Protected areas

As part of the preparations for the Vth World Parks Congress, a high-level team was assembled by IUCN to consider the long-term future of protected areas. They prepared three scenarios, plausible futures, rather than predictions: The Triple Bottom Line, where economic growth, social well-being and environmental sustainability were given equal treatment; the Rainbow, a world where globalization was replaced by regional alliances; and But Your Eden, where economics ruled.

By far the largest habitat for life on earth and the cradle of new species, habitats and undiscovered ecosystems, our oceans are being intensively exploited and heavily degraded. Marine Protected Areas can be used to restore, safeguard and halt the negative impacts on the biodiversity of these oceans.