PROTECTING PROTECTED AREAS
by Antonio C. Antonio
January 4, 2015
“How are protected areas actually protected?” is a sensible
question. There are principal
international conventions and agreements relating to protected areas. These
are: (1) The Convention on Biological Diversity or Earth Summit; (2) The World
Heritage Convention; (3) The Ramsar or Wetlands Convention; and, (4) The
Convention on Migratory Species of Wild Animals or Bonn Convention. These conventions and agreements form the
rock-solid foundation for the protection of the environment in general.
THE CONVENTION ON BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY OR EARTH SUMMIT
The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development
(UNCED), also known as the Rio Summit, the Rio Conference and the Earth Summit
was a major United Nations conference held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in June 3
to 14, 1992. 172 governments
participated with 116 sending their heads of state. Some 2,400 representatives of
non-governmental organizations (NGO) attended with 17, people at the parallel
NGP Global Forum. The issues addressed
included: (a) Systematic scrutiny of patterns of production particularly the
production of toxic components such as lead in gasoline, and poisonous waste including
radioactive chemicals; (b) Alternative sources of energy to replace the use of
fossil fuels which are linked to global climate change; (c) New reliance on
public transportation systems in order to reduce vehicle emissions, congestion
in cities and the health problems cause by polluted air; and, (d) The growing
scarcity of fresh water. An important
achievement was an agreement on the Climate Change Convention which in turn led
to the Kyoto Protocol. Another agreement
was to “not carry out any activities on the lands of indigenous peoples that
would cause environmental degradation or that would be culturally
inappropriate”. The Convention on
Biological Diversity was opened for signature at the Earth Summit and made a
start towards redefinition of measures that did not inherently encourage
destruction of natural ecosystems. In
2012, the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development was also held in
Rio de Janeiro and is commonly called Rio+20 or Rio Earth Summit s2012. The Earth Summit resulted in the following
documents: (1) Rio Declaration on Environment and Development; (2) Agenda 21;
(3) Forest Principles; (4) Convention on Biological Diversity; (5) Framework
Convention on Climate Change; and, (6) United Nations Convention to Combat
Desertification.
THE WORLD HERITAGE CONVENTION
The Convention Concerning the Protection of the World
Cultural and Natural Heritage is a successful global instrument for the
protection of cultural and natural heritage.
The World Heritage Convention was adopted by the United Nations
Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) General Conference
at its 17th session in Paris, France on November 16 1972. The Convention came into force in 1975. The World Heritage Convention aims to promote
cooperation among nations to protect heritage around the world that is of such
outstanding universal value that its conservation is important for current and
future generations. States that are
parties to the Convention agree to identify, protect, conserve, and present
World Heritage properties. Concerned
countries recognize that the identification and safeguarding of heritage
located in their territory is primarily their responsibility. They agree, amongst other things, as far as
possible to: (1) Adopt a general policy that aims to give the cultural and
natural heritage a function in the life of the community and to integrate the
protection of that heritage into comprehensive planning programs; (2) Undertake
appropriate legal, scientific, technical administrative and financial measures
necessary for the identification, protection, conservation, presentation and
rehabilitation of this heritage; and, (3) Refrain from any deliberate measures
which might damage, directly or indirectly, the cultural and natural heritage
of other parties to the Convention, and to help other parties in the
identification and protection of their properties. The World Heritage Convention is administered
by a World Heritage Committee which meets annually and consists of 21 members
elected from those States that are parties to the Convention. The Committee’s main tasks are to: (a) Decide
on the inscriptions of new properties on the World Heritage List; (b) Discuss
all matters relating to the implementation of the Convention; (c) Consider requests
for international assistance; (d) Advise member countries on how they can
ensure they meet their obligations under the Convention to protect World
Heritage Properties; and, (e) Administer the World Heritage Fund.
THE RAMSAR CONVENTION
The Ramsar Convention or the Convention on Wetlands of
International Importance is an international treaty for the conservation and
sustainable utilization of wetlands while recognizing the fundamental functions
of wetlands and their economic, cultural, scientific and recreational value. It is named after the City of Ramsan, Iran
where the Convention was signed in 1971 and came into force on December 21,
1975. The Ramsar definition of wetlands
is fairly wide to include areas of marine water the depth of which at low tide
does not exceed 6 meters as well as fish ponds, rice paddies and salt
pans. The Ramsar List of Wetlands of
International Importance now includes 2,000 Sites (called “Ramsar Sites)
covering 200 million hectares. Presently
there are 168 contracting parties from 21 initial signatory nations in 1971. The state parties meet every three years as
the Conference of the Contracting Parties, the first held in Cagliari, Italy in
1980. The headquarters is located in
Gland, Switzerland.
CONVENTOIN ON THE CONSERVATION OF MIGRATORY SPRCIES OF WILD
ANIMALS
The more common abbreviation of the Convention on the
Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals is the Conservation on
Migratory Species but others prefer to call this convention the Bonn
Convention. The convention was named so
since it was signed in 1979 in Bas Godsberg, a suburb of Bonn, Federal Republic
of Germany. The Bonn Convention aims to
conserve terrestrial, marine and avian migratory species. It is an intergovernmental treaty concluded
under the United Nations Environment Programme concerned with the conservation
of wildlife and habitats on a global scale.
The Bonn Convention is the only global and UN-based intergovernmental
organization established exclusively for the conservation and management of
terrestrial, aquatic and avian migratory species. As of November 2014, there are 120 Parties to
the Convention.
There are other international agreements, conventions and
protocols plus local initiated laws, rules and regulations that concern
protected areas, but this four conventions form the nucleus of environmental
protection. This is not to say, however,
that the others are less important; but these are “it” when it comes to
protecting protected areas.
Just my little
thoughts…
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