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In-Depth Information
the need for urgent and increasingly ambitious action, and providing the tools and
advice to manage marine protected areas effectively under rapidly changing conditions.
The recent trend of establishing very large marine protected areas (MPAs) that
encompass whole ecosystems, and community-based MPAs that support local
livelihoods, are two approaches that will help us meet our marine conservation
goals (see Berchez et al.
2015
, in this volume [Chap.
23
]; Nevill
2009
).
22.11
Capacity Development
The pace at which new protected areas have been established often has outstripped
the ability to manage them effectively; there simply is not enough well-trained staff
available, particularly as management needs and priorities change rapidly. IUCN's
WCPA has a history of providing technical advice through its Best Practice Protected
Area Guidelines series, provision of experts, and individualized training sessions.
However, it is no longer suffi cient. Field rangers often miss out on training, through
lack of basic educational opportunities, inability to read English, French, or Spanish,
and lack of access to materials. IUCN works to fi ll this gap through the development
of online training materials based around minimum competency standards, an
accreditation system for courses offered on protected areas in tertiary educational
establishments, and through focused teaching. There remain many gaps and priori-
ties ensuring that the curriculum is comprehensive and is adopted by the premier
educational and training institutions, for preparing a new generation of qualifi ed and
competent professionals.
22.12
World Heritage
World Heritage represents in many ways the best of the best and particularly the
sovereign decisions of countries to make special efforts in their conservation.
The task by IUCN World Heritage Program keeps growing as more sites are added
to the list, and as the World Heritage Committee grows in political importance
(and as a result becomes increasingly politicized itself). World Heritage Sites,
which cover more than 10 % of all protected areas globally, also need to change
their role to provide leadership to global efforts on protected areas. Another major
aim is to bring natural World Heritage designation closer, philosophically and in
practice, to the conservation of the greater number of cultural sites on the World
Heritage list. Both face similar challenges in terms of development, the need to
maintain naturalness or authenticity, and their role in educating present and future
generations about our common heritage.
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