10 Tips for getting involved in Protected Areas
- Contribute an article to the WCPA Update or PARKS. If you wish to share your experience with over 1500 of the world’s leading protected area specialists and organisations, send an email to wcpa@iucn.org
- Contact your Regional Vice Chair and ask if you can help with their regional and/or national activities; WCPA Steering Commitee Members
- Contact Chairs of the WCPA Task Forces or Theme Programmes, that match up with your interests (refer to Members Guide for contact details) and ask if you can help their activities;WCPA Steering Commitee Members
- Consider setting up an informal network within WCPA. For example, the WCPA informal network on Grassland Protected Areas was set up by Bill Henwood of Canada. Such networks should be set up through placing a notice in the WCPA Newsletter. While such networks are set up on the understanding that there would be no direct financial support from IUCN; WCPA can serve as a useful vehicle for facilitating contact between people interested in similar issues; send an email to wcpa@iucn.org
- Advise the IUCN Protected Areas Programme or any member of the WCPA Steering Committee, about protected area issues that you feel should be addressed; send an email to wcpa@iucn.org
- Participate in WCPA Regional Working Sessions held in your region, all of which are advertised well in advance in the WCPA Newsletter;
- Establish contact with the PA Staff working in the IUCN Regional or Country Office close to you to see if you can support their work in protected areas, and, where possible, respond to requests for advice and information; IUCN PA Staff
- Explore possibilities for secondments or volunteer for short periods of work with the Protected Area Programme in Switzerland. send an email to wcpa@iucn.org
- Make contact with other WCPA members in other regions and countries. An updated WCPA Membership Directory is available online. We suggest that you take this with you when you travel and you make contact with members in other parts of the world (apart from anything else, it can be a good way to get improved insight on any protected areas you may visit while on holiday); and
- Initiate nominations for the Fred Packard Award through your regional or thematic vice chair (refer Members Guide).
There are, of course, many other ways in which you can be involved. However the onus, as in all volunteer networks, rests with you - the individual member. We urge you to get involved. We would also note that membership of WCPA is assessed at the time of each IUCN World Conservation Congress (previously the General Assembly) and that one of the criteria in deciding which members are re-invited is level of interest and activity.
We hope that many more members will get actively involved with WCPA over the next triennium.
