Protected areas

Le Ve Congrès mondial sur les parcs de l’UICN a été le plus grand rassemblement consacré aux aires protégées, En septembre 2003, près de 3000 participants se sont réunis à Durban (Afrique du Sud) en vue de 10 jours de réflexion, d’échanges, de débats et de travail en réseau afin de faire la bilan de l’état des aires protégées dans le monde, des difficultés rencontrées et des voies d’avenir.

It is widely acknowledged that Nepal is one of the rich biological treasure chests of South Asia. There are several "hotspots" of biodiversity - areas of high species richness and species diversity, as well as high levels of rare, endangered and endemic species of plants and animals. Efforts towards developing sustainability generally demand an in-depth understanding of the diverse life-forms in nature and their inter-dependence for survival and growth.

Almost half the world's people live in cities and this proportion is steadily growing. Protected areas provide important benefits to cities; conversely, conservationists depend on support from voters, leaders, and opinion-shapers largely concentrated in urban centres. This book's message is that conservationists' success will depend increasingly on taking these urban connections seriously.

During a forum held at the Vth IUCN World Parks Congress in South Africa in 2003, the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and the IUCN SSC Veterinary and Southern Africa Sustainable Use Specialist Groups (VSG and SASUSG) brought together nearly 80 experts from Africa and beyond to develop ways to tackle the immense health-related conservation and development challenges at the wildlife/domestic animal/human interface facing East and Southern Africa today, and tomorrow.

The Vth IUCN World Parks Congress was the largest gathering of protected area experts. In September 2003, some 3,000 participants met in Durban, South Africa for 10 days of reflection, discussion, debate and networking to consider the state of the world's protected areas, the challenges they face and the opportunities that lie ahead. Are included the reports on the plenary sessions, symposia and workshop, as well as the main outputs from the event.