Registration is now open for the IUCN World Parks Congress (WPC), the landmark global forum on protected areas held every 10 years. The event takes place in Sydney, Australia 12-19 November 2014, with the theme 'Parks, people, planet: inspiring solutions' designed to help deliver IUCN’s three priority areas of IUCN's work programme.
Photo: WPC
The WPC 2014 will articulate the vital role of protected areas in conserving nature while delivering essential ecosystem services, position protected areas within the goals of economic and community well-being in the post-2015 development agenda, and show how this can be achieved in practice.
The event is being organized by IUCN and the World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA), and hosted on behalf of the Australian Government by Parks Australia and the New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service, in the Office of Environment and Heritage.
For protected areas, the congress will catalyze the achievement of conservation targets whilst engaging the full spectrum of actors across government and civil society; for people, it will engage with development sectors and inspire citizens to connect with nature; and for the planet, it will demonstrate nature-based solutions to global challenges such as climate change, health, and support for human life.
The Congress will address eight streams: 1) Reaching conservation goals; 2) Responding to climate change; 3) Improving health and well-being; 4) Supporting human life (water, food and disaster risk reduction); 5) Reconciling development challenges; 6) Enhancing diversity and quality of governance; 7) Respecting indigenous and traditional knowledge and culture; and 8) Inspiring a new generation.
Together with cross-cutting streams focused on marine, World Heritage, capacity development and a new social compact, the congress will inspire and motivate action to achieve the ambitious goals of sustainable development.
