Dear WCPA Members,
Please find attached the web reference to the DRAFT "Guidelines for Applying the IUCN Protected Area Management Categories" http://www.parksnet.org/files/1/2/89267_documents_document_file_1282.doc. This draft reflects extensive input FROM many sources:
(a) papers prepared for the "Categories Summit" in Almeria last year, and from discussions at the Summit. The web reference to the draft record from the Summit is http://www.parksnet.org/files/1/2/20027_documents_document_file_1283.doc;
(b) from an electronic forum where all WCPA and IUCN Members were invited to comment;
(c) extensive review by members of the WCPA Steering Committee. The definition of a protected area included in the draft Guidelines has been informed by input from dozens of WCPA members around the world.
The draft is still not complete. For example we are waiting for text specifically on application in marine environments and inland waters, and on geodiversity and will also be adding case studies after field testing.
At this stage, we are:
- Looking for wider feedback from IUCN members and others;
- Starting to "field test" the guidelines with protected area agencies, and others, around the world
The IUCN Category System is one of the flagship products of IUCN - this document will be influential in setting policy and approaches to protected areas and we need to make sure that it is as good as possible. Please let us know your thoughts! We welcome your input about the substance of the document. And also any comments regarding style, clarity and presentation would also be most welcome. Your views on options for translation would also be appreciated - this document will have to make sense in several languages so if the English is obscure it will not transfer well to Spanish, French and other languages.
We really need comments as soon as possible, and at the latest by the end of February 2008, when field testing will begin. Please send any comments you may have to either Nigel Dudley (Equilibrium@compuserve.com) or Delwyn Dupuis (ded@iucn.org). Many thanks for your input.
After that the draft Guidelines will be field tested in a number of different countries and then discussed at the WCPA Steering Committee meeting in Cape Town in April. French and Spanish versions will be prepared and a final version will be published and for release at the World Conservation Congress in Barcelona in October, 2008.
Many thanks for your contribution to this very important IUCN publication.
Kind regards
David Sheppard (Head, IUCN Programme on Protected Areas)
AND
Nik Lopoukhine (Chair, WCPA)