as set outin Section 5 of EPLP No. 45, to be consideredfor implementation by IUCN;

2. REQUESTS the IUCN Director General tocontinue the effective communication of theoutcomes of the Sustainable Use of Soil pro-gramme among the environmental law andsoil-science communities and to prepare furtherlegal guidelines and explanatory material onthe ecological needs of soil and their ecologicalfunctions for the conservation of biodiversityand the maintenance of human life, as neces-sary to support the introduction of a globalinstrument for sustainable use of soil; and

3. REQUESTS the IUCN Director General tocontinue efforts with interested and desirouscountries for the development of national legis-lation for sustainable use of soil, in particularworking with developing nations on theimprovement and reform of their national soillegislation, contributing to institutional capac-ity building and assisting in the development ofnational environmental policy and strategies.



3.073 Conservation of medicinalplants

RECOGNIZING the fundamental importance ofmedicinal plants to local and traditional systems ofhealth care, as well as to the present and future dis-covery and development of new medicines;

CONSCIOUS of the current and increasing impor-tance of medicinal plants and the herbal products sup-ply-chain to local livelihoods and national economies;

ALARMED by the present and increasing threat tomedicinal plant species survival from overharvest,loss of habitat, and other threats to species andecosystems;

RECALLING the Chiang Mai Declaration – SavingLives by Saving Plants signed on 26 March 1988 bythe members of the Chiang Mai International Con-sultation on the Conservation of Medicinal Plants,convened by IUCN, the World Health Organization(WHO), and the World Wide Fund For Nature(WWF), which was followed in 1993 by theWHO/IUCN/WWF Guidelines on the Conservationof Medicinal Plants;

NOTING the efforts of the Medicinal Plant Special-ist Group, established in 1994 by the IUCN SpeciesSurvival Commission (SSC), to address thesethreats; the relevant efforts of the joint IUCN/WWFsupport of the TRAFFIC programme focus onmedicinal species in international trade, and thecontributions of IUCN regional and species pro-grammes to medicinal plant conservation;

FURTHER NOTING that the IUCN GeneralAssembly/World Conservation Congress hasacknowledged medicinal use as an important valueof species and ecosystems in the following Resolu-tions and Recommendations: 15/11 Tropical MoistForests (Christchurch, 1981), 19.66 Opening of theTapón del Darien (Buenos Aires, 1994), 2.55 Mil-lennium Ecosystem Assessment, 2.63 Illegal and/orunsustainable trade of wildlife species among andfrom the Mekong riparian countries, and 2.88Establishment of an Ecological Corridor in theAmericas (Amman, 2000);

ACKNOWLEDGING the importance of efforts toconserve and sustainably use medicinal plants


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through the broader plant conservation targets iden-tified by the Global Strategy for Plant Conserva-tion, endorsed by the World Conservation Congressat its 2nd Session in Amman, October 2000 (Resolu-tion 2.25 Conservation of Plants), and adopted bythe 6th Conference of Parties to the Convention onBiological Diversity on 19 April 2002, in TheHague (Decision VI/9);

AWARE of the need to revise and update the 1993Guidelines on the Conservation of Medicinal Plantsto include significant new challenges and changes inapproach to conservation and sustainable use; and

WELCOMING the revision of the Guidelinesundertaken by WHO, WWF, TRAFFIC, and IUCNin consultation with more than 600 stakeholdersworldwide;


1. SUPPORTS the revision of the 1993 Guide-lines on the Conservation of Medicinal Plantsas a joint undertaking of WHO, WWF, TRAF-FIC, and IUCN in consultation with a broadspectrum of stakeholders;

2. URGES the herbal products and pharmaceuti-cals industries, donors, development aid agen-cies, national governments, conservation andrural development NGOs, and other stakehold-ers, to endorse and implement the revisedGuidelines; and

3. REQUESTS the IUCN Director General andthe SSC to provide technical and scientificassistance to this process and institutional part-nership, and especially to civil society andlocal communities, where this is possiblewithin funding and other constraints, in orderto complete the revision, and to publish andmake widely available the revised Guidelines.

3.074 Implementing the AddisAbaba Principles andGuidelines for theSustainable Use ofBiodiversity

BEARING IN MIND that since the publication ofthe World Conservation Strategy in 1980, IUCN hasbeen a pioneer in promoting understanding of sus-tainable use as a tool to benefit both conservation ofnature and human development;

ACKNOWLEDGING Resolution 2.29 IUCN Pol-icy Statement on Sustainable Use of Wild LivingResources adopted by the 2nd IUCN World Conser-vation Congress (Amman, 2000);

RECALLING that the said Resolution calls uponthe IUCN Secretariat to report on the progressachieved in implementing the terms of the PolicyStatement;

NOTING also Recommendation 2.92 Indigenouspeoples, sustainable use of natural resources, andinternational trade adopted by the 2nd World Con-servation Congress (Amman, 2000);

RECOGNIZING with satisfaction the part playedby stakeholders, including IUCN, in the preparatoryprocess under the framework of the Convention onBiological Diversity (CBD) in developing theCBD’s work on principles and guidelines for sus-tainable use of biodiversity;

WELCOMING the wide support of Parties to theCBD for this work, as demonstrated by their recentadoption of the Addis Ababa Principles and Guide-lines for the Sustainable Use of Biodiversity at the7th Conference of the Parties – COP7 (KualaLumpur, 2004);

ACKNOWLEDGING that the 13th Conference ofParties to CITES (Bangkok, 2004) directed theCITES Secretariat to, inter alia, incorporate consid-eration of the Addis Ababa Principles and Guide-lines for the Sustainable Use of Biodiversity into itsworkplan;

ENVISAGING that the CBD is now in a positionto play a leading role in fostering sustainable use


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of biological diversity, and, as a result, to take asignificant step forward in achieving MillenniumDevelopment Goal (MDG) number 7 adopted bythe United Nations General Assembly, namely to“ensure environmental sustainability” and MDGTarget 9 “integrate the principles of sustainabledevelopment into country policies and pro-grammes to reverse the losses of environmentalresources”;

AWARE of the necessity to promote wide-rangingimplementation of the Addis Ababa Principles andGuidelines, going hand-in-hand with the develop-ment of indicators that provide governments,resource managers and other stakeholders withappropriate means to monitor implementation andeffectiveness; and

BELIEVING that IUCN, including its members andCommissions, is able to play a leading role bybringing its experience into the process and advisinggovernments and resource managers as they addressthe application of the Principles and Guidelines totheir spheres of responsibility;


1. NOTES WITH APPRECIATION the adoptionof the Addis Ababa Principles and Guidelinesfor the Sustainable Use of Biodiversity byCBD COP7;


(a) ensure that the Addis Ababa Principlesand Guidelines, as well as the IUCNPolicy Statement on Sustainable Use ofWild Living Resources, are appropri-ately reflected in all IUCN policies andprogrammes;

(b) promote initiatives which enable relevantcomponents of the Union to worktogether to develop tools for the imple-mentation of sustainable-use principles inpractice, while maintaining a distinctivefocal point for forward thinking; and

(c) advise the Executive Secretary of theCBD that IUCN stands ready to continue

collaboration in the implementation ofrecommendations for further develop-ment of the Addis Ababa Principles andGuidelines, as adopted at COP 7, and rec-ommends that consideration be given toupdating the Principles and Guidelinesin due course, in order to reflect anyimportant developments relating to sus-tainable development and environmentalconservation; and

3. ENCOURAGES IUCN and its members to:

(a) report case studies that describe both pos-itive and negative experiences in theimplementation and outcomes of sustain-able use programmes and to identify les-sons learned; and

(b) provide these case studies to the CBD Sec-retariat and other relevant organizations.



3.075 Applying thePrecautionary Principle inenvironmental decision-making and management

NOTING that the Precautionary Principle, as set outin Principle 15 of the 1992 Rio Declaration onEnvironment and Development, has been widelyendorsed in international environmental agreementsand declarations and provides guidance for respond-ing to scientific uncertainty;

AWARE that implementation of the PrecautionaryPrinciple to anticipate and prevent potential envi-ronmental damage presents crucial challenges forenvironmental governance and management;

RECOGNIZING the fundamental importance of thePrecautionary Principle for conservation and sus-tainable development and prevention of environ-mental degradation;


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DESIRING to promote shared understanding of thePrecautionary Principle;

MINDFUL of the need to ensure that the Precau-tionary Principle is not applied in isolation, but inconjunction with other principles relevant to conser-vation and sustainable development;

RECALLING Resolution 1.45 The PrecautionaryPrinciple adopted by the 1st IUCN World Conserva-tion Congress (Montreal, 1996), and NOTINGefforts made by IUCN and its members toward ful-filling Resolution 1.45;

APPRECIATING the engagement of IUCN mem-bers and others towards developing guidance on theimplementation of the Precautionary Principle;

NOTING concerns raised in The PrecautionaryPrinciple in Biodiversity Conservation and NaturalResource Management, the report of a workshopheld in Manila, June 2004;

DESIRING to encourage more effective and appro-priate application of the principle through interna-tional and domestic legal frameworks that createlegally binding and enforceable obligations for deci-sion-makers in the public and private sectors; and

MINDFUL of discussions concerning various inter-pretations of the Precautionary Principle;


1. CALLS ON IUCN members, their representa-tive bodies (e.g. Regional and National Com-mittees), the Commissions, and the IUCNDirector General, to:

(a) promote and develop tools for the appro-priate and effective application of thePrecautionary Principle in all areas and atall levels of environmental decision-making for conservation and sustainabledevelopment;

(b) investigate the relationship of the Precau-tionary Principle with other principles,such as public participation in decision-

making, intra- and intergenerationalequity, and common but differentiatedresponsibility; and

(c) promote a greater understanding of thelegal application and operational imple-mentation of the Precautionary Principle;

2. CALLS ON IUCN to establish an Inter-Commission Working Group on the Precau-tionary Principle, working with membersrepresentative of regions and disciplines,building on work carried out by IUCN mem-bers and others; and

3. FURTHER CALLS ON IUCN to encourage alldecision-makers to apply the PrecautionaryPrinciple in ways that enhance conservationand sustainable development in all decisionsrelating to the environment at international andnational levels.



3.076 Illegal and unsustainableinternational trade in theAssociation of SoutheastAsian Nations (ASEAN)and Mekong river riparianstates

RECALLING IUCN’s commitment to the goal ofcontrolling the unsustainable trade in wildlifespecies occurring among and from the Mekongriparian states (Resolution 2.63 Illegal and/orunsustainable trade of wildlife species among andfrom the Mekong riparian countries) and manag-ing the unsustainable commercial trade in wildmeat (Resolution 2.64 The unsustainable commer-cial trade in wild meat), both adopted by the 2nd



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COGNISANT of IUCN’s Mission which includesthe statement that any use of natural resourcesshould be equitable and ecologically sustainable;

NOTING ASEAN’s commitment through the Yan-gon Resolution on Sustainable Development to“sustainably manage the rich biodiversity resourcesof ASEAN”;

HIGHLY SUPPORTIVE of ASEAN’s efforts inaddressing regional wildlife trade problems at the13th Conference of Parties to the Convention onInternational Trade in Endangered Species of WildFlora and Fauna (CITES) in Bangkok, October 2004;

CONCERNED that there is a rapidly increasingunsustainable and illegal international commercialtrade in wildlife and products derived from wild ani-mals throughout ASEAN (Brunei Darussalam,Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar,Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam) andthe Mekong River riparian states (China, Myanmar,Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam);

UNDERSTANDING that:

(a) this trade is a significant immediate threat towildlife populations across ASEAN and theMekong River riparian states;

(b) a very wide range of species are at risk of localextinction across wide areas; and

(c) several species are already presumed extinct insome countries across the region as a result ofthis trade; and

ALSO UNDERSTANDING that the depletion ofwildlife resources across ASEAN and the MekongRiver riparian states is negatively affecting humanlivelihoods in many rural areas;


1. ADVOCATES an immediate, collective inter-national effort to identify and implement themost appropriate solutions to control the illegalinternational trade in wildlife and wildlifeproducts throughout ASEAN and the MekongRiver riparian states;

2. URGES governments of all affected nations torecognize the increasing and devastatingimpact of the illegal international trade on theconservation of critical biodiversity, the loss ofnatural patrimony, and the depletion of naturalresources;

3. URGES all states to enforce legislation to con-trol the illegal international trade in wildlifeand wildlife products throughout ASEAN, theMekong River riparian states, and otherregions, focusing especially on strict enforce-ment of CITES regulations through establish-ing appropriate national legislation and itsimplementation by the relevant ManagementAuthorities;

4. URGES all members and states to collaboratetowards establishing appropriate informationexchange regarding the illegal trade inwildlife by establishing a regional workinggroup comprising representatives of the gov-ernments of ASEAN and the Mekong Riverriparian states, and to use that information toformulate and implement action programmeswhere needed;

5. URGES donor and lending organizations toprovide additional resources to support appro-priate and necessary programmes to control theillegal international trade in wildlife andaddress its root causes, especially actions takenin relation to paragraphs 3 and 4 above; and

6. REQUESTS the IUCN Director General and theIUCN Species Survival Commission, in collabo-ration with relevant IUCN State Members, agen-cies, organizations, and local stakeholders to:

(a) request that the International Air Trans-port Association (IATA) implements itsown regulations concerning the transportof illegal wildlife cargoes; and

(b) urge all member states of ASEAN, andMekong River riparian states, to improvethe effectiveness of wildlife law-enforce-ment through ensuring that CITES andits essential domestic implementationlegislation is strictly respected andenforced, including through customs andother controls on land borders, especially


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where roads and railways cross interna-tional borders, and at airport export andimport facilities, including through train-ing and the provision of resources to offi-cers and border officials who controlwildlife trade.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, China, providedthe following statement for the record:

1. The Chinese Government supports controllingillegal international trade of wildlife and inter-national cooperation in this regard.

2. China strictly controls commercial use andillegal trade of wildlife species.

3. To effectively combat wildlife-related crimes,China set up a forest police force in the 1980sand a special police unit to crack down onsmuggling of wildlife species. Perpetuators arerobustly prosecuted and sentenced to maxi-mum terms of punishment according to Chi-nese Criminal Law.

4. China is also a strong supporter and activeplayer in international cooperation. Chinahosted a series of international meetings andworkshops, the recent example being the work-shop on CITES Implementation in the MekongRiver Riparian States co-sponsored by Chinaand the CITES Secretariat.


3.077 Urgent measures to securethe survival of thecritically endangeredWestern Gray WhaleEschrichtius robustus

RECOGNIZING that the Western Gray Whale pop-ulation is one of the world’s smallest populations oflarge whales, with about 100 individuals remaining,including only 23 reproductive females, and thatthis population is therefore listed by IUCN as Criti-cally Endangered;

CONCERNED that the population was reduced tothis very low level by over-hunting in the early partof the 20th century and now is facing new threatsfrom oil and gas development on its only knownfeeding ground;

FURTHER CONCERNED that the near-shore feed-ing ground is less than 70 km long and up to 10 kmwide and that this habitat is critical to populationsurvival as it is the only known place where femaleswith calves feed and calves are weaned;

GREATLY TROUBLED that large oil companiesSakhenergy (Shell, Mitsubishi and Mitsui), Exxonand BP, and their Russian partners, have startedmajor oil-development projects in the waters offNortheastern Sakhalin Island, Russian Federation,that are directly surrounding and encroaching uponthe feeding habitat of Western Gray Whales and thatthe cumulative impacts of these projects (individu-ally, collectively and sequentially) have not beenconsidered explicitly by the oil companies or bytheir international lenders;

AWARE that Western Gray Whales feed primarilyon benthic organisms, that their feeding ground (thePiltun Area) is very limited, and that the risk posedby a major oil spill to the near-shore ecosystem andbenthic community is very high as containment ofoil would be extremely difficult and prevailing cur-rents in the area could cause spilled oil to spreadacross the whale feeding habitat;

NOTING and welcoming the concerns for this pop-ulation expressed by the International WhalingCommission (IWC) in Resolution 2001–3, whichurges that “every effort must be made to reduceanthropogenic mortality to zero and to reduce vari-ous types of anthropogenic disturbances to the low-est possible level”;

MINDFUL of further similar concerns expressed bythe IWC in subsequent years;

RECALLING that the IUCN Species SurvivalCommission (SSC) Cetacean Specialist Group, inits current Conservation Action Plan, Dolphins,Whales and Porpoises: 2002–2010 ConservationAction Plan for the World’s Cetaceans (2003), hasidentified the population of Western Gray Whales asone of several populations of great whales that areseverely depleted;


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FURTHER RECALLING that the SSC CetaceanSpecialist Group has provided scientific and techni-cal advice to the proponents of the Sakhalin oildevelopment projects regarding risk assessment andmitigation; and

NOTING that IUCN has undertaken an independentscientific review of the impacts on Western GrayWhales of oil and gas development plans on andnear Sakhalin Island;


1. REQUESTS the IUCN Director General, withthe assistance of IUCN’s members, Commis-sions, and Council, to promote the protectionof Western Gray Whales throughout theirrange, particularly their feeding ground offSakhalin Island;

2. CAUTIONS that any additional negativeimpact on Western Gray Whales could lead totheir extinction;

3. URGES all the range state governments(including China, Japan, Democratic People’sRepublic of Korea, Republic of Korea, and theRussian Federation) to immediately developand implement their own national action plansfor the conservation of Western Gray Whalesand their habitat;

4. ENCOURAGES all involved oil companiesto establish independent monitoring pro-grammes that meet international best-practicestandards, as agreed by the SSC CetaceanSpecialist Group, and that are subjected toindependent review by parties with no vestedinterests;

5. EMPHASIZES the importance of developingand implementing effective mitigation meas-ures that reduce potential anthropogenicimpacts to the lowest possible level, in accor-dance with IWC Resolution 2001–3, prior tothe onset of any major construction work onthe Sakhalin Shelf in 2005; and

6. REQUESTS the Russian authorities to estab-lish an area which is seasonally closed to

activities which may have an adverse impacton Western Gray Whales (mothers andcalves) during the time that they are presenteach year.



3.078 Sturgeon(Acipenseriformes)conservation within theCaspian, and Azov andBlack Sea Basins

CONSIDERING that the majority of the sturgeon(Acipenseriformes) populations within the CaspianBasin and the Azov and Black Sea Basin are ofstrong conservation concern;

ACKNOWLEDGING that the status of sturgeonpopulations depends directly on management oftheir resources;

REMEMBERING the major importance of sturgeonresources for sustainable development of the above-mentioned Basins;

RECOGNIZING the need for increasing the leveland reliability of information about the status ofsturgeon populations;

RECOGNIZING the work within the framework ofthe Convention on International Trade in Endan-gered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES),and more specifically the so-called Paris Agreement(2001), including a plan of action to assist the statesof the Caspian Sea and Azov and Black Sea to builda science-based management system for the long-term conservation and sustainable use of sturgeon;and

RECOGNIZING the progress made by the IslamicRepublic of Iran towards maintaining sturgeon pop-ulations at sustainable levels;


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1. REQUESTS the IUCN Director General, withthe assistance of IUCN’s members, Commis-sions, and Council, to promote the conserva-tion and sustainable use of sturgeons(Acipenseriformes) throughout their ranges,particularly in the Caspian, Azov and BlackSea Basins;

2. REQUESTS the IUCN Director General toappeal to the governments of littoral states sur-rounding the Caspian, Azov and Black SeaBasins to fulfil the requirements of CITESimplementation for sturgeon species and, inparticular, the improvement of science basedsustainable management and the elimination ofillegal harvest and illegal trade; and

3. CALLS on the governments of littoral statessurrounding the Caspian Sea, Azov and BlackSea Basins:

(a) to prioritize the recovery of natural stur-geon populations through measures suchas restoration and conservation of migra-tory routes and spawning and fatteninggrounds; and

(b) in collaboration with all stakeholders toenable local communities to participate insturgeon resource management and conser-vation and to ensure they share the benefitsof sustainable sturgeon exploitation.



3.079 Conservation of Gypsspecies of vultures in Southand Southeast Asia

RECOGNIZING that vultures are specialized scav-engers that play a crucial role in ridding the envi-ronment of dead animals that would otherwise rotand cause disease, despair and death to both humansand livestock;

RECOGNIZING that the Long-billed Gyps indicus,Slender-billed Gyps tenuirostris and White-rumpedGyps bengalensis Vultures, endemic to South andSoutheast Asia, have declined by more than 97 per-cent during the last 10 years in South Asia and thatpopulations are also at very low levels in SoutheastAsia;

NOTING that IUCN – The World ConservationUnion has listed the three species as CriticallyEndangered in the IUCN Red List, the highest cate-gory of endangerment;

NOTING that historically these Gyps species ofvultures were common or very common in theirrange states (Pakistan, India, Nepal, Bangladesh,Bhutan, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia,Lao PDR and Malaysia);

FURTHER NOTING that these massive declines ofGyps vultures are caused by human activities andcould be reversed;

RECALLING that sufficient habitat is present inmost of the range states to allow vulture populationsto recolonize and recover;

FURTHER RECALLING that vultures are an inte-gral part of the cultures in all South Asian countriesand play an important ecological role by cleaning uplivestock carcasses;

ACKNOWLEDGING that many range states havetaken measures to protect vultures by includingthem in protected-species lists;

FURTHER ACKNOWLEDGING that the BombayNatural History Society, with the financial support ofthe Darwin Initiative for the Survival of Species (Gov-ernment of the United Kingdom), the Royal Societyfor the Protection of Birds (UK), the Zoological Society


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of London and the Haryana Forest Department (India)has established a Vulture Rescue Centre;

NOTING that BirdLife International has deter-mined that all three species are Critical Endan-gered in the Bird Red Data Book for Asia, and thatIUCN also lists these species as Critically Endan-gered in the 2004 IUCN Red List, mainly based onthe continuing precipitous population declines inall populations;

FURTHER NOTING that recent studies, publishedin the journal Nature, prove that massive declines inthe population of vultures in South Asia is duemainly to exposure to the Non Steroid Anti Inflam-matory Drug (NSAID) Diclofenac in livestock car-casses (Nature 427, 630–633, 12 Feb 2004);

ACKNOWLEDGING THAT Diclofenac is the prin-cipal cause for catastrophic decline during the lastdecade but recognizing that other secondary factorslike the loss of nesting sites, indiscriminate use ofpesticides, and other factors, may be important on alocal scale;

AWARE of the fact that veterinary use ofDiclofenac started in India in 1993 and in Pakistanin 1998 and within a very short time, massive deathsof vultures were noted in both countries;

CONCERNED that widespread use of veterinaryDiclofenac raises significant fear throughout theworld about environmental contamination by lethaldrugs that will further reduce Gyps vultures tounsustainable levels, inevitably leading to theirextinction;

AWARE of the need to restore vulture populationsthrough captive-breeding and release at appropriatetimes, withdrawal of veterinary Diclofenac, and itsreplacement with an appropriate risk-free substitute;

FURTHER NOTING the South Asian VultureRecovery Plan and its recommendations;

CONGRATULATING the Haryana Forest Depart-ment for providing free land and other support forthe establishment of the Vulture Rescue Centre;

NOTING the work already under way in support ofthe programme by the governments of Pakistan,India and Nepal; and

CONGRATULATING the Darwin Initiative, thePeregrine Fund (UK), Royal Society for the Protec-tion of Birds, BirdLife International, ZoologicalSociety of London, and National Bird of Prey Trust(UK) for continuing to support and fund vulturerecovery initiatives in India, Nepal, Pakistan andother countries;


1. CALLS on Gyps vulture range states to beginaction immediately to prevent all uses ofDiclofenac in veterinary applications thatallow Diclofenac to be present in carcasses ofdomestic livestock and therefore available asfood for vultures;

2. CALLS for the establishment, with the utmosturgency, of a South Asian Vulture Task Forceunder the auspices of IUCN, to review, updateand facilitate implementation of the recom-mendations of the South Asian Vulture Recov-ery Plan;

3. REQUESTS Gyps vulture range states todevelop and implement national vulture recov-ery plans, including conservation breeding andrelease;

4. URGES the Gyps range states, along withnational and international non-governmentalorganizations, especially BirdLife Interna-tional, the Royal Society for the Protection ofBirds, the Bombay Natural History Society,Bird Conservation Nepal, the OrnithologicalSociety of Pakistan, the Peregrine Fund, theZoological Society of London, the NationalBird of Prey Trust, the Wildlife ConservationSociety and others, as well as governments togive special support – technical and financial –to enable implementation of the South AsianVulture Recovery Plan; and

5. URGES the IUCN Director General and theIUCN Species Survival Commission to make:

(a) a strategic commitment in developing aneffective programme for restoration ofvulture populations through internationalcooperation; and


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(b) a long-term commitment, including seek-ing the transfer of technical expertise andfinancial support from internationaldonor organizations and governments tothe range states.




3.080 Vote of thanks to the hostcountry

NOTING that the 3rd IUCN World ConservationCongress has brought together almost 5,000 partici-pants from 160 countries, making this the largestassembly in the history of IUCN;

MINDFUL of the vital importance of locatingappropriate facilities and of ensuring the smoothlogistical running of such a large gathering;

AWARE that a number of significant innovationswere introduced at this Congress and that these pre-sented many challenges for the venue and localorganizers;

RESPECTFUL of the fact that a gathering of thissize can only occur with the support of a large teamof volunteers, workers and sponsors; and

GRATEFULLY ACKNOWLEDGING that theseconditions were more than fully met at the 3rd

IUCN World Conservation Congress held in theQueen Sirikit National Conference Centre inBangkok;

The World Conservation Congress at its 3rd Ses-sion in Bangkok, Thailand, 17-25 November2004:

1. EXPRESSES its deepest gratitude to HerMajesty Queen Sirikit for her gracious pres-ence and for officially opening the Congress;

2. RECORDS its warmest appreciation to HisExcellency Dr. Thaksin Shinawatra, PrimeMinister of Thailand for the very generoussupport given by the Royal Thai Government;

3. CONVEYS its deepest thanks and apprecia-tion to His Excellency Suwit Khunkitti, Minis-ter of Natural Resources and Environment forhis very warm and generous support, hospital-ity and participation in the Congress;

4. ACKNOWLEDGES with gratitude the invalu-able support of Mr. Petipong Puengboon NaAyudhaya, Permanent Secretary of the Min-istry of Natural Resources and Environment;Mr. Apiwat Sretarugsa, Deputy PermanentSecretary of the Ministry of Natural Resourcesand Environment; and Mr. Somchai Pien-staporn, Director General of the National Park,Wildlife and Plant Conservation, as well as allof their staff;

5. APPLAUDS the hard work and efforts of theRoyal Thai Government Organizing Commit-tee, officials and supporting staff, local spon-sors, National Convention Management andDevelopment Company Ltd., as well as themany local volunteers who gave so generouslyof their time;

6. CONVEYS its thanks to the people ofBangkok for sharing the beauty of their cul-ture, customs, language and scenic sites, thusenriching the experience of all Congress par-ticipants; and

7. DECLARES this 3rd IUCN World Conserva-tion Congress to have been a successful andmemorable event.


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3.081 Implementation ofPrinciple 10 by buildingcomprehensive goodgovernance systems

RECALLING Recommendation 1.43 Public Partic-ipation and Right to Know adopted by the 1st IUCNWorld Conservation Congress (Montreal, 1996) thatcalled on states to adopt and implement nationallegislation to secure public access to environmentalinformation, to facilitate and encourage public par-ticipation, and to consider the need to develop aglobal convention on the right to information andparticipation;

WELCOMING the adoption of the United NationsEconomic Commission for Europe (UN/ECE) Con-vention on Access to Information, Public Participa-tion in Decision-making and Access to Justice inEnvironmental Matters (Aarhus Convention) at thefourth Ministerial Conference in the ‘Environmentfor Europe’ process on 25 June 1998, and its entryinto force on 30 October 2001;

AWARE OF global reaffirmation of Principle 10 ofthe 1992 Rio Declaration on Environment andDevelopment2 in Paragraph 128 of the World Sum-mit on Sustainable Development Plan of Implemen-tation (Johannesburg, 2002);

RECOGNIZING global initiatives, such as theAccess Initiative and the Partnership for Principle10, aimed at its implementation in law and practice;

CONCERNED WITH the lack of implementationof access to information, public participation, andaccess to justice rights at the national level;

EMPHASIZING THAT rights of public access toinformation and decision-making processes aremeaningless when there is no access to justice whenthose rights are denied; and

FURTHER NOTING the lack of practical imple-mentation of good governance principles by gov-ernments and international institutions in decisionsthat affect the environment;


1. CALLS UPON civil society organizations toassess, using tested indicators such as theAccess Initiative methodology, the status ofimplementation of Principle 10 at the nationaland sub-national levels to determine the gapsin access to information, public participation,and access to justice;

2. ENCOURAGES national governments to jointhe Partnership for Principle 10 and to makeconcrete, time-bound, measurable and addi-tional commitments to close the gaps in accessrights, with particular attention to improvingthe legal, institutional and policy arenas relatedto access rights to better support povertyreduction and other development strategies sothat they meet the needs of the poor and buildaccess to justice;

3. RECOMMENDS that countries build compre-hensive access systems, recognizing theimportance of each access pillar, to ensureaddressing of environmental rights and recog-nition of linkages among eradication of

RECOMMENDATIONS

2 “Environmental issues are best handled with participation of all concerned citizens, at the relevant level. At the national level, eachindividual shall have appropriate access to information concerning the environment that is held by public authorities, including infor-mation on hazardous materials and activities in their communities, and the opportunity to participate in decision-making processes.States shall facilitate and encourage public awareness and participation by making information widely available. Effective access tojudicial and administrative proceedings, including redress and remedy, shall be provided.”


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poverty, ensuring livelihoods, health, and sus-tainable development, and investing in build-ing the capacity of the government (at differentlevels – local, regional and national) to provideaccess, and to build capacity on the part of thepublic to use existing access procedures;

4. ASKS national governments to build publicparticipation systems that integrate social andenvironmental concerns into economic deci-sions, thereby preventing the degradation ofthe environment, and that consider independ-ent assessments of access conducted by civilsociety organizations in the preparation ofNational Profiles and strategies;

5. URGES international institutions to internalizegood-governance practices across all offices,missions, departments, and projects in deci-sions that affect the environment;

6. APPEALS to State Parties to the Aarhus Con-vention to accept independent assessments ofaccess conducted by civil society organizationsin the preparation of National Profiles; and

7. HIGHLIGHTS the importance of ongoingexpert meetings and public participationprocesses at international fora in developingguidelines and building up of a global con-sciousness towards the urgent implementationof Principle 10 of the 1992 Rio Declaration onEnvironment and Development.



3.082 The Extractive IndustriesReview

RECALLING Recommendation 2.82 Protectionand conservation of biological diversity of protectedareas from the negative impacts of mining andexploration adopted by the 2nd IUCN World Conser-vation Congress (Amman, 2000), which calls onIUCN State Members to prohibit by law any extrac-tive industry activities in IUCN Management

Category I–IV protected areas, and Recommenda-tion V.28 Protected Areas: Mining and Energynoted by the Vth IUCN World Parks Congress (Dur-ban, 2003) reaffirming IUCN members’ commit-ment to Recommendation 2.82;

NOTING that Result 4.6 of the IUCN IntersessionalProgramme 2005–2008 establishes IUCN’s com-mitment to encouraging multinational businesses tosupport biodiversity conservation;

NOTING furthermore that Result 5.5 of the IUCNIntersessional Programme 2005–2008 establishesIUCN’s commitment to ensuring that governancestructures take into account the rights, responsibili-ties, and interests of stakeholders and allow for theirparticipation in decision-making;

RECOGNIZING that the World Bank has recentlycompleted an independent review process concern-ing its investments in the extractive industries sec-tor and that the International Finance Corporationhas begun a process of reviewing its safeguardpolicies;

CONCERNED that the World Bank may fail toimplement key recommendations in the ExtractiveIndustries Review that are of strategic relevance toIUCN members and the IUCN Programme; and

COMMENDING the World Bank for having under-taken a comprehensive review of its investments inthe extractive industries sector;


1. CALLS upon the World Bank to implementthe following Extractive Industries Reviewrecommendations:

(a) establish IUCN Management CategoryI–IV protected areas as ‘no go’ zones forextractive industry development, consis-tent with IUCN Recommendation 2.82;

(b) revise the International Finance Corpora-tion’s Critical Natural Habitats Safe-guard Policy to include IUCN Manage-ment Category I–IV protected areas aspart of a minimum set of ‘no go’ zones;


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(c) pay special attention to ensure that therights of indigenous peoples to their lands,territories and resources are respected whenchoosing and designing an off-set area;

(d) develop criteria and indicators for identi-fying additional ‘no go’ zones through theSafeguard Policy Review process;

(e) agree to respect the right of free, prior,and informed consent of indigenous peo-ples and local communities affected byextractive industry development; and

(f) agree to a process for identifying gover-nance criteria that addresses transparency,access to information, access to redress,and additional key conditions required toensure that extractive industry develop-ment contributes to poverty reduction indeveloping countries;

2. CALLS upon other international financialinstitutions, including Export Credit Agencies,to support and implement the Extractive Indus-tries Review through adoption of these recom-mendations; and

3. REQUESTS the IUCN Director General toshow support for these recommendations in aletter to the President of the World Bank.



3.083 Improving capacity toachieve sustainabledevelopment and addressthe consequences ofglobalization

RECOGNIZING that natural, social and economicchallenges must be met to achieve sustainabledevelopment at all levels from local to global;

FURTHER RECOGNIZING that achievement ofsustainable development, as called for underAgenda 21, the World Conservation Strategy, theMillennium Development Goals, the JohannesburgPlan of Implementation, and numerous other decla-rations of the world community, cannot be achievedwithout cooperation among nations;

RECALLING that some countries have soughtassistance to increase their capacity for addressingboth the social, environmental and economic conse-quences of increased economic integration, and theopportunities, including trade and investment;

CONCERNED that despite the many commendableinitiatives that have been launched to address thechallenges of sustainable development, the national,regional and global institutions to achieve sustain-able development remain weak and uncoordinated,and as a result have failed to provide mechanisms toarticulate and meet the required capacity-buildingneeds, which are especially important in the contextof accelerated economic integration, including tradeand investment;

FURTHER CONCERNED about the growing gapbetween available development cooperationresources and developing country needs; and

AWARE that a number of bodies, including the Mil-lennium Project and the United Nations Environ-ment Programme, are working to articulate theimportance of a needs-driven process, incorporatingwork plans, funding, cooperation and accountabil-ity, to assist developing countries to reach sustain-able development goals;


CALLS on all states and appropriate internationalorganizations, to undertake the following prioritymission, to:

(a) assist developing countries in analysing andarticulating, in a systematic manner, theirneeds for assistance and capacity-building toaddress the challenges of sustainable develop-ment and to improve governance, especiallyconsidering the impact of trade and economicintegration;


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(b) work through a coordinated process, involvingappropriate stakeholders, to establish workplans with mutual accountability, includingtargets, timetables, benchmarks of progress,monitoring, and reporting, and to providefunding and other resources, as well asenabling policy initiatives, to address the needsreferred to in paragraph (a) above;

(c) strengthen and improve coordination amongthe relevant national, regional and global insti-tutions to support the above actions; and

(d) ensure adequate public participation in theseactivities.



3.084 Ratification of the KyotoProtocol to the UnitedNations FrameworkConvention on ClimateChange

RECALLING the decision of the United NationsFramework Convention on Climate Change(UNFCCC);

CONCERNED that climate change is already hav-ing a serious impact on the world’s biodiversity andhuman society, as well as on the need to find newways to achieve sustainable development;

EMPHASIZING the significance of environmentalaspects in international policy and the increasedattention of the world community to these issues;

STRESSING the critical importance of the KyotoProtocol, the only international agreement aimed atslowing global warming, in the implementation ofUNFCCC decisions and in the development of eco-nomic, social and environmental instruments forconservation and sustainable use of nature and nat-ural resources;

EMPHASIZING the crucial role of civil-societystructures and, in particular, national and interna-

tional social forums, in ratification and furtherimplementation of the Kyoto Protocol;

ACKNOWLEDGING the particular role of forestand wetland ecosystems in keeping the natural bal-ance of the planet and mitigating global climatechange;

CONSIDERING that the Kyoto Protocol stipulatesthat it must be ratified by industrialized countrieswhose combined 1990 emissions exceed 55 per-cent of that group’s total, and that with the RussianFederation accounting for 17.4 percent, it was oneof only a very few countries that could push theagreement over that threshold and bring it intoforce; and

RECOGNIZING the potential and important role ofIUCN in further development and implementationof the Kyoto Protocol;


1. CONGRATULATES the Russian Federationon its ratification of the Kyoto Protocol on 5November, 2004;

2. NOTES that the decision of the Russian Feder-ation provides for the Kyoto Protocol to enterinto force, in accordance with the formal pro-cedure, on 16 February 2005;

3. APPEALS to states to develop national actionplans on implementation of the UNFCC andthe Kyoto Protocol, taking fully into accountthe conservation of biodiversity in these actionplans; and

4. CALLS UPON states that have not yet rati-fied the Kyoto Protocol to do so as soon aspossible.




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3.085 Principles of knowledgesharing of theConservation Commons

NOTING that the Conservation Commons3 is acooperative undertaking of IUCN members andnon-members to promote sharing of biodiversitydata, information, and knowledge to facilitate theconservation and sustainable use of biodiversity,based on a common set of Principles;

AIMING to establish a global partnership within theconservation community for the sharing of data,information, and knowledge in order to accelerateaction in support of the conservation and sustainableuse of biodiversity and the natural world;

ACKNOWLEDGING that open access to sharingand use of conservation data, information, andknowledge resources by all sectors of society isessential both to enable effective decision-makingand to empower those concerned with the conserva-tion of biodiversity and the natural world;

RECOGNIZING that global inequities directlyrestrict access to data, information and knowledgefor many of the world’s people, with adverseimpacts on the conservation of biodiversity and thenatural world;

UNDERSTANDING our collective responsibility tomaintain the highest standards of information qual-ity, as well as personal and organizational integrity,and to collaborate actively in the creation of an effec-tive, stable and trusted conservation-related data,information, and knowledge-sharing framework;

AGREEING that all efforts to support a Conserva-tion Commons should, first and foremost, supportongoing initiatives – particularly at the nationallevel – and build capacity within these initiatives tosupport conservation efforts at all levels;

NOTING Article 19 of the Universal Declaration ofHuman Rights, that every individual has the right tofreedom of opinion and expression, that this right

includes freedom to hold opinions without interfer-ence and to seek, receive and impart information andideas through any media and regardless of frontiers;

RECALLING Principle 10 of the Rio Declarationon Environment and Development, noting that envi-ronmental issues are best handled with participationof all concerned citizens, at the relevant level, andthat at the national level each individual shall haveappropriate access to information concerning theenvironment that is held by public authorities, andthe opportunity to participate in decision-makingprocesses;

RECOGNIZING that under Article 8(j) of the Con-vention on Biological Diversity each Party shall,subject to its national legislation, respect, preserveand maintain knowledge, innovations and practicesof indigenous and local communities embodyingtraditional lifestyles relevant for the conservationand sustainable use of biological diversity;

FURTHER RECOGNIZING that under Article 17of the Convention on Biological Diversity, Partiesshall facilitate the exchange of information, from allpublicly available sources, relevant to the conserva-tion and sustainable use of biological diversity, tak-ing into account the special needs of developingcountries; and

FURTHER RECOGNIZING the extensive discus-sions and dialogue which have taken place amongnumerous IUCN members and non-members withregard to the Principles of the Conservation Com-mons;


1. CALLS UPON IUCN members, and all sec-tors of the international community, to endorsethe Principles of the Conservation Commonsannexed to this Recommendation; and

2. URGES them to participate in the ConservationCommons in accordance with these Principles.

3 The notion of a knowledge commons for biodiversity conservation was first discussed within the Biodiversity Conservation Infor-mation System (BCIS) consortium, noted in IUCN Resolution 2.23 (Amman, 2000); as a means to address the ‘digital divide’ inaccess to data, information, and knowledge relevant to the conservation of biodiversity, and improve the basis for policy-develop-ment and decision-making.


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Annex to Recommendation 3.085Principles of the ConservationCommons

Principle 1

Open Access: The Conservation Commons pro-motes free and open access to data, information andknowledge for conservation purposes.

Principle 2

Mutual Benefit: The Conservation Commons wel-comes and encourages participants both to useresources and to contribute data, information andknowledge.

Principle 3

Rights and Responsibilities: Contributors to theConservation Commons have full right to attributionfor any uses of their data, information, or knowl-edge, and the right to ensure that the originalintegrity of their contribution to the Commons ispreserved. Users of the Conservation Commons areexpected to comply, in good faith, with terms ofuses specified by contributors and in accordancewith these Principles.



3.086 Coordination ofsustainable developmentprogrammes for energy

NOTING that energy is essential to economicdevelopment, security and self-sufficiency, and thatmany of the forms of energy currently being usedcontribute significantly to pollution of the Earth’sair and water – which is responsible for many thou-sands of annual deaths and illnesses – and to climatechange that threatens the future of the Earth’s envi-ronment and of all of Earth’s species includinghumankind;

AWARE that Agenda 21 of the United Nations Con-ference on Environment and Development (Rio deJaneiro, 1992) called upon all nations to promotesustainable development utilizing the precautionaryprinciple, that the 9th Session of the Commission onSustainable Development (CSD–9, New York,2001) called on all nations to promote clean energypolicies, that the Plan of Implementation adopted atthe World Summit on Sustainable Development(WSSD, Johannesburg, 2002) contained specificprescriptions for implementing those policies, andnoting the outcomes of the International Conferenceon Renewable Energies (Bonn, 2004);

NOTING that the 14th and 15th Sessions of the Com-mission on Sustainable Development (CSD–14/15)in 2006–2007 will be devoted to energy policy issues;

CONCERNED that the absence of recommenda-tions on energy in Agenda 21, and the general pol-icy recommendations on energy in the WSSD Planof Implementation do not provide adequate directionfor assuring that energy generation, distribution anduse will promote sustainable development and becompatible with the conservation of nature and nat-ural resources;

AWARE that the 2nd IUCN World ConservationCongress (Amman, 2000) adopted Resolution 2.17Climate and energy recognizing the importance ofenergy to IUCN’s mission and specifically request-ing the IUCN Director General “to request IUCNregional offices… to help educate government offi-cials, civil society and the private sector about theWorld Energy Assessment and about cleaner, moreaffordable available energy options evaluatedtherein”;

WELCOMING the work that the IUCN Environ-mental Law Programme, through the IUCN Envi-ronmental Law Centre and the Climate and EnergySpecialist Group of the IUCN Commission on Envi-ronmental Law, has done to promote the concept ofenergy law for sustainable development; and

RECOGNIZING that many of the agencies of theUnited Nations, including the United NationsDepartment of Economic and Social Affairs, theUnited Nations Development Programme, and theUnited Nations Environment Programme, as well asmany of the United Nations specialized agencies,international financial institutions and other related


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organizations such as the International EnergyAgency, have programmes for promoting renewableenergy and efficient energy generation and use, butthat there currently is no authority designated forcoordinating and integrating these endeavours;


1. RECOMMENDS its State Members who areMember States in the General Assembly of theUnited Nations (UNGA), to take action toimplement the recommendations of CSD–9 byauthorizing the UN Secretary General to desig-nate a senior coordinator for energy, to pro-mote the integration of the diverse energy pro-grammes in the UN system, to clearly definethe roles and responsibilities of each agencyand programme, and to encourage the poolingof information and financial support, in orderto ensure their greatest possible effectiveness;

2. REQUESTS the IUCN Director General toconvey this Recommendation to the StateMembers of IUCN, the President of theUNGA, and to the Chairman of the GeneralCommittee of the UNGA, with the request thatthey consider including an item on coordinat-ing energy for sustainable development in theUNGA’s agenda for 2005; and

3. ENCOURAGES IUCN members to imple-ment the outcomes of the International Con-ference on Renewable Energies (Bonn, 2004)which call, inter alia, for substantive follow-up to the conference in the scope ofCSD–14/15, the reporting to the CSD ofmeasurable steps in the implementation of theambitious actions and commitments in theinternational action programme and a regularreview of progress, as foreseen in the WSSDPlan of Implementation.



3.087 Financial institutions andthe World Commission onDams recommendations

RECALLING Resolutions 2.19 Responding to theRecommendations from the World Commission onDams and 2.34 Multilateral and bilateral financialinstitutions and projects impacting on biodiversityand natural features, adopted by the 2nd IUCNWorld Conservation Congress (Amman, 2000);

ALSO RECALLING Recommendations 18.56Narmada Valley project, India adopted by the 18th

IUCN General Assembly (Perth, 1990), 19.44Water regimes of rivers, floodplains and wetlandsand 19.73 Paraguay-Paraná Waterway projectadopted by the 19th IUCN General Assembly(Buenos Aires, 1994), 1.98 Environmentally sus-tainable development of the Mekong River Basinadopted by the 1st IUCN World Conservation Con-gress (Montreal, 1996), Recommendations 18.57Tehri dam project, India, adopted by the 18th IUCNGeneral Assembly (Perth, 1990), and 19.29 Damconstruction, irrigation, and water diversionsadopted by the 19th IUCN General Assembly(Buenos Aires, 1994);

ACKNOWLEDGING that large dams have had sig-nificant impacts on communities, riverine and wet-land ecosystems, and biodiversity;

RECOGNIZING the importance of the World Com-mission on Dams (WCD) process, an initiativetaken by the IUCN Director General in 1997, in col-laboration with the World Bank, to bring togethergovernments, the private sector, academia, andcivil-society stakeholders;

NOTING the WCD’s achievement in undertaking aglobal review of large dams and in developing con-sensus recommendations for future water andenergy sector development projects;

WELCOMING the efforts of many governmentsand other institutions to work with the WCD’s rec-ommendations, including through national multi-stakeholder processes;

CONCERNED that the World Bank and other inter-national financial institutions have not incorporatedthe WCD’s recommendations into binding policy;


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ALSO CONCERNED that the World Bank andother international financial institutions haveannounced plans to dramatically increase lendingfor large infrastructure projects without adopting theWCD’s recommendations; and

NOTING that many IUCN members were activelyinvolved in the WCD process;


1. URGES all financial institutions and otherdevelopers of dam projects to assess compre-hensively all proposed major dam projects,including, but not limited to, in the context ofthe seven strategic priorities of the WorldCommission on Dams;

2. URGES all financial institutions and otherdevelopers not to fund any major dams, with-out first making comprehensive assessmentsbalancing environmental, social and economicneeds and confirming that the project respectsthe WCD’s strategic priorities; and

3. URGES all governments and IUCN membersto promote the actions called for in the previ-ous paragraphs.


The Government of China takes a very cautiousapproach to proposals of dam development. Anynew proposal will be subject to comprehensiveassessment according to relevant laws. Environ-mental impact assessment is an essential componentof the comprehensive assessment process. Decisionson new proposed dams will be made on the basis ofbalancing social, economic and environmental con-siderations.

The Ministry of Environment and Forests, India,provided the following statement for the record:

Bilateral issues should not be discussed at suchinternational fora.


The Republic of Turkey registers its objection tomaking any reference in this Recommendation to theWorld Commission on Dams.



3.088 Support for the ‘BanAmendment’ to the BaselConvention on the Controlof TransboundaryMovements of HazardousWastes and their Disposal

CONCERNED that the increase in exports of toxicpost-consumer wastes, including electronic andcomputer waste, mobile phones, and end-of-lifeships, from rich developed countries to developingcountries for inappropriate and unsustainable recy-cling or dumping is causing irreparable occupa-tional and environmental harm in developingcountries;

RECOGNIZING that such export facilitates exter-nalization of the costs of waste disposal fromstronger economies to weaker economies, and thusdiscourages the development of upstream manufac-turing processes that are needed to solve the long-term problem of toxic-waste generation;

RECOGNIZING ALSO that such exports dispro-portionately burden the world’s poorest communi-ties and workers with severe toxic exposure andtherefore are contrary to basic principles of humanrights and environmental justice;

RECALLING that the Convention on the Controlof Transboundary Movements of HazardousWastes and their Disposal (Basel Convention) callson all countries to become self-sufficient in haz-ardous waste management and that developedcountries are best situated to achieve that obliga-tion immediately;


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RECALLING ALSO Resolution 19.31 Interna-tional Trade in Toxic Wastes: Banning the Export ofHazardous Wastes from OECD to Non-OECDCountries, which was adopted by the 19th IUCNGeneral Assembly (Buenos Aires, 1994), and whichcalled for the adoption of a legally binding decisionto ban all hazardous-waste shipments from OECDto non-OECD countries, including those destinedfor recycling operations;

AWARE that the 2nd Conference of Parties to theBasel Convention adopted by consensus DecisionII/12, calling for a ban on the export of all haz-ardous wastes for any reason from OECD to non-OECD countries, and that the 3rd Conference ofParties likewise adopted by consensus DecisionIII/1, amending the Basel Convention to ban haz-ardous waste exports from OECD/EU countriesand Liechtenstein to all other countries (the ‘BanAmendment’);

AWARE ALSO that to date, despite the clear moralforce of the aforementioned decisions and the 49ratifications that have been received, the BanAmendment has yet to attain the necessary numberof ratifications for entry into force; and

CONCERNED that the conditions that drive inter-national waste-dumping, including disparity in therelative wealth of nations and peoples, steadilyincreasing volumes of hazardous-waste generation –particularly in developed countries and rising dis-posal costs in developed countries, have all becomemore acute, and that the need for the legally bindingban on hazardous waste exports is now more press-ing than ever;


1. CALLS UPON all states that have not yet rat-ified the ‘Ban Amendment’ to the Basel Con-vention, which prohibits the export of haz-ardous wastes from OECD/EU countries andLiechtenstein to all other countries, to takeimmediate steps to ratify this amendment;

2. REQUESTS the IUCN Director General toforward this Recommendation to the BaselConvention Secretariat with the request that itbe distributed at the 8th Conference of Parties

to the Basel Convention in 2006 and includedin the minutes of that meeting; and

3. CALLS UPON all IUCN members to approachappropriate parliamentarians and officials tohave the matter of this ratification placed uponthe political agenda of their respective coun-tries as a matter of urgency.


The Conference of Parties to the Basel Conventionhas not come to a conclusion on whether the Con-vention shall apply to end-of-life ships. Under suchcircumstances, it is not appropriate for IUCN toadopt a Recommendation on this specific issue.



3.089 Humane trappingstandards

ACKNOWLEDGING the important role of IUCNand its members in protecting and conserving biodi-versity and ecosystems globally;

BEARING IN MIND that conservation and sustain-able use imply a sense of caring for the welfare ofthe wild animals that are killed or captured;

ACKNOWLEDGING that wild animals are trappedin almost every country, for a variety of reasons;

RECALLING Resolution 18.25 Methods for Cap-turing and/or Killing of Terrestrial or Semi-aquaticWild Animals adopted by the 18th IUCN GeneralAssembly (Perth, 1990), which urged that when awild animal is captured and/or killed, this should bedone in a humane way;

ALSO RECALLING that Resolution 18.25 notedthe work of the International Organization for


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Standardization (ISO), in developing international,scientifically-based, humane trap standards, andurged the broadest practicable international partici-pation in this work;

NOTING that Resolution 18.25 urged IUCN mem-bers to adopt regulations setting out specific humanetrapping practices to ensure that the most humaneand selective techniques available are employed inthe capture and/or killing of wild animals; and

WELCOMING, with appreciation, the initiativetaken by the Governments of Canada, the EuropeanUnion, the Russian Federation, and the UnitedStates of America, which, using ISO’s work as abasis, negotiated the Agreement on InternationalHumane Trapping Standards (AIHTS), for the cap-ture and/or killing of, initially, 19 wild species;


URGES IUCN members, particularly governments,to study the AIHTS, especially the humane trapstandards annexed to it, as well as the ISO trap-test-ing standards, with a view to using them as modelsfor the development of standards appropriate forthe trapping systems and practices used in theircountries.



3.090 Implementation of theEuropean Strategy onInvasive Alien Species

WELCOMING the adoption by the Standing Com-mittee of the Bern Convention (Strasbourg, 4December 2003) of the European Strategy on Inva-sive Alien Species, developed in cooperation withthe Invasive Species Specialist Group of the IUCNSpecies Survival Commission (SSC);

RECALLING that Recommendation 2.67 Invasivealien species adopted by the 2nd IUCN World Con-servation Congress (Amman, 2000) expressed con-cern on the threats posed by invasive alien species(IAS);

RECALLING that Recommendation 99 on theEuropean Strategy on Invasive Alien Speciesadopted by the Standing Committee of the BernConvention (4 December, 2003) recommends Par-ties to draw up and implement national strategies onIAS, taking into account the European Strategy onInvasive Alien Species;

RECALLING the recognition, at the Vth IUCNWorld Parks Congress – WPC (Durban, 2003), that“Management of IAS is a priority issue and must bemainstreamed into all aspects of Protected Area(PA) management” (WPC Emerging Issues, No. 7);

RECALLING that Paragraph 44(i) of the Plan ofImplementation of the World Summit on Sustain-able Development (Johannesburg, 2002) calls forcountries to “Strengthen national, regional andinternational efforts to control invasive alienspecies, which are one of the main causes of biodi-versity loss, and encourage the development ofeffective work programmes on invasive alienspecies at all levels”;

FURTHER RECALLING that the issue of IAS witha biodiversity impact has recently been recognizedin the context of the Convention on BiologicalDiversity (CBD), International Maritime Organiza-tion (IMO), the Convention on Wetlands (Ramsar,1971), the International Plant Protection Conven-tion (IPPC) and other international instruments;

CONCERNED that IAS constitute one of themost serious threats to biodiversity and ecosys-tem integrity as well as a threat to sustainabledevelopment;

RECOGNIZING that many nations have a growingawareness of the need to address IAS threats, butthat their capacity to respond is often limitedbecause of inadequate legal and institutional frame-works; and

NOTING that a coordinated implementation of themeasures recommended by the European Strategyon Invasive Alien Species will help prevent new


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unwanted introductions in Europe and will mitigatethe impacts caused by IAS in the region;


1. CALLS ON European countries to developand implement national strategies or actionplans based on the European Strategy on Inva-sive Alien Species and to increase cooperationin addressing the threats posed by invasivealien species (IAS);

2. CALLS ON the European Union to support theimplementation of the European Strategy onInvasive Alien Species at the regional level andto strengthen regional capacity and coopera-tion to deal with IAS issues;

3. URGES all governments to foster increasedcooperation on IAS issues between govern-ment agencies dealing with environment andagriculture issues at national and regional lev-els, as well as to foster increased cooperationand consultation between government agen-cies and all other relevant stakeholders onthese matters;

4. URGES governments, institutions and civilsociety to increase their efforts to mainstreamIAS management into conservation as well asinto sustainable development programmes andinitiatives; and

5. URGES all stakeholders to maximizeexchanges of information and expertise on IASand to support national, regional and interna-tional initiatives that contribute to this.



3.091 Fulfilling the right tooptional use of the officiallanguages in the internaland externalcommunication documentsof IUCN and its members

REMEMBERING that Part XVI – Official Lan-guages of the IUCN Statutes, Article 100, states:“The official languages of IUCN shall be English,French and Spanish”;

CONSIDERING that the achievement of IUCNobjectives, as established in Part II – Objectives ofits Statutes, requires a constant stream of dialogueand exchange of knowledge between members ofthe organization and between these members andtheir different social frameworks for action;

WARNING that levels of effectiveness of this vitalintercommunication are currently reduced due to theexistence of language barriers within IUCN, a prob-lem which could be overcome and which slowsdown the organic functioning process of the organi-zation; and

RECOGNIZING that the current consideration ofEnglish as the lingua franca of international rela-tions must not lead to the unintentional alienation ofthe French- and Spanish-speaking communities;


1. RECOMMENDS members of IUCN to ensurethe fulfilment of the right to optional use ofany of the official languages at internationalmeetings of IUCN, and also to promote thetranslation of internal and external documenta-tion of a general nature into these languages;and

2. URGES members of the organization to issuetheir documentation, in so far as is possible, inthe three official languages of IUCN – English,French and Spanish – when it is directed toareas in which a different language from theirown is spoken.


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3.092 Conservation andsustainable use of Seals

RECALLING Recommendation 2.92 Indigenouspeoples, sustainable use of natural resources, andinternational trade adopted at the 2nd IUCN WorldConservation Congress (Amman, 2000) whichurges “all national governments, without prejudiceto their obligations under international law, to puttheir sustainable use principles into action in orderto improve the viability of indigenous and localcommunities, which depend on the harvesting ofrenewable resources, by eliminating tariff, and non-tariff barriers, which discourage the sustainable useof natural products derived from non-endangeredspecies”;

RECALLING that Decision V/24 Sustainable useas a cross-cutting issue of the 5th Conference ofParties (COP5) to the Convention on BiologicalDiversity – CBD (Nairobi, 2000) urged Parties,governments and organizations to develop orexplore mechanisms to involve indigenous com-munities in initiatives on the sustainable use ofbiological diversity, and in mechanisms to ensurethat indigenous communities benefit from suchsustainable use;

FURTHER RECALLING that in response to Deci-sion VI/13 Sustainable use of CBD COP6 (TheHague, 2002) an open-ended workshop was held inAddis Ababa, Ethiopia (6–8 May 2003), and pro-duced the draft Addis Ababa Principles and Guide-lines for Sustainable Use of Biodiversity,

NOTING that the 9th meeting of the CBD Sub-sidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Techno-logical Advice (SBSTTA–9, 2003) recommendedthat COP7 should adopt the Addis Ababa Principlesand Guidelines; and

FURTHER NOTING that these Principles andGuidelines were duly adopted at CBD COP7 as aframework for advising governments, resourcemanagers and other stakeholders, including indige-nous communities, about how they can ensure thattheir uses of biodiversity components will not leadto the long-term decline of biological diversity;


1. URGES IUCN members that are Party to theCBD to honour the commitments made atSBSTTA–9 and COP7 to apply the AddisAbaba Principles and Guidelines for Sustain-able Use of Biodiversity; and

2. URGES IN PARTICULAR IUCN members toput their sustainable use principles into actionby not introducing new legislation that bansthe importation and commercialization of sealproducts stemming from abundant seal popula-tions, provided that obligations and require-ments under other international conventionssuch as CITES are met.



3.093 Application of the IUCNSustainable Use Policy tosustainable consumptiveuse of wildlife andrecreational hunting insouthern Africa

RECALLING that the conservation of biologicaldiversity is central to the mission of IUCN (PolicyStatement on Sustainable Use of Wild LivingResources, Annex to Resolution 2.29 adopted at the2nd IUCN World Conservation Congress, Amman,2000);


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RECOGNIZING that in southern Africa, as encom-passed by the IUCN Regional Office for SouthernAfrica (ROSA), the total area of communal and pri-vately owned land on which the sustainable con-sumptive use of wildlife through the trading of liveanimals and recreational hunting takes place,exceeds that of all state-owned protected areas;

UNDERSTANDING that in southern Africa, eco-logically sustainable consumptive use of wildlifemay contribute to the conservation of biodiversityby providing an economic incentive for the conser-vation of natural areas;

NOTING that there is a range of options for deriv-ing economic and ecosystem/conservation benefitsfrom the presence of wildlife, including ecotourism,and that sustainable consumptive use is simply oneof these options, and should be assessed along withother options to determine which option is mostecologically appropriate;

NOTING strong opposition to all forms of ‘CannedHunting’ (where the hunted animals have little or nochance of escape);

RECOGNIZING that policies aimed at biodiversityconservation need to be based also on the particularvalues, circumstances and cultures of specificregions;

RECOGNIZING that in much of southern Africa,wildlife on communal and privately-owned land isaccommodated because it also provides an econom-ically viable form of land use; and that where it issuccessfully implemented, well-managed consump-tive utilization, including recreational hunting,enables retention of wildlife populations andecosystem functions on large areas of land thatwould otherwise be used for agriculture; and

RECOGNIZING FURTHER that the managementof these populations and their habitats makes a con-tribution to biodiversity conservation;


1. SUPPORTS the philosophy and practice thaton state, communal and privately-owned landin southern Africa the sustainable and well-

managed consumptive use of wildlife makes acontribution to biodiversity conservation;

2. ACCEPTS that well-managed recreationalhunting has a role in the managed sustainableconsumptive use of wildlife populations;

3. CONDEMNS the killing of animals in smallenclosures where they have little or no chanceof escape or where they do not exist as free-ranging; and

4. RECOMMENDS those agencies in SouthernAfrica responsible for:

(a) the control of wildlife utilization andhunting should implement measures toensure that codes of high ethical conductand standards are achieved and main-tained in accordance with the Earth Char-ter (Article 15b) and to give use of theremains to the local communities; and

(b) biodiversity conservation should takesteps to increase public awareness andunderstanding of the role of the ecologi-cally sustainable use of wildlife.




3.094 Management of largeterrestrial herbivores inSouthern Africa

RECALLING that the conservation of biologicaldiversity is central to the mission of IUCN (PolicyStatement on Sustainable Use of Wild LivingResources, Annex to Resolution 2.29 that was


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adopted at the 2nd IUCN World Conservation Con-gress in Amman, Jordan, 2000);

RECOGNIZING that, where natural dispersal oflarge terrestrial herbivores is constrained, and theirpopulations pose a threat to an area’s biodiversity, itmay be necessary for agencies responsible for man-aging ecosystems to control those populations;

FURTHER RECOGNIZING that control of largeterrestrial herbivores is potentially an emotive issueand a source of concern for many people; and

AWARE OF the need to take precautions to mini-mize stress and suffering when implementing popu-lation control;


1. RECOMMENDS that agencies in southernAfrica responsible for managing ecosystems,particularly protected areas managed for biodi-versity conservation, should:

(a) consider ecological solutions, such asallowing connectivity and the natural dis-persion of species across and within theirranges, and allowing ecosystems to func-tion as a first priority; and

(b) where necessary, through research andmonitoring, determine whether popula-tion control of large terrestrial herbivoresmay be warranted;

2. FURTHER RECOMMENDS, in recognitionof the potentially emotive nature of populationcontrol, that agencies responsible for manag-ing ecosystems:

(a) take steps to increase general publicawareness of the potential adverseimpacts of certain populations of largeterrestrial herbivores; and

(b) consult with stakeholders and the publicand conduct awareness campaigns withregard to specific cases where populationcontrol may be necessary; and

3. URGES all involved in population control,where population control is deemed necessary,to take precautions to minimize stress and suf-fering to animals.




3.095 Nomination of large-scalemulti-state serial WorldHeritage Routes

RECALLING Recommendation V.4 BuildingComprehensive and Effective Protected Area Sys-tems noted by the Vth IUCN World Parks Congress(Durban, 2003), which calls on States Parties tothe UNESCO World Heritage Convention “toencourage the nomination of global physio-graphic, natural and cultural phenomena as large-scale multi-state serial World Heritage Routes toserve as frameworks for local and transboundaryWorld Heritage sites and protected areas”;

RECOGNIZING the significance of large-scalephysiographic phenomena (also referred to as ‘megaphenomena’), which occur throughout the world,for the world’s biodiversity and natural and culturalheritage;

FURTHER RECOGNIZING the contribution ofsuch phenomena to the holistic approach of conser-vation, essential for maintaining the interconnectionbetween natural and cultural resources;

UNDERLINING the value of these phenomena forthe formation of transboundary protected areas andcorridors, which are of extreme importance for bio-diversity conservation;


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EMPHASIZING specifically the global signifi-cance of these phenomena as potential multi-stateserial World Heritage Routes such as the Great RiftValley and the Gran Ruta Inca as mega phenomenawhich encompass many valuable resources;

SERIOUSLY CONCERNED by the loss of precioushabitats and sites along these routes which threatenthe very interconnection between the routes’ phe-nomena; and

NOTING that the adoption of this motion by IUCNmembers does not compromise the IUCN Secre-tariat’s advisory role to provide independent techni-cal evaluation of nominated sites for World Heritagelisting;


1. RECOGNIZES Recommendation V.4 notedby the Vth IUCN World Parks Congress,which calls on States Parties to the UNESCOWorld Heritage Convention “to encouragethe nomination of global physiographic, nat-ural and cultural phenomena as large-scalemulti-state serial World Heritage Routes toserve as frameworks for local and trans-boundary World Heritage sites and protectedareas”;

2. INVITES the Committee of the UNESCOWorld Heritage Convention to:

(a) encourage the concept of large-scalemulti-state serial World Heritage nomina-tions as one means for implementing theWorld Heritage Convention;

(b) consider examining specifically the con-cept of selected large-scale multi-stateserial World Heritage nominations, aspart of the emerging global strategy, byproviding support for regional experts’meetings to be held in order to consider,and if appropriate develop and promote,the implementation of initiatives such asthose for the Great Rift Valley and GranRuta Inca; and

(c) consider providing international assis-tance to relevant State Parties so thatthey may prepare tentative lists of sitesthat may merit inscription in the WorldHeritage list and their subsequentnomination;

3. CALLS UPON the States Parties to promotethe identification and establishment of pro-tected areas along these Routes and to nomi-nate those that have potential for World Her-itage listing; and

4. CALLS UPON IUCN, national and interna-tional non-governmental organizations andfoundations to play a full part in regionalexpert meetings, and to provide support for thedevelopment of tentative lists and for promot-ing coordinated management of the protectedareas, identified during such regional expertmeetings, that have potential for World Her-itage listing.



3.096 Inclusion of the MontBlanc massif in UNESCO’sWorld Heritage List

RECOGNIZING that the Mont Blanc Massif is anarea of exceptional natural beauty in a geologicaland glacial landscape that occupies a unique placein the history of man;

AWARE of the threats to this prestigious site bypoorly controlled development and the low level ofprotection afforded to the Massif;

NOTING that the Mont Blanc Transfrontier Confer-ence (MBTC), the tripartite body created in 1991, iscurrently considering international protection meas-ures within the framework of the drafting of a planfor the sustainable development of Mont Blanc, inaccordance with the conservation aim set by thethree states concerned, being France, Italy andSwitzerland;


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RECALLING that IUCN’s adoption of Recommen-dation 19.93 (Conservation in the Mont Blancregion, France, Italy, Switzerland) and Resolution2.46 (Protected areas of international importance inthe Alps and the Mediterranean) in favour of theconservation of the Mont Blanc, as well as the rolethe Union plays with UNESCO regarding theassessment of natural World Heritage sites; and

NOTING that the adoption of this motion by themembers of IUCN does not compromise the IUCNSecretariat’s independent technical assessment ofthe proposed World Heritage site;


INVITES France, Italy and Switzerland, the threefounding countries of the Mont Blanc TransfrontierConference to:

(a) give due consideration to the process thatcould lead to the submission (coordinated bythe three states) of an application for the inclu-sion of the Mont Blanc Massif in UNESCO’sWorld Heritage List; and

(b) support the following actions in order to meetthe criteria for inclusion of the site on theWorld Heritage list to:

(i) in agreement with the MBTC, include theMont Blanc Massif on the Swiss and Ital-ian lists of sites suggested for World Her-itage status; and

(ii) define a coherent perimeter for the site tobe listed, which should include in partic-ular the central nucleus of the Massif withits falls and peaks, excluding the valleysthat border it on its three sides.




3.097 Conservation of theWetland Corridor of theFluvial Littoral, Argentina

CONSIDERING that the three million hectares ofthe floodplains of the Paraguay and ParanaRivers in Argentina contain exceptional biologi-cal diversity, complexity and productivity thatarise from the dynamics of flood patterns, andmust be conserved;

ACKNOWLEDGING that in this system ecologicalcharacteristics converge from several biogeographicalregions – Neotropical, Parana, Eastern Chaco, Espinaland others – explaining the existence of species, func-tions and attributes unique in South America;

EMPHASIZING that in this wetland corridor, oneof the world’s largest freshwater reserves and anexceptional inland fishery, Fundación PROTEGER,an IUCN member, launched in 2003 with extensivenational and international support the initiative forconservation and wise use of the ‘Wetland Corridorof the Argentinean Fluvial Littoral’;

RECALLING Recommendation 2.85 Conservationof Middle and Lower Parana River adopted at the2nd IUCN World Conservation Congress (Amman,2000), which expressly requests the internationalcommunity to “recognize and support the initiativesof the Rio de la Plata Basin countries to promote theconservation and sustainable development of theregion”;

RECOGNIZING that the wetland corridor, whichcomprises a mosaic of fluvial wetlands, performsimportant functions in the control and prevention offloods and in the improvement of water quality, andprovides special ecological services for the retentionof sediments, filtration of water, absorption of pol-lutants and mitigation of climate change, while alsocontributing essential resources such as supply offreshwater, fishing, tourism and recreation, amongothers;


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AWARE that significant human disturbances occur-ring in the Basin, such as expansion of the agricul-tural frontier and the use of inappropriate technolo-gies, lead to the simplification, contamination andreplacement of ecosystems, that the loss of groundcover and wetlands facilitates erosion and sedimen-tation, and that increased run-off encourages therecurrence of disastrous floods, such as those asso-ciated with El Niño;

ALSO AWARE that large infrastructure works gen-erate negative impacts on fish populations, theirhabitats, reproduction areas and migration routesadding to the growing pressure of overfishing andexportation at unsustainable rates, particularly ofthe shad Prochilodus lineatus which is the keystonespecies in the system;

RECALLING that the Argentinean Fluvial Littoralis connected to the country’s most important popu-lation hub;

NOTING that poverty has risen severely in thisregion, where 68.5 percent of the inhabitants livebelow the poverty line, and that migration, environ-mental refugees, loss of food security and malnutri-tion are linked to this process of impoverishment;

FURTHER RECALLING that there is a close andindissoluble relation of dependency between theecosystem’s characteristics and its resources on onehand, and the social, cultural and technologicaltraits of the local communities on the other, and thatthe region’s economies are deeply entwined with theuse of resources of the river and its wetlands;

AGREEING with the objectives of the Conventionon Biological Diversity, namely conservation ofbiodiversity, sustainable use of its components, andfair and equitable sharing of the benefits derivingfrom such use – objectives for which adequateaccess to resources, training, technology transferand financing is crucial;

NOTING that the Convention on Wetlands (Ramsar,1971) establishes that wetlands can be conservedthrough ‘wise use’ (Article 3.1), and that wise usewas defined by the 3rd Conference of Parties (Regina,1987) as the “sustainable utilization for the benefit ofhumankind in a way compatible with the mainte-nance of the natural properties of the ecosystem”, and

that the Convention also promotes the developmentof wetland resources and the sustainable trade ofwetland products; and

AWARE of the need for coordinated work by allactors and sectors involved in the management ofwetlands and their resources and the need for a strat-egy based on informed participation, social equityand fair trade, aimed at protecting biodiversity, alle-viating poverty, preserving and promoting locallivelihoods, thereby improving environmental qual-ity and the quality of life of the riverine populationof the Wetland Corridor of the Argentinean FluvialLittoral;


1. RECOMMENDS to members of IUCN thatthey recognize and support the initiative on the‘Wetland Corridor of the Argentinean FluvialLittoral’ (alluvial plains of the Paraguay andParana rivers), which promotes in a participa-tory manner the conservation of biodiversity,the wise use of wetlands and the developmentof their resources and services, with the aim ofalleviating poverty and improving the qualityof life of riverine populations;

2. URGES the Argentinean Government to givethe highest priority to the implementation ofconservation, wise use and sustainable man-agement measures related to maintenance ofsocio-environmental conditions, allowing inthis way the complete functioning of the eco-logical cycles in the entire Wetland Corridor;

3. ENCOURAGES all IUCN members to supportthe Argentinean Government and non-govern-mental organizations (NGOs) working on thistask; and

4. RECOMMENDS to international organiza-tions that they support the Argentinean Gov-ernment and NGOs in the implementation ofconservation and sustainable development poli-cies and programmes in the Wetland Corridor.

State member Sweden abstained from voting on thismotion for reasons given in the Swedish Govern-


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ment’s general statement on the motions process(see page x).



3.098 Conservation andsustainable management ofhigh-seas biodiversity

RECALLING IUCN’s commitment to the goal ofimplementing effective protection, restoration andsustainable use of biological diversity and produc-tivity and ecosystem processes on the high seas(including the water column and seabed) and theestablishment of a representative system of MarineProtected Areas at regional and global scales thatincludes the high seas (e.g. Resolution 2.20 Conser-vation of marine biodiversity, adopted by the 2nd

IUCN World Conservation Congress, Amman,2000);

ALARMED that the rate of degradation of the highseas due to human activities is accelerating;

ACKNOWLEDGING that the United Nations Con-vention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) providesthe overarching legal framework for high-seas gov-ernance, including the conservation and manage-ment of living resources and the protection andpreservation of the marine environment, and recog-nizes that the area of the seabed and ocean floor andthe subsoil thereof, beyond the limits of nationaljurisdiction, as well as its resources, are the com-mon heritage of mankind;

ALSO ACKNOWLEDGING that the Conventionon Biological Diversity (CBD) provides the over-arching legal framework for the conservation of bio-logical diversity, the sustainable use of its compo-nents and the fair and equitable sharing of the bene-fits arising out of the utilization of geneticresources, and recalling in particular Decisions

VII/5 and VII/28 of the 7th Conference of Parties –CBD COP7 (Kuala Lumpur, 2004);

AWARE of the need for urgent action andRECALLING the calls for action to protect andmaintain high-seas biodiversity and biological pro-ductivity as expressed in the World Summit onSustainable Development (WSSD) Plan of Imple-mentation (Johannesburg, 2002), the UN GeneralAssembly (UNGA) Resolutions in 2002, 2003 and2004, the Vth IUCN World Parks Congress (Dur-ban, 2003), and CBD COP7; and

WELCOMING Resolution 59/24 Oceans and thelaw of the sea adopted by the United Nations 59th

General Assembly that, inter alia, establishes “anAd Hoc Open-ended Informal Working Group tostudy issues relating to the conservation and sus-tainable use of marine biological diversity beyondareas of national jurisdiction”;


1. CALLS UPON states to become party to, com-ply with and enforce measures associated withthe United Nations Convention on the Law ofthe Sea (UNCLOS), the Convention on Bio-logical Diversity (CBD), the World HeritageConvention (WHC), the UN Fish StocksAgreement (FSA), the Convention on Migra-tory Species (CMS) and its Agreements, theUN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO)Compliance Agreement, and InternationalMaritime Organization (IMO) instruments aswell as regional agreements that have comple-mentary aims;

2. CALLS UPON states to implement non-bind-ing instruments such as the FAO Code of Con-duct for Responsible Fishing and internationalplans of action;

3. CALLS UPON states to consider the develop-ment and adoption within the framework pro-vided by UNCLOS of new international instru-ments and/or additional mechanisms, tools andapproaches for the effective governance, pro-tection, restoration and sustainable manage-ment of marine biological diversity and pro-ductivity in the high seas;


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4. CALLS UPON State Parties to the World Her-itage Convention to consider the developmentof new mechanisms under that Convention andother instruments to enable the recognition andprotection of sites of outstanding universal valuein marine areas beyond national jurisdiction;

5. URGES states and relevant organizations, totake immediate action to prevent, deter andeliminate illegal, unreported and unregulated(IUU) fishing and to ensure that fishing activi-ties are conducted in a manner consistent withstate responsibilities for the conservation ofliving marine resources and the protection ofbiodiversity under international law, includingimplementation of the FAO International Planof Action to Prevent, Deter and Eliminate Ille-gal Unreported and Unregulated fishing(IPOA-IUU);

6. URGES states to upgrade urgently the man-dates of regional fisheries management organ-izations, or other arrangements of which theyare members, to conform to the principles setforth in the UNFSA, the FAO Code of Con-duct, and the CBD, notably that fisheries man-agement takes into account and minimizes theimpacts on, and protects the well-being of, theentire ecosystem by incorporating an ecosys-tem-based and precautionary approach to fish-eries management;

7. URGES states, individually and through therelevant international organizations, toenforce effectively internationally agreedrules and standards for ships where the flagstate fails to control its domestically registeredships in accordance with its international legalobligations;

8. ENCOURAGES states and other relevantorganizations to cooperate to establish repre-sentative networks of marine protected areasbeyond national jurisdiction, consistent withinternational law, and to develop the scientificand legal basis for their establishment and con-tribution to a global representative network by2012; and

9. CALLS UPON states and relevant organiza-tions to increase funding and support for marinescientific research, particularly collaborative

research that aids capacity-building, to enhanceunderstanding of high-seas biological diversity,productivity and ecological processes and toensure the sustainability of human activities.


The Republic of Turkey is not a party to the UnitedNations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNC-LOS). Turkey objects to making any reference to thesaid Convention.



3.099 The protection ofseamounts, deep-sea coralsand other vulnerable deep-sea habitats fromdestructive fishingpractices, includingbottom-trawling, on thehigh seas

RECOGNIZING recent scientific investigationsdocumenting previously undiscovered species, greatspecies diversity, and very high endemism rates indeep-sea ecosystems;

AWARE that destructive fishing practices, includ-ing deep-sea bottom-trawling, represent the mostserious and immediate threat to seamounts, deep-sea coral, and other deep-sea habitats;

ACKNOWLEDGING that the United Nations Con-vention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) providesthe overarching legal framework for high-seas gov-ernance, including the conservation and manage-ment of the living resources and the protection andpreservation of the marine environment, and recog-nizes that the area of the seabed and ocean floor andthe subsoil thereof, beyond the limits of nationaljurisdiction, as well as its resources, are the com-mon heritage of mankind;


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RECOGNIZING FURTHER that bottom-trawl fish-ing is completely unregulated in extensive areas ofthe high seas, and few of the Regional FisheriesManagement Organizations or other arrangementsthat have jurisdiction to control such fishing havedone so to protect sensitive habitats;

WELCOMING HOWEVER the regulatory stepstaken by the North East Atlantic Fisheries Commis-sion and the Convention on Conservation of AntarcticMarine Living Resources to protect sensitive deep-seamarine ecosystems, including closures of some spe-cific areas to bottom-trawling and static gear;

RECALLING Decision VII/5 Marine and coastalbiological diversity of the 7th Conference of Partiesto the Convention on Biological Diversity (KualaLumpur, 2004), which stressed the need for rapidaction to address threats to the marine biodiversityof areas such as seamounts, hydrothermal vents,cold water corals and other vulnerable marineecosystems and features beyond national jurisdic-tion, and called upon the United Nations GeneralAssembly (UNGA) and other relevant internationaland regional organizations to “urgently take the nec-essary short-term, medium-term and long-termmeasures to eliminate/avoid destructive practices,consistent with international law, on a scientificbasis, including the application of precaution,”through, for example, on a case by case basis, the“interim prohibition of destructive practicesadversely impacting the marine biological diversityassociated with [these] areas…;”

FURTHER RECALLING numerous IUCN Resolu-tions and Recommendations, beginning in 1972,calling on states to end the use of destructive fishinggear and practices and curtail unsustainable interna-tional fisheries, e.g. 11.16 (Banff, 1972), 12.2 (Kin-shasa, 1975), 14.7 (Ashkabad, 1978), 19.61 (BuenosAires, 1994); 1.16 (Montreal, 1996); to apply thePrecautionary Principle to the conservation andmanagement of high-seas fisheries, e.g. 12.8 (Kin-shasa, 1975), 19.55 and 19.56 (Buenos Aires, 1994);and to ratify and implement international agree-ments designed to prevent, deter, and eliminateunregulated fishing and to apply ecosystem and pre-cautionary approaches to fisheries conservation andmanagement, e.g. 1.17 and 1.76 (Montreal, 1996),2.78 (Amman, 2000);

FURTHER RECALLING IUCN Resolution 2.20Conservation of marine biodiversity highlightingthe need for conservation of marine biodiversity,and adopted by the 2nd IUCN World ConservationCongress (Amman, 2000);

TAKING NOTE of growing international concernover threats to vulnerable deep-sea ecosystems,notably at the 2003 Defying Ocean’s End Confer-ence, the 2003 Vth IUCN World Parks Congress, andthe 2003 Deep Sea Fisheries Conference, as the pro-tection of deep-sea biodiversity is a matter of inter-est to all nations and peoples;

NOTING the Consensus Statement issued in Febru-ary 2004 by over 1000 marine scientists fromaround the world calling for swift action to protectimperilled deep-sea coral and other ecosystems atthe annual meeting of the American Association forthe Advancement of Science, and urging an imme-diate moratorium on bottom-trawling on the highseas;

ENCOURAGED by increasing recognition by gov-ernments of the urgent need to protect seamounts,deep-sea corals and other vulnerable deep-sea habi-tats, e.g. at the UNGA in 2002, 2003 and 2004; the2002, 2003 and 2004 meetings of the UN InformalConsultative Process on Oceans and the Law of theSea, and the 2003 Ministerial Meeting of theOSPAR Commission under the Convention for theProtection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic;

NOTING the resolution on sustainable fisheriesadopted by the 59th session of the UNGA callingupon states, “to take action urgently, and consideron a case-by-case basis, and on a scientific basis,including the application of the precautionaryapproach, the interim prohibition of destructivefishing practices, including bottom trawling thathas adverse impacts on vulnerable marine ecosys-tems” and calling upon regional fisheries manage-ment organizations to “urgently adopt in their reg-ulatory areas appropriate conservation and man-agement measures in accordance with internationallaw to address the impact of destructive fishingpractices including bottom trawling that hasadverse impacts on vulnerable marine ecosys-tems”; and


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APPRECIATING IUCN’s participation at a techni-cal level in the UNGA’s consideration of the protec-tion of marine biodiversity from destructive fishingpractices, including bottom-trawling, on the highseas;


1. CALLS UPON members of regional fisheriesmanagement organizations (RFMOs) orarrangements without the competence to regu-late bottom fisheries and the impacts of fishingon vulnerable marine ecosystems to expand thecompetence, where appropriate, of their organ-izations or arrangements in this regard;

2. CALLS UPON states to cooperate urgently toestablish new RFMOs or arrangements, wherenecessary and appropriate, with the compe-tence to regulate bottom fisheries and theimpacts of fishing on vulnerable marineecosystems in areas where no such relevantorganization or arrangement exists;

3. CALLS UPON states to effect controls, con-sistent with international law, over their ves-sels, nationals and ports, to eliminate destruc-tive fishing practices including unregulatedbottom-trawling on the high seas;

4. CALLS UPON the UNGA at its 60th session,for areas not covered by RFMOs and/or othermanagement arrangements with the legalcompetence to manage bottom fisheries, toadopt urgently a resolution calling for aninterim prohibition on high-seas bottom-trawling, until such time as a legally bindingregime is developed and adopted to conserveand protect high-seas biodiversity from theimpacts of destructive fishing practicesincluding high-seas bottom-trawling, consis-tent with the UN Convention on the Law ofthe Sea (1982), the UN Fish Stocks Agree-ment (1995), the UN Food and AgricultureOrganization’s (FAO) Compliance Agreement(1993), the Convention on Biological Diver-sity (1992), the FAO Code of Conduct forResponsible Fisheries (1995) and the FAO

International Plan of Action to Prevent, Deterand Eliminate Illegal, Unregulated and Unre-ported Fishing (2001); and

5. CALLS UPON the UNGA at its 61st session in2006 to adopt a resolution calling for the elim-ination of destructive fishing practices, and foran interim prohibition on high-seas bottom-trawling in areas covered by RFMOs andother management arrangements, until suchtime as effective conservation and manage-ment measures to protect the deep-sea envi-ronment have been adopted in accordancewith international law.


The Republic of Turkey is not a party to the UnitedNations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNC-LOS). Turkey objects to making any reference to thesaid Convention.



3.100 Reef-fish spawningaggregations

RECALLING Resolution 2.21 IUCN Marine Com-ponent Programme, adopted by the 2nd IUCN WorldConservation Congress (Amman, 2000);

AKNOWLEDGING Article 6.8, on the protectionof spawning habitats, of the Code of Conduct forResponsible Fisheries of the United Nations Foodand Agricultural Organization (FAO), text from thePlan of Implementation of the World Summit onSustainable Development (Johannesburg, 2002)calling for time/area closures for the protection ofspawning areas and periods, and under the Conven-tion on Biological Diversity to promote adequateprotection of areas important for reproduction, suchas spawning and nursery areas, as well as restorationof such areas and other important habitats formarine living resources;


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NOTING that whenever substantial exploitation ofreef-fish spawning aggregations4 occurs, significantdeclines in associated reef-fish stocks have oftenbeen observed;

AWARE that many exploited aggregations aredeclining and that some may have disappearedcompletely;

CONCERNED by the increase in exploitation ofreef-fish spawning aggregations in various parts ofthe world;

FURTHER CONCERNED by the dramatic ecolog-ical and socio-economic effects that such exploita-tion could lead to;

CONSIDERING that fish spawning aggregationssupport many reef-fish species, and may be criticalfor the persistence of stocks of these species, thefisheries they support, and the human communitiesthat depend on them;

FURTHER CONSIDERING that spawning aggrega-tions are considered critical sources of fish larvae andthat their protection will build natural replenishmentand resilience on a broader ecosystem scale; and

CONSCIOUS that many reef-fish spawning aggre-gations need urgent protective measures to persist;


1. URGES governments to establish sustainablemanagement programmes for sustaining andprotecting reef fish and their spawning aggre-gations, including a range of spatial and sea-sonal measures that can be adapted to localneeds and circumstances; and

2. REQUESTS international and regional fish-eries management organizations as well asnon-governmental organizations to take actionto promote and facilitate the conservation and

management of fish spawning aggregations,including by raising awareness of the long-term ecological, economical and societal val-ues of spawning aggregations.

3.101 Advancing boreal forestconservation

RECOGNIZING that Canada and Russia containmost of the world’s boreal forest regions, whichencircle the northern part of the globe, storing morefreshwater in wetlands and lakes and more carbon inits trees, soil and peat than any other terrestrialecosystem;

FURTHER RECOGNIZING that the remainingoriginal forests in Canada and Russia, primarilyboreal forests, contain high conservation-valueexamples of ecological processes such as predator-prey, fire and hydrological cycles;

FURTHER RECOGNIZING that boreal forestregions are home to a rich array of wildlife such asbears, wolves, wolverines and the world’s largestcaribou herds, and are also the breeding grounds formigratory bird species including significant percent-ages of land-birds and waterfowl;

FURTHER RECOGNIZING that boreal forestregions are an important cultural landscape, home tothousands of indigenous peoples that hold deeplyrooted spiritual and cultural relationships to theirlands, waters, and creatures, and whose cultures,spirituality, and economic well-being and renewalare inextricably linked to the continuing health ofthe boreal forest ecosystems, and many of whomrely primarily on the forest for their livelihood andcultural survival;

FURTHER RECOGNIZING that the opportunity forlarge-scale conservation will differ based on currentdevelopment levels and that unallocated public landsprovide a unique opportunity to plan for conservation;

NOTING that much of the territory in boreal forestregions is publicly owned;

4 Spawning aggregations are groupings or gatherings of reproductively active adults that form briefly for the sole purpose of repro-duction (= spawning), often at highly predictable times and places each year, and that are hence particularly vulnerable to heavy fish-ing pressure; for many species these aggregations are the only annual opportunities for spawning and hence are likely to be criticallyimportant for population persistence.


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FURTHER NOTING that governments, indigenouscommunities, local communities and civil societyorganizations have contributed significantly toglobal forest conservation, including boreal forestconservation, through the development of progres-sive and knowledge-based sustainable forest man-agement policies and practices, resulting notably in:

(a) the Forest Principles endorsed at the UnitedNations Conference on Environment andDevelopment (UNCED, Rio de Janeiro, 1992);

(b) the Montreal Process Criteria and Indicatorsfor the Conservation and Sustainable Manage-ment of Temperate and Boreal Forests (1995);

(c) the Canadian Council of Forest Ministers’ cri-teria and indicators of sustainable forest man-agement, and related local-level indicators;

(d) IUCN’s own Temperate and Boreal Forest Pro-gramme established through Resolution 1.19(Montreal, 1996);

(e) the work of the United Nations Forum onForests;

(f) the forest Programme of Work under the Con-vention on Biological Diversity (2002);

(g) the Canadian and International Model ForestNetworks and national forestry programmes,such as Canada’s national sustainable foreststrategies;

(h) the Canadian Boreal Forest ConservationFramework (2003);

(i) Russia’s directive on the creation of naturereserves and national parks for the years2001–2010 (2001); and

(j) as well as through national and sub-nationalsustainable forest-management policies, legisla-tion and practices, augmented by parks expan-sion and protected area strategies, developedwith and often prompted further by, the partici-pation of indigenous peoples and civil society;

CONSIDERING that there is a process in place forthe nomination of World Heritage Sites and thatRussia and Canada co-chaired an IUCN-UNESCO

(United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cul-tural Organization) workshop held in St Petersburg,Russia, in October 2003, to consider potentialboreal forest World Heritage Sites;

RECALLING the 2001 United Nations Environ-ment Programme (UNEP) document, An Assess-ment of the Status of the World’s Remaining ClosedForests which proposes that governments shouldprotect remaining closed forest areas, establish newprotected areas and rigorously scrutinize any newroads and dams;

AWARE that scientists are finding that large-scaleconservation in landscapes in and outside of pro-tected areas, through the establishment of protectedareas as benchmarks, as well as the use of environ-mentally sustainable practices where industrialdevelopment does take place, are critical to main-taining present ecological values and services inboreal forest regions;

CONCERNED that boreal forest regions are subjectto the cumulative impacts of forestry operations,agriculture, oil and gas exploration and develop-ment, mining and hydropower development, recre-ation, tourism, roads and other industry uses; and

RECOGNIZING that new industrial development inforests must proceed with adequate local andindigenous community participation and ecosys-tem-based planning;


URGES Canada and Russia to:

(a) recognize, preserve and protect ecologicalprocesses through which the overall health ofboreal forest regions have been sustained,using community-based and ecosystem-basedland-use planning, especially before tenureallocation, to maintain forest health, structure,ecological functions, compositions and biodi-versity, carbon reservoirs, and indigenous cul-tural values over the long term;

(b) initiate restoration standards for those borealforest areas that have been impacted by indus-trial activity;


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(c) acknowledge and respect the role of indige-nous peoples in achieving conservation goalswhile respecting their traditional land-manage-ment regimes and knowledge, in all conserva-tion efforts;

(d) involve communities in ecologically basedland-use planning utilizing scientific knowl-edge, indigenous knowledge, and public per-spectives to help achieve the conservation ofnatural and cultural values of forest regions;

(e) create and strengthen partnerships integratingindigenous and non-indigenous ecologicalknowledge for land management and protection;

(f) ensure the conservation of boreal forestregions by enhancing and expanding protectedareas, establishing new protected areas, andthrough the enforcement of sustainable land-use practices in all areas;

(g) encourage the effective management of borealforests and their protected areas through coop-eration and communication among land man-agers and civil society;

(h) ensure future conservation options, by havingcommunity and ecosystem land-use planningprecede the allocation of forestry, oil and gasdevelopment, mineral development, hydro-electric development licenses or other industryuses, and new roads;

(i) support the development and adoption of inno-vative policies and practices in support ofboreal conservation, including, but not limitedto, fiscal reform;

(j) document trends in the above through publicreporting using criteria and indicators of sus-tainable management;

(k) facilitate and continue to fund needed scien-tific, technical, indigenous and local commu-nity activity to assist in the nomination anddesignation of boreal forest regions as recog-nized international sites, for example, WorldHeritage Sites such as the indigenous-led‘Atikaki/Woodland Caribou/Accord FirstNations – Manitoba and Ontario’, recentlyplaced on Canada’s Tentative List for World

Heritage Sites, as well as the discussed trans-boundary World Heritage Site ‘Green Belt ofFennoscandia’; and

(l) cooperate and exchange information withother boreal forest region nations concerningforest conservation.




3.102 Conservation ofMediterranean-typeecosystems

CONSIDERING that the five regions of the worldwith Mediterranean-type climates characterized bymild, rainy winters and hot, dry summers areextraordinarily rich in biodiversity, covering only2.25 percent of the Earth’s land surface but, forexample, containing 20 percent of its named vascu-lar plant species;

RECOGNIZING that the environments of theseregions, found in parts of Australia, Chile, andSouth Africa; in the California floristic province ofthe United States and Mexico; and in and around theMediterranean Basin, face greater immediate threatsper unit of area than any other species-rich regionson Earth;

NOTING that rampant urbanization is the mainthreat to biodiversity in these regions, and a majorthreat to the health and well-being of the peoplewho live in them;

FURTHER NOTING that these regions sharemany problems related to their climate, includingsensitivity to climate change and desertification,


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air pollution, overdrawing of groundwater, degrada-tion of freshwater resources, marine pollution fromurban runoff, and catastrophic fires along theurban/wildland interface;

RECOGNIZING that public policies and educationin these regions are often based on locations withvery different climates and fail to take into accountthe limits of their natural systems;

AWARE that the Malibu Declaration on Cities andConservation in Mediterranean-type Ecosystems,adopted on 13 April 2004 following a workshopheld in Malibu, California, by the Task Force onCities and Conservation of the IUCN World Com-mission on Protected Areas, calls for increasedattention to conservation of these regions;

AWARE that the Malibu Declaration was endorsedon 30 April 2004 by the International Society ofMediterranean Ecologists, a scientific body con-cerned with the world’s five Mediterranean-typeregions, at its 10th MEDECOS Conference held inRhodes, Greece;

ALSO AWARE that the Malibu Declaration wasnoted in the Declaration of Naples adopted on 22June 2004 by the IUCN Mediterranean MembersMeeting held in Naples, Italy; and

CONCERNED that the importance of, and threatsto, Mediterranean-type ecosystems are inadequatelyrecognized by governments, intergovernmentalorganizations, and the conservation community;


1. CALLS ON political leaders, governments atall levels, citizens, and the private sector to:

(a) expand and improve systems of protectedareas to safeguard and restore naturalareas in Mediterranean-type regions in theface of urban sprawl and climate change;

(b) provide urban residents in Mediter-ranean-type regions with access tonature, and educate citizens who live inthese regions about the distinctive char-acter of their surroundings and the many

benefits they derive from naturalresources; and

(c) promote sustainable cities in theseregions and adopt a comprehensiveapproach to decision-making that recog-nizes the interdependence of cities andlarger environments;

2. ENDORSES increased international coopera-tion on conservation in Mediterranean-typeecosystems, including exchange of informa-tion and experience, training, and developmentof improved policies and tools for managementand public education; and

3. URGES governments and appropriate inter-governmental organizations to proclaim aDecade of Action to focus attention on and toprotect these ecosystems.


3.103 The Biosphere Reserve ofthe Chaco and indigenouspeoples

AWARE of the importance that the Gran Chaco ofSouth America, its cultures and its ecosystems havefor the conservation of biological and cultural diver-sity on the planet;

CONSIDERING that the northern part of theParaguayan Chaco is historically part of the territoryof diverse indigenous peoples, and that the historicrights of these peoples are recognized through theConstitution of Paraguay, articles 62 to 67 and theInternational Labour Organization (ILO) Conven-tion (169) concerning Indigenous and Tribal Peo-ples in Independent Countries;

TAKING INTO ACCOUNT that the NorthernChaco is inhabited by indigenous communities whohave no contact with the surrounding societies, andthat these communities, through their pattern of lifein balance with nature, sustain the integrity of theirecosystems and are also a fundamental part of thecultural diversity of humankind;


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GREETING with approval the Paraguayan Govern-ment’s political will and initiative to establish, withthe United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cul-tural Organization’s (UNESCO) Man and BiosphereCommittee and in cooperation with a coalition ofcivil society organizations, a Biosphere Reserve inthe Paraguayan Chaco and to promote its recogni-tion by UNESCO;

CONSIDERING Articles 8(j) and 10(c) of the Con-vention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and Deci-sion VII/28 of the 7th meeting of its Conference ofthe Parties – COP7 (Kuala Lumpur, 2004), adoptingthe CBD Programme of Work on Protected Areas;

ALSO CONSIDERING the Akwe:Kon VoluntaryGuidelines for action, adopted by CBD COP7 Deci-sion VII/16;

AKNOWLEDGING Recommendations V.24Indigenous Peoples and Protected Areas, V.25 Co-management of Protected Areas, V.26 CommunityConserved Areas and V.27 Mobile Indigenous Peo-ples and Conservation noted by the Vth IUCNWorld Parks Congress (Durban, 2003); Resolutions12.5 Protection of traditional ways of life adoptedat the 12th IUCN General Assembly (Kinshasa,1975), 18.16 Recognition of the role of indigenouscommunities adopted at the 18th IUCN GeneralAssembly (Perth, 1990), and 19.21 IndigenousPeople and the sustainable use of naturalresources, 19.22 Indigenous people, and 19.23 TheImportance of Community-based Approachesadopted at the 19th IUCN General Assembly(Buenos Aires, 1994); and Resolutions 1.49 Indige-nous peoples and IUCN, 1.50 Indigenous peoples,intellectual property rights and biological diver-sity, 1.53 Indigenous peoples and protected areasand 1.55 Indigenous peoples and forests adopted atthe 1st IUCN World Conservation Congress (Mon-treal, 1996); and

RECALLING Indigenous and Traditional Peoplesand Protected Areas: Principles, Guidelines andCase Studies. Best Practice Protected Area Guide-lines Series No. 4,5 which was launched at the 2nd



1. EXPRESSES its support for the initiative ofthe Government of Paraguay, UNESCO’s Manand Biosphere Committee and environmentalorganizations, towards the declaration of partof the Northern Paraguayan Chaco as aUNESCO Biosphere Reserve, and calls for therelevant actors in Argentina, Bolivia and Brazilto cooperate in the establishment of a trans-boundary Biosphere Reserve in the region,considering its natural and cultural relevance;

2. CALLS on all governments and stakeholdersinvolved in the Chaco to respect the rights ofthe indigenous peoples to their ancestral terri-tories; and

3. REQUESTS the government and stakeholdersinvolved in the Chaco to assure the effectiveand complete participation of indigenous peo-ples in the process of establishment of theBiosphere Reserve in the Gran Chaco, to pro-mote the implementation of public policies thatrespect indigenous communities with or with-out contact with the surrounding societies, toassure the protection of their lands, the sus-tainable use of their natural heritage and thefull participation of indigenous communities inthe management of public and private pro-tected areas.




5 J. Beltrán (ed.). 2000. Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK. IUCN, Cardiff University and WWF.


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3.104 Consolidation of a nationalsystem of protected areasin the Dominican Republic

CONSIDERING that the establishment of a nationalsystem of protected areas in the Dominican Repub-lic has been a process of national interest evolvinguntil it now accounts for almost 19 percent ofnational territory in terrestrial protected areas and 11percent of national territory in marine protectedareas;

CONSIDERING that in the process of developingthe national system of protected areas the Domini-can Republic has received the support and technicalassistance of IUCN through different experts fromthe IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas(WCPA);

CONCERNED by recent events in the DominicanRepublic concerning the drafting and approval of aSectoral Law on Protected Areas that alters theobjectives of these areas and places the stability ofthe entire system in jeopardy;

CONCERNED by this Sectoral Law’s clear intent toreduce protection for marine areas of national,regional and international importance for the repro-duction and conservation of endangered species ofcommercial interest, such as the queen conch Strom-bus gigas, spiny lobsters Panulirus argus and P. gut-tatus, hawksbill turtle Eretmochelys imbricata andmanatee Trichechus manatus;

CONCERNED ALSO by the clear intent of theaforementioned Sectoral Law to reduce protectionof terrestrial areas of national, regional and interna-tional importance for the conservation of biodiver-sity, culture and water reserves in the DominicanRepublic; and

CONSIDERING that among the areas most affectedare the Jaragua National Park, core area of theDominican Republic’s only Biosphere Reserve,established in 2002, as well as the East NationalPark, proposed as a World Heritage Site for itsextraordinary natural and archaeological wealth;


URGES pertinent authorities in the DominicanRepublic to:

(a) ensure the protection and conservation of ter-restrial and coastal and marine ecosystems ofnational, regional and international impor-tance, within the framework of a consolidatednational system of protected areas;

(b) develop and strengthen the national system ofprotected areas with the involvement of localcommunities, as a strategy for combatingpoverty;

(c) develop and implement management plans forprotected areas to ensure that their potential forthe country’s development is realized; and

(d) ensure that the environmental, economic andcultural services provided by protected areasare accessible and available for the good ofhumanity.




3.105 Conservation of theCantábrico-Burgalesamountain range

RECOGNIZING the outstanding natural and eco-logical value of the Cantábrico-Burgalesa mountainrange and the great biodiversity it is home to; that itcontains various habitats and species which arelisted in Annex I of the European Union (EU)‘Habitats Directive’ (92/43/EEC) on the conserva-tion of natural habitats and wild flora and fauna, forexample temperate Atlantic wet heaths, endemicoro-Mediterranean heaths, European dry heaths and


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Atlantic acidophilous beech forests, degraded raisedbogs capable of natural regeneration, and caves notexploited for tourism, etc; and the presence of vari-ous additional species of flora such as the Iberianendemic Gentiana boryi Boiss;

RECOGNIZING LIKEWISE that these mountainsare noted for being home to certain species of faunawhich are explicitly protected by the EU HabitatsDirective, such as Pyrenean desman Galemys pyre-naicus – classified as ‘Endangered’ by IUCN in2001, wild cat Felis sylvestris, Atlantic salmonSalmo salar, or European smooth snake Coronellaaustriaca, as well as other species of fauna such aswolf Canis lupus, polecat Mustela putorius, theEuropean otter Lutra lutra or the Cantabrian cham-ois Rupicapra pyrenaica parva; and also birds listedin Annex I of the EU ‘Birds Directive’ (79/409/EECon the conservation of wild birds), such as Egyptianvulture Neophron percnopterus, golden eagle Aquilachrysaetos and eagle owl Bubo bubo, among others;

CONSIDERING that these mountains are spreadacross several natural protected areas, both underEuropean standards (the ‘Sites of CommunityImportance’ of Montes de Valnera, Montaña Orien-tal, the rivers Asón and Gándara, the rivers Mieraand Pas) and under Spanish regional standards (theNature Park of los Collados del Asón and the Nat-ural Monument of Ojo Guareña); and

ADDING to this outstanding natural heritage cer-tain unquestionable scenic, cultural and ethno-graphic qualities, illustrated by the ‘pasiego’ people,characterized by its lifestyle, architecture and itsunique relationship with the environment, whichhas remained unchanged over the centuries, givingshape to a human community without parallel inWestern Europe;


URGES the Autonomous Regional Governments ofCastilla-León and Cantabria, belonging to the King-dom of Spain, to declare the whole of the Can-tábrico-Burgalesa mountain range a natural pro-tected area, to ensure maximum conservation of itsbiodiversity and ethnographic heritage, recognizingexplicitly the unique character, both natural and cul-tural, of this area.




3.106 Mitigation of theenvironmental impacts ofthe ‘Plan Puebla Panama’and strengthening ofprotected areas adjacent tonew road sections andother infrastructure works

RECALLING previous IUCN resolutions and rec-ommendations which recognize and condemn theenvironmental impacts of large-scale infrastructureworks and request the conduct of EnvironmentalImpact Assessments and investments in environ-mental and social mitigation and compensation;

TAKING INTO ACCOUNT the commitments madeby the Governments of Mesoamerica (most ofMexico and Central America) in matters relating tobiodiversity, the establishment of representativesystems of protected areas, the promotion of sus-tainable types of development, and the participationof local and indigenous communities in transparentconsultation processes;

RECALLING the importance of the MesoamericanBiological Corridor and the commitments made bycountries in the region in matters relating to itsestablishment and implementation; and

DRAWING ATTENTION to the many examples ofenvironmental destruction caused by the construc-tion of roads, hydroelectric stations and otherlarge-scale infrastructure works that do not takeaccount of land-use planning criteria, investments


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in environmental impact mitigation and compensa-tion, parallel strengthening of the abilities of envi-ronmental institutions, and the consolidation ofprotected areas adjacent to new infrastructureworks;


1. ASKS the Governments of the MesoamericanRegion, the Inter-American DevelopmentBank, the Central American Bank for Eco-nomic Integration, and the Central AmericanCommission for Environment and Develop-ment that:

(a) urgent steps be taken to guarantee thatthe construction of new roads and large-scale infrastructure works within theframework of the ‘Plan Puebla Panama’fully include land-use planning criteria;real and proven mitigation and effectivecompensation of environmental, socialand cultural impacts; and the strengthen-ing of the environmental institutionsresponsible for the monitoring of theseworks;

(b) parallel support projects be developed forthe declaration, strengthening and consol-idation of protected areas that are foundin the areas of influence or adjacent tothese roads or infrastructure works, asmuch before – as during and after – theseinvestments are made;

(c) transparent consultation and the respectof the rights of local communities andindigenous populations found in the areasof influence or adjacent to these roads orinfrastructure works be ensured, before,during and after these investments aremade; and

(d) it be guaranteed that projects supportedwithin the framework of the ‘Plan PueblaPanama’ are fully in line with sustainabledevelopment models and that funding isnot provided for those projects that presentserious threats to indigenous populations

and proposed or declared protected areas,or which do not have guaranteed resourcesfor the implementation of investments inenvironmental impact mitigation and com-pensation; and

2. ALSO ASKS all bilateral and multilateraldevelopment agencies to guarantee the appli-cation of these criteria in the assessment ofthose projects presented within the frameworkof the ‘Plan Puebla Panama’, as well as theapplication of those international considera-tions and good practice established for the con-struction of roads or large-scale infrastructureworks.




3.107 Threats to the DanubeBiosphere Reserve

ALARMED that threats of death and personalinjury have been made against the long-time Direc-tor of Ukraine’s Danube Biosphere Reserve (DBR)since the beginning of October 2004;

DISTURBED that computer equipment, records,and means of access to operating funds of the DBRwere seized on November 2, 2004, by the DanubeTransport Prosecutor’s Office at the request ofUkraine’s Ministry of Transport;

CONCERNED that these actions appear to be inretaliation for the outspoken positions taken by theDirector against the construction of a navigationcanal through the core of the DBR’s most strictlyprotected area;


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RECALLING that Resolution 2.37 Support forenvironmental defenders of the 2nd IUCN WorldConservation Congress (Amman, 2000), calledupon the IUCN Director General to speak out pub-licly and forcefully when environmental advocatesare threatened and to discourage harassment or per-secution of environmental advocates using allappropriate means;

FURTHER RECALLING that Resolution 19.28Environmental Impact Assessment of the 19th IUCNGeneral Assembly (Buenos Aires, 1996) called for“inclusion in law of provisions for meaningful pub-lic participation in the EIA process and full publicaccess to relevant information” and that laws shouldensure “that EIAs that are found to be inadequateare rejected";

CONVINCED that managers of protected areaswho bring ecosystem threats to the attention of thepublic and national and international authoritiesshould not suffer retaliatory actions directed againstthem personally or against their means of operation;and

INSISTENT that projects significantly affectingprotected areas should go forward only after fullenvironmental assessment meeting internationalstandards, with sufficient opportunities for broadand effective participation by the public prior to,during and even after decision-making;


1. ASKS the Government of Ukraine to provideadequate replacement operational equipmentand means so that DBR officials can performtheir duties to protect the Reserve;

2. URGES the Government of Ukraine and oth-ers to respect and guarantee the human rightsof DBR officials and individuals who advo-cate for protection of reserves, and to ensurethat they can perform their conservation andadvocacy duties without fear of retaliation;and

3. ENCOURAGES all concerned to cooperatewith international environmental institutions,conservation organizations, and governments

in further measures to ensure proper publicparticipation and assessment of impacts ofprojects involving the DBR.


3.108 Great Barrier Reef

NOTING the increasing threats to coral reefs andmarine biodiversity in many parts of the world;

NOTING also that a lack of political leadership isoften the major hurdle to addressing these threats toconservation;

RECOGNIZING that Australia’s Great Barrier Reefis a World Heritage Site and of outstanding naturalvalue at local, national and international scales;

RECOGNIZING further that the recent increases inprotection for the World Heritage Site have beenbased on the best available science and comprehen-sive community involvement and consultation andthat the outcome will greatly assist in the long-termconservation of the Great Barrier Reef; and

RECOGNIZING that the Representative Areas Pro-gramme has provided a valuable guide for protec-tion of other valuable marine sites around the world;


CONGRATULATES the Australian Government onits recent achievement of significantly increasingprotection for the Great Barrier Reef Marine Parkand World Heritage Site and commends it for itsglobal leadership in the protection of this outstand-ing site of universal value.

3.109 Transboundary protectedareas in Southeast Asia

RECOGNIZING that some environmental issuesare transboundary in nature and that ecosystemsproviding environmental goods and services to rural


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people do cross geopolitical boundaries, givingclear ecological justification for a collaborative con-servation approach;

FURTHER RECOGNIZING that the outcomes ofseveral Association of Southeast Asian Nations(ASEAN) ministerial discussions held in recentyears affirmed the need for closer cooperationamong the countries of Southeast Asia for effectivemanagement of these shared ecosystems;

ACKNOWLEDGING some important initiativesunderway among countries in Southeast Asia toconserve transboundary protected areas that supportregional biological diversity;

FURTHER ACKNOWLEDGING the efforts of theGovernment of Thailand, which has established aspecial project to create a sustainable network ofpartners to secure long-term conservation of biodi-versity in protected areas;

NOTING the biodiversity and socio-economic sur-veys undertaken by the Government of Thailand inthe Patam and Khaeng Tana National Parks for theestablishment of the Patam-Khaeng Tana trans-boundary conservation areas on the Thai-Laos-Cambodian border; and

FURTHER NOTING that the Government of Thai-land also organized a workshop on regional cooper-ation in protected area management in SoutheastAsia during the present IUCN World ConservationCongress, and that it was agreed that the sharing ofinformation and past experiences of collaborativeefforts was particularly important, as was the devel-opment of a framework, with clearly defined objec-tives, and mechanisms for transboundary conserva-tion management;


1. URGES the Governments of Southeast Asia torecognize the importance of transboundaryforest and marine areas for conservation ofnational ecosystems; and

2. RECOMMENDS that the Governments of theSoutheast Asia region formulate transboundary

conservation strategies in collaboration withthe international community for all importantshared ecosystems, especially where existingtransboundary protected areas provide an insti-tutional and management framework for coop-erative action.




3.110 Promoting responsiblemanagement of waterresources in the MekongRegion

RECOGNIZING the importance of the MekongRiver and other sources for potable water, irrigation,transport and a host of other environmental servicesfor the day-to-day well-being of the peoples in theMekong Region, which holds a significant popula-tion living in poverty;

RECALLING the priority accorded to water, byHeads of State, in the United Nations MillenniumDevelopment Goals agreed in 2000, and during theWorld Summit on Sustainable Development(WSSD, Johannesburg, 2002), as a fundamentalresource for economic growth, health, agriculture,and poverty reduction;

CONCERNED for the peoples of the MekongRegion whose traditional sources of water have beenexceedingly polluted and unsustainably exploited;

FURTHER CONCERNED that freshwater habitatsare degraded at a significant rate, and that thesehabitats are home to a number of important aquaticorganisms, including freshwater fishes, which arethreatened with extinction; and


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RECALLING that Decision VII/4 of the 7th Meeting ofthe Conference of the Parties to the Convention onBiological Diversity (Kuala Lumpur, 2004), recom-mended governments to “establish and maintain com-prehensive, adequate and representative systems ofinland water ecosystems within the framework of inte-grated catchment/watershed/river basin management”;


RECOMMENDS that Mekong Region States:

(a) acknowledge and reaffirm the current threats towater resources, and take appropriate action toprotect and conserve water for future generations;

(b) enhance dialogue and cooperation to adopt anecosystem approach to the management ofwater resources;

(c) address issues of sustainable use of their waterresources, keeping in mind the pivotal role ofwater in the day-to-day life of poor people inthis region and its contribution to the ecologicalservices in the region; every construction on themainstream of the Mekong river such as hydro-electrical and irrigation dams should be basedon common agreement of related countries; and

(d) establish a system of freshwater protectedareas within the framework of integrated riverbasin management.


The Delegation of the State Member of China is dis-appointed with the process followed in consideringthis motion. It runs counter to the spirit of goodwilland consensus building which is a great value of theUnion.

The Delegation has a strong objection to operativeparagraph (c) of this Recommendation, which is notconsistent with the positive views and understand-ing expressed by environment ministers of theMekong Region countries in the high-level round-table discussion during the WCC in Bangkok.

The Chinese Government wishes to reiterate thatChina attaches great importance to comprehensiveassessment of water resources projects in the MekongRegion, taking into account economic, social andenvironmental impact and interests of all parties.

China is actively engaged in and stands ready toenhance dialogue and cooperation among all coun-tries on sustainable development in the MekongRegion.




3.111 Impact of roads and otherinfrastructure through theecosystems of Darién

CONCERNED with conserving the biological, nat-ural and human values that led the United NationsEducational, Scientific and Cultural Organization(UNESCO) to designate Darién as a World HeritageSite in 1982 and as a Biosphere Reserve in 1983;

RECALLING also that the construction in the1970s of the existing stretch of the Pan-AmericanHighway through part of the region of Darién trig-gered processes that resulted in very high annualdeforestation rates and the loss of a great part of theforests in the region;

CONSIDERING that the expanse of contiguousforests centred around Darién constitutes the largestremaining mass of woodland in Panama, and thatrecent studies through the ecoregion of Chocó-Darién,including portions of Colombia and Ecuador, indicatethat this mass of woodland, including the adjacentColombian sectors, constitute the largest-remainingmass of woodland left in the entire ecoregion;


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ALSO CONSIDERING the presence of various eth-nic groups in the region and the legally formedindigenous territories, the populations of whichhave developed an interdependence with the land,coastal and marine ecosystems in the area;

OBSERVING the new and intensive dialogue andlobbying carried out by the Governments ofPanama, Colombia and the governments of neigh-bouring countries, in order to build a stretch of high-way to connect Colombia and Panama by land viaDarién and to construct power-grid connectionsbetween the two countries as well; and

RECALLING the considerations expressed by Res-olution 19.66 Opening the Darién Plug, adopted bythe 19th IUCN General Assembly (Buenos Aires,1994);


1. URGES the Government of Panama and theGovernment of Colombia to:

(a) consider and evaluate the greatest possi-ble number of alternative proposals toachieve the proposed interconnections ofpower supplies and transportation,including alternatives other than theimmediate construction of a highway;

(b) publicize the considered options and callfor ample consultation and debate in allsectors, well in advance, paying particu-lar attention to the ethnic groups andindigenous peoples of the area;

(c) make sure that extensive evaluations arecarried out on the ecological, social andcultural impact that each alternativemight generate in Darién and the neigh-bouring regions, before making any deci-sion about whether or not to constructinfrastructure;

(d) make sure that the construction of theproposed infrastructure only takes placeif and when an agreement is reached onthe measures to be taken and the pro-grammes to be established to guarantee

the integrity and conservation of biologi-cal, natural and human values; and

(e) ensure the prior existence of official com-mitments and the resources necessary toexecute these measures and establishthose programmes in a long-term, sus-tained way; and

2. URGES the international financial institutionsto lend their support to the above-mentionedconsiderations and to make sure that compli-ance with them is assured before financing theconstruction of the proposed infrastructure.




3.112 Establishing a marineprotected area for BlueWhale Balaenopteramusculus in the gulf ofCorcovado, Chile

WHEREAS recent investigations carried out byChilean scientists have identified an area with ahigh concentration of Blue Whales Balaenopteramusculus engaged in feeding and nursing activitiesin the Gulf of Corcovado, western coast of ChiloéIsland in Chile (the Blue Whale, the largest mammalin the world, is a species under recovery after popu-lations were severely depleted and almost totallyextinct over 40 years ago; current population esti-mates amount to no more than 1,400 individuals inthe Southern Hemisphere);

WHEREAS one of the main reasons that restrain theproliferation of marine mammals is the lack of safefeeding, reproduction and socialization areas forsuch species;


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CONSIDERING that fjord and archipelago ecosys-tems are poorly represented at a world level, andthat fjords and channels are protected environmentswith mixed saline conditions that occur naturally invery specific places of the planet, and that Chile isprivileged in that sense;

CONSIDERING that the Gulf of Corcovado sup-ports not only Blue Whales, but also importantspecies such as humpback whale Megapteranovaeangliae, killer whale Orcinus orca, Chileanor black dolphin Cephalorhynchus eutropia,Peale’s dolphin Lagenorhynchus australis, SouthAmerican sea lion Otaria flavescens and SouthAmerican fur seal Arctocephalus australis, amongothers;

CONSIDERING that the United Nations has madean overall request to world governments to preservemarine life through the establishment of marine pro-tected areas; that today, less than 0.5 percent of theplanet’s marine habitats are under protection; andthat this figure, compared to the protection of landareas, which amounts to 11.5 percent globally, con-firms the level of exposure of marine resources at aworld level;

CONSIDERING that Recommendation 17.38 Pro-tection of the Coastal and Marine Environmentadopted by the 17th IUCN General Assembly (SanJose, 1988) recommended the following definitionof marine protected areas: ‘‘Any area of intertidalor subtidal terrain, together with its overlyingwaters and associated flora, fauna, historical andcultural features, which has been reserved by leg-islation to protect part or all of the enclosed envi-ronment”; and

CONSIDERING that following the World Summiton Sustainable Development (WSSD, Johannes-burg, 2002), the WSSD Plan of Implementationinvolves an assessment of the global marine envi-ronment by 2004 and the establishment and devel-opment of a network of marine protected areas by2012; and that likewise, the Convention on Biolog-ical Diversity (CBD) Jakarta Mandate includes aMinisterial Statement that acknowledges the urgentneed to address conservation and sustainable use ofcoastal and marine biological diversity, as well as amulti-annual Work Programme on coastal andmarine biological diversity;


ENCOURAGES the relevant authorities of theRepublic of Chile to:

(a) ensure the protection of the Blue Whale habi-tat recently discovered in the Gulf of Corcov-ado, through the establishment of a marineprotected area; and

(b) develop and implement a management plan forthis marine protected area, aimed at ensuringthe survival of the Blue Whale by preservingthe ecosystem relationships that facilitate itsconservation, with the active participation oflocal communities.




3.113 Conservation of SaigaAntelope Saiga tataricatatarica and Saiga tataricamongolica

NOTING that the Saiga Antelope is one of the keyspecies of fragile steppe ecosystems in the NorthernPalearctic occurring in the Russian Federation andCentral Asia;

RECALLING that the Saiga Antelope was listed inAnnex II of the Convention on International Tradein Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora(CITES) in 1995 and was included in 2002 in theIUCN Red List as a Critically Endangered species;


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NOTING the recent decisions of the 13th Con-ference of the Parties (COP13) to CITES con-cerning urgent conservation measures for theSaiga Antelope;

RECOGNIZING that the Saiga Antelope is one ofthe most seriously endangered mammal species inthe world today, and that its numbers have declineddramatically from about one million animals in1990 to less than five percent of this figure today,primarily due to poaching for horns and meat;

FURTHER RECOGNIZING that the root causes ofpoaching lie in poverty, resulting from majorchanges in the rural economies of the main rangestates – Kazakhstan, the Russian Federation, Uzbek-istan, Turkmenistan, and Mongolia;

NOTING that poaching for meat and horns and ille-gal international trade in horns and other products,uncontrolled hunting, construction of irrigationchannels, major roads and railways and other obsta-cles preventing natural migration have all con-tributed to the recent sharp declines of all popula-tions of the Saiga Antelope;

CONCERNED about the impact of continuedpoaching for horns for the traditional Chinese med-icine trade on the Saiga population, and its hugenegative effect on breeding success and the contri-bution to sharp declines in the populations of thisspecies;

ALARMED that organized and widespread illegalhunting of Saiga Antelope and consumption andsmuggling of its products continue in spite of therigorous measures taken by the governments of itsrange states to prevent this illegal activity;

STRESSING that unless current conservation meas-ures are dramatically strengthened, poaching willcontinue and rapidly lead to extinction or near-extinction of the remaining populations, especiallythe Betpak-Dala population in Kazakhstan;

FURTHER NOTING the very substantial increasesin human and financial resources for anti-poachingenforcement activities and public awareness madeby the Governments of the Russian Federation,Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan under their Restorationof the Saiga strategies; and

WELCOMING the serious efforts made by the Chi-nese authorities to register legal stocks of Saigahorn and to combat illegal trade, including throughsignificant seizures;


1. URGES all states to strengthen and enforcelegislation to conserve the Saiga Antelope;

2. ENCOURAGES states, within their respectivelaws and regulations, to make inventories ofexisting commercial stocks of Saiga Antelopeproducts and to apply a registration system tothese stocks;

3. CALLS ON all parties concerned to take meas-ures for the signature or ratification of interna-tional and transboundary agreements such asthe Memorandum of Understanding on SaigaConservation, Restoration and SustainableUse drawn up by the Convention on MigratorySpecies (CMS);

4. RECOMMENDS urgent initiatives to improvethe incomes of rural people in the Saiga Ante-lope range countries and to support alternativelivelihood activities;

5. WELCOMES the recognition by CITESCOP13 of the need for various urgent conser-vation measures;

6. URGES the CITES Parties and Secretariat towork together to ensure that illegal interna-tional trade is totally eliminated; and

7. CALLS FOR significant increases in interna-tional support for conservation measures, espe-cially for progress on proposals for a GlobalEnvironment Facility (GEF) project, which hasbeen delayed for some time.




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3.114 Conservation of DugongDugong dugon, OkinawaWoodpecker Sapheopiponoguchii, and OkinawaRail Gallirallus okinawaein Japan

RECOGNIZING that only a small, isolated popula-tion of dugongs are present in Japan, that theseinhabit exclusively a limited habitat around Oki-nawa Island, and that the Okinawa woodpecker andOkinawa rail are endemic land birds with small pop-ulations confined to the Yambaru woodland of Oki-nawa Island;

RECOGNIZING ALSO that all three species areclassified as endangered6 by Japanese authorities:dugong – Critically Endangered (CR) according tothe Mammalogical Society of Japan, 1997, Okinawawoodpecker – Critically Endangered according tothe Ministry of Environment, Japan, 2002, and Oki-nawa rail – Endangered according to the Ministry ofEnvironment, Japan, 2002;

CONCERNED that growing threats may acceleratethe extinction of these three species – for thedugong, plans for constructing a joint United Statesmilitary/Japanese civilian airport on landfill in oneof their critical habitats, together with entanglementin fishing nets; for the Okinawa woodpecker andOkinawa rail, plans for constructing seven UnitedStates military helipads and connecting roads intheir habitat area together with predation by intro-duced mongoose and feral cats;

RECALLING Recommendation 2.72 Conservationof Dugong (Dugong dugon), Okinawa Woodpecker(Sapheopipo noguchii) and Okinawa Rail (Galliral-lus okinawae) adopted at the 2nd IUCN World Con-servation Congress (Amman, 2000), which urgedcompletion of an environmental impact assessmentof construction of the United States Marine Corpsfacility and of military exercises, and implementa-tion of appropriate measures to ensure the survivalof these three species;

WELCOMING that the Government of Japan hasconducted surveys for the conservation of, and has

taken some measures for the rescue of, the dugong,Okinawa woodpecker and Okinawa rail, and hasdecided to make utmost efforts to avoid substantialimpact on the natural environment in constructionof the joint military/civilian airport and US militaryhelipads and roads in their habitat;

NOTING that the Government of Japan has startedthe environmental impact assessment in accordancewith Japanese law; and

ALSO NOTING the warning of extinction in thereport Dugong Status Report and Action Plans forCountries and Territories published in 2002 by theUnited Nations Environment Programme/Depart-ment of Early Warning and Assessment(UNEP/DEWA);


1. URGES the Government of Japan to:

(a) in conducting the environmental impactassessment for the joint military/civilianairport planned in dugong habitat, con-sider several alternatives including a zerooption, and also include pre-constructionactivities such as underwater drilling andseismic reflection surveys as items to beassessed;

(b) undertake an environmental impact assess-ment that considers several alternativesincluding a zero option for the construc-tion of United States military helipads androads in the habitat of the Okinawa wood-pecker and Okinawa rail; and

(c) immediately establish protected areas anddraw up action plans for the conservationof the dugong, the Okinawa woodpeckerand the Okinawa rail; and

2. URGES the Government of the United Statesof America to:

(a) confer with the Government of Japanwith a view to protecting the environment

6 Based on IUCN Species Survival Commission Red List categories and criteria for assessing status of species.


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and conserving species in relation to theconstruction of United States militaryfacilities in the habitat of endangeredspecies in Okinawa, based on US militaryenvironmental management standards;and

(b) cooperate, if requested, in the environ-mental impact assessments carried out bythe Government of Japan for militarybase site construction.


The Government of Japan has been taking activemeasures for the conservation of natural environ-ment in the areas referred to in this Recommendation.

The Government of Japan has decided that, withregard to construction of a Futenma relocationFacility (referred to in the text as “a joint UnitedStates military/Japanese civilian airport”) and therelocation of Helicopter Landing Zone in NorthernTraining Area (referred to in the text as “sevenUnited States military helipads”), the Governmentwill make efforts for minimizing negative impact onthe natural environment, while having in mind theimportant function which US facilities/areas in Oki-nawa are performing. The Government is nowworking for relocation of Futenma Airport from thepresent populated area, with a view to relieving theuneasiness in the neighbouring communities assoon as possible.

The Government of Japan has decided that it willmake the utmost efforts to prevent substantialimpact on the natural environment in constructionof these facilities. And the Government is now con-ducting environment impact assessment in accor-dance with, or in line with domestic laws and regu-lation on environment impact assessments, and willcontinue to do so regardless of whether a new rec-ommendation before us is adopted or not.

Moreover, in order to avoid serious impact on theenvironment in conducting underwater drilling andseismic reflection surveys, the Government of Japanis taking measures for the environment protection,although such measures are not required by theEnvironmental Impact Assessment Law.

The Government of Japan and the sponsors of therecommendation had intensive consultations in theContact Group to find compromised languages forthe recommendation, and I personally thank thesponsors for showing to us a spirit of cooperation.My thanks also go to the skilful guidance by facili-tators from IUCN at the Contact Group. But unfor-tunately, we could not come to an agreement on thelanguages for the recommendation. Therefore, Min-istry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, as State Memberof IUCN will abstain from voting for the presentdraft recommendation.


Considering the intent of this Recommendation,concerning the conservation of the Dugong, theOkinawa Rail and the Okinawa Woodpecker, theUnited States supports efforts to conserve these andother endangered and threatened species. Werespect and share the concern the sponsors of thismotion have shown for the continued survival ofthese three species.

We remain committed to a comprehensive and trans-parent environmental impact assessment on the pro-posed Futenma relocation. We are prepared tocooperate in an environmental impact assessmentfor the area in question conducted by the Govern-ment of Japan, if requested by the Government ofJapan.

The United States has committed publicly to makingall efforts to protect the environment in Japan, con-sistent with relevant laws and regulations. In thecourse of these efforts, we welcome dialogue withthose concerned.


Save the Dugong Campaign, Okinawa, provided thefollowing statement for the record:

Japanese Environmental Impact Assessment Lawsdo not require a zero option. In other words, theGovernment has not included the option to cancelthese projects if it finds that these projects causeunreasonable environmental damage. As the Gov-ernment has not included related underwaterdrilling and seismic reflection surveys, drilling is


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now taking place at 63 sites on the coral reef with-out any assessment. We urge the Japanese Govern-ment to include a zero option, and the related sur-veys in its EIA. We also urge the US Government torecognize its responsibilities and to cooperate in theprocess of EIA.

Responding to this statement, the Ministry of Envi-ronment, Japan, noted that:

‘Zero Option’ can be required based on the resultsof EIA, according to the Japanese domestic EIAlaws.

3.115 Protection of the GreatIndian Bustard Ardeotisnigriceps

RECOGNIZING that the great Indian bustard isperhaps the most endangered member of the bustardfamily in the world;

NOTING that historically, the great Indian bustardwas widely distributed in arid and semi-arid grass-lands of India and Pakistan;

FURTHER NOTING that presently the total num-ber could be as low as 500 individuals;

RECALLING that if effective conservation meas-ures are not taken urgently, the great Indian bustardwill be extinct in another five to ten years’ time;

FURTHER RECALLING that poaching and habitatdeterioration are the two main causes for the drasticdecline of the great Indian bustard;

ACKNOWLEDGING that the great Indian bustardis legally protected in India and Pakistan;

FURTHER ACKNOWLEDGING that BirdLifeInternational has included the great Indian bustardin the ‘Endangered’ category in its Red Data Book,mainly because of drastic and continuing decline inits population;

NOTING that the Government of India has takensome measures to protect bustard habitat byestablishing sanctuaries but these measures arenot adequate;

FURTHER NOTING that the great Indian bustardlives at low density and depends on a wider land-scape, with short-grass plains, low-intensity agricul-ture and traditional livestock grazing, hence it cannotbe conserved effectively in a few small sanctuaries;

AWARE of the fact that movement patterns andecology of the great Indian bustard are not fullyknown and unless movement patterns and landscapeuse are studied, planning effective long-term con-servation measures is not possible; and

ALSO AWARE that, along with the great Indianbustard, the lesser florican Sypheotides indicus andthe Bengal florican Houbaropsis bengalensis arealso endangered, and the migratory population ofthe Houbara bustard Chlamydotis macqueeni isthreatened by poaching and habitat destruction;


1. CALLS ON the Governments of India andPakistan to take all measures necessary to pro-tect the great Indian bustard, including estab-lishment of large sanctuaries/community con-servation areas at the landscape level andeffectively curtailing poaching;

2. REQUESTS the Government of India to startProject Bustard, following the patternemployed with Project Tiger and Project Ele-phant, to protect all species of Indian bustardsand their habitats;

3. URGES the Governments of India and Pak-istan to give special attention to the protectionand sustainable utilization of grasslands bycurtailing conversion of grasslands for agricul-tural use and preventing overgrazing; and

4. PROPOSES that movement patterns and ecol-ogy of the great Indian bustard, and otherIndian bustards, should be studied urgently byusing modern methods such as telemetry andradio tracking.



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3.116 Shark finning

RECOGNIZING the economic and cultural impor-tance of sharks in many countries, their support tofood security, their biological importance in themarine ecosystem, the vulnerability of some sharkspecies to exploitation, and the need for measurespromoting sustainable and long-term use of sharkpopulations and fisheries developed from them;

CONCERNED that shark finning (removing any finof the shark and discarding the body at sea) causesthe death of tens of millions of sharks, threatensmany shark populations and potentially the verysurvival of species considered rare and vulnerable,and endangers not only traditional sustainablefisheries but also recreational fisheries of socio-economic importance;

CONCERNED ALSO that the elimination of largequantities of predators at the apex of the marineecosystem could have dramatic and undesirableecological impacts altering the balance of themarine ecosystems and could jeopardize the pro-duction of other species of commercial interest;

AWARE that information on trade and landingsindicate that finning is practiced widely, and to agreat extent without management or regulation, andthat due to the biological characteristics of sharks, italso results in unsustainable levels of mortality;

CONCERNED MOREOVER that finning hindersthe collection of specific scientific information onparticular species, which is essential to monitorshark catch, landings, and biological parameters,and implement sustainable management of thesefisheries, as required under international agreementsand statutes;

NOTING that finning is contrary to the principlesof Article 7.2.2 (g) of the Code of Conduct for

Responsible Fisheries of the United Nations Foodand Agriculture Organization (FAO) and to theprinciples, objectives and goals of the FAO Inter-national Plan of Action for the Conservation andManagement of Sharks (UN FAO IPOA-Sharks);and

ALSO AWARE that at its 58th and 59th sessions, theUnited Nations General Assembly urged MemberStates to develop and implement national and,where appropriate, regional plans of action to acti-vate the International Plan of Action for the Conser-vation and Management of Sharks, to gather scien-tific information on shark catch, and to consider theadoption of conservation and management actions,“including by banning directed shark fisheries con-ducted solely for the purpose of harvesting sharkfins” (paragraph 48 of Resolution A/RES/58/14);


1. URGES states with fisheries that capturesharks, whether in directed fishing activities oras accidental by-catch in other fisheries, toimplement the International Plan of Action forthe Conservation and Management of Sharks,through the development of national andregional action plans incorporating a precau-tionary approach, that recognize the nutritionaland socio-economic importance of sharks insome regions, that reduce to a minimum wasteand discard from shark catch and that promoteuse of the entire catch through, inter alia, theimplementation of bans on finning (removingany fin of the shark and discarding the body atsea) in their maritime water and by their flagvessels worldwide;

2. URGES states with fisheries that capture sharks,whether in directed fishery activities or as acci-dental by-catch in other fisheries, or whichfacilitate the landing of shark products by inter-national flag vessels, to require that all sharks belanded with the fins attached to their bodies andto guarantee full utilization of shark catches;

3. FURTHER URGES in those cases where thisis not possible, vessels should be required tohave on board fins that total no more than fivepercent of the weight of sharks (defined as all


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parts of the shark excepting head and guts), upto the point of first landing and those states thatdo not currently require fins and carcasses tobe landed together, should take necessarymeasures to ensure compliance with the fivepercent ratio through certification, monitoringby an observer, and other appropriate meas-ures, for example as required by the 2004International Commission for the Conserva-tion of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) Resolution;

4. RECOMMENDS that all states should evalu-ate the effectiveness of their monitoring andcapacity to enforce these measures, drawingupon the expertise and resources of FAO,Regional Fisheries Organizations, other statesand the IUCN Shark Specialist Group;

5. URGES states to support the development andadoption of a new resolution of the UnitedNations General Assembly to ban all sharkfinning in international waters; and

6. VIGOROUSLY RECOMMENDS that statesimplement Resolution 12.6 Conservation andManagement of Sharks and related decisions ofthe Convention on International Trade in Endan-gered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).


This Recommendation is inconsistent with lastyear’s and this year’s United Nations resolutions, aswell as the FAO International Plan of Action for theConservation and Management of Sharks and theFAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries, inseveral points such as a requirement for landingshark bodies with their fins adhered and a ban ontransfer of shark fins in international waters.

The Key point of shark conservation issue is thatfishery activities that only target shark fins are dete-riorating shark resources. We have to recognize thata ban on finning without identifying species andareas with a real problem will never lead to a realconservation and management of shark resources.

Further, it is not appropriate to discuss fisheryissues in the United Nations General Assembly,since there is no expert on fisheries. Therefore wecannot support this Recommendation.


The United States supports strong and effectiveefforts to conserve and manage shark populations,including through bans on the practice of sharkfinning. We would just like to make a brief statementspecifically in regard to operative paragraph 4.Given recent advances on this issue in the UnitedNations General Assembly, we believe that futureefforts are best directed towards the UN Food andAgriculture Organization, Regional Fisheries Man-agement Organizations and other relevant interna-tional bodies with direct responsibility for the conser-vation and management of living marine resources.We support specific measures by these organizationsto address this issue, consistent with the resolutionrecently adopted by the International Commission forthe Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT).

3.117 Conservation of theBandula Barb Puntiusbandula in Sri Lanka

CONSCIOUS OF the fact that the freshwaterstreams in the southwestern region of Sri Lanka har-bour several species of endemic freshwater fish, amajority of which are threatened;

NOTING that among these, the Bandula barb is acritically endangered endemic species, found inonly one location in the entire world (Galapitamada,Kegalle District, Kelani River Basin of the wet zoneof Sri Lanka);

FURTHER NOTING that the stream that thespecies currently inhabits is extremely threatened,as it is located outside a protected area;

MINDFUL OF the fact that the species inhabits asmall segment of a stream (about 400m), which issurrounded by rice fields that are subjected to over-use of pesticides and fertilizers, which causes athreat to the future survival of the Bandula barb;

NOTING that the species used to be collected forthe ornamental fish trade, but that this practice hasnow been greatly reduced due to public awarenessand vigilance by the communities living in this area;and

FURTHER NOTING that recently, the Departmentof Wildlife Conservation, Sri Lanka, in collabora-tion with a local fish-breeder/exporter reintroduceda small population of the species into a nearby habi-tat, but a monitoring programme by a local NGOhas found that this attempt to boost the populationof Bandula barb has not been successful;


INVITES all IUCN members to promote the con-servation of the endemic and critically endangeredBandula barb beyond park boundaries in Sri Lanka,to ensure that the species is conserved.




3.118 Continued prohibition ofshahtoosh production andtrade

RECALLING IUCN Recommendation 2.70 Con-servation of Tibetan Antelope (Pantholops hodg-soni), adopted by the 2nd IUCN World ConservationCongress (Amman, 2000);

FURTHER RECALLING that international trade inthe wool of Tibetan Antelope, or chiru (shahtoosh),has been prohibited since 1975 under the Conven-tion on International Trade in Endangered Speciesof Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES);

NOTING that although the Government of India hasprohibited hunting of Tibetan Antelope and trade inits parts and products, including production of shah-toosh shawls, since the late 1970s, production of

and illegal trade in shahtoosh remain a threat to thesurvival of Tibetan Antelope; and

COMMENDING the Governments of India andChina for their commitment to and enforcement ofrestrictions on trade and hunting of Tibetan Ante-lope and shahtoosh products;


1. URGES the maintenance of a strict ban onhunting of Tibetan Antelope and the sale of itsfur, production of shahtoosh, or other productsmade from the animal, throughout its range;

2. URGES the Government of India to prepare aroadmap for the protection of the Tibetan Ante-lope and for the government, its legal institu-tions, and its wildlife laws to remain obligatedto continue to enforce the ban on shahtooshprocessing and trade, and under no circum-stances to lift the ban; and

3. CALLS UPON consumer countries to ensureeffective enforcement to stop the trade inshahtoosh.




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