Germany, Bundesamt für Naturschutz

This publication aims to further raise awareness about the value of transboundary conservation, highlighting the many benefits transboundary cooperation generates, while not neglecting the challenges and problems parties encounter when they engage in transboundary initiatives.

It has become clear during recent global deliberations on biodiversity conservation that achieving Protected Area (PA) financial sustainability will require major changes in the way that PA funding is conceptualized, captured and used.

Reports from non-governmental organizations have raised concerns about the scale of illegal trade in merbau, a timber from nine species in the genus Intsia and there is concern over the sustainability of harvests from natural merbau populations.

The Iron Curtain, running from the Barents Sea to the Black Sea, divided Europe for almost 40 years and no activity was allowed in this "forbidden" zone. When it fell in 1989, it left a strip of land that runs the entire length of Europe and that has remained comparatively undisturbed – a green belt. The Green Belt initiative aims to integrate this entire strip of land with its key habitats and ecological areas as part of an international network of valuable ecosystems.

In 1994, IUCN launched Parks for life: Action for Protected Areas in Europe - a plan devised by IUCN with 200 partners to ensure an adequate, effective and well-managed network of protected areas in Europe. In November 1997, some 150 protected area experts from 34 countries met to review progress and chart a course for future work.

Stocks of sturgeono used for caviar are on the decline worldwide with some species now in danger of extinction. This situation has been caused partly by excessive fishing of sturgeon, but also by the destruction of sturgeon habitats and water pollution. Today, this situation is further exacerbated by the smuggling of sturgeon and caviar, by bartering and by related illegal activities.