IUCN, Protected Areas Programme

This study identifies the relationships that exist between World Heritage cultural landscapes and protected areas, and documents the practical management and governance associations that occur between them. It looks at i) the conceptual similarities and differences between these two systems of conservation designations; ii) the spatial overlap between them; and iii) the practical interrelation and integration that occurs ‘on the ground’. The Hungarian Hortobágy National Park and Thingvellir National Park in Iceland are used as examples.

The strategy paper analyses the coverage of the world’s existing natural and mixed World Heritage (WH) sites and sets out some indicative future priorities. It is largely based on a more detailed analysis (available separately) of the world’s natural and mixed WH sites undertaken by the United Nations Environment Programme’s World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC), titled: “A Review of the Global World Heritage Network: Biogeography, Habitats and Biodiversity”.

This report discusses role of the World Heritage Convention in recognizing and protecting geological and geomorphological heritage, and presents proposals based on a global consultation.

This report was commissioned by IUCN’s Programme on Protected Areas and financed by the World Heritage Fund in response to a request from the World Heritage Committee (27th session, 2003). A literature review was carried out and consultation with regional experts and members of IUCN’s World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA) to identify a limited number of sites which may have potential for natural World Heritage status from among almost three hundred protected areas in Central Asia.