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Welcome
from South Africa, IUCN and WCPA
M V Moosa
Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism of South Africa
South Africa will host the World Congress on Protected
Areas or World Parks Congress (WPC) from 8 to 17 September 2003.
This ten-yearly congress of experts, convened by the World Conservation
Union (IUCN), is considered to be the premier international event
for the protected area world and the first ever in Africa.
Protected areas in South Africa have entered a significant phase
of development. South Africa's protected area system is being steadily
expanded to address the needs of biodiversity conservation and economic
development through tourism. Local people are being involved in
protected area issues as never before. The countries of Southern
Africa have recently joined hands to extend their protected area
systems across international borders in order to create substantial
transfrontier parks that promise to be a source of pride for the
whole sub-region.
We feel that these new developments will provide an exciting backdrop
to the important issues you will be addressing at the World Parks
Congress, and we look forward to sharing our experiences, dreams
and aspirations with you.
It is thus a pleasure to invite you to participate in the Vth World
Parks Congress for which we are honoured to be chosen as host country.
I look forward to seeing you at this important event.
Valli
Moosa biography
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Yolanda Kakabadse,
IUCN President
IUCN's vision of a just
world that values and conserves nature conveys a simple but compelling
message for today's world. The World Conservation Union combines
the credibility of over 50 years on the forefront of conservation,
with a membership that reaches across institutional and political
boundaries to deliver options and solutions to complex socio-economic
and environmental challenges.
The Vth IUCN World Parks
Congress continues that approach with its theme of 'Benefits Beyond
Boundaries' perfectly capturing the need for protected areas to
think, plan and work at the broadest possible level and with the
widest range of players. IUCN and its World Commission on Protected
Areas bring to bear 40 years of experience in staging successful
World Parks Congresses.
It is indeed a pleasure
for IUCN to be in South Africa again one year after the 2002 World
Summit on Sustainable Development. Let me also take this opportunity
to thank sincerely the Government and the people of the Republic
of South Africa for generously agreeing to host the 2003 World Parks
Congress. African nations have shown great leadership in creating
over 2 million square kilometres of protected areas - twice the
entire area of South Africa. This is the first time the World Parks
Congress has been held on the African continent and I can think
of no better place at the start of the 21st Century to reflect on
people, parks and protected areas and to agree on a global strategy
for the future of these precious assets.
More
about the IUCN President
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Kenton
Miller, Chair WCPA,
Chair, WPC International Steering Committee
Established in 1959,
the World Commission on Protected Areas is unquestionably the world's
leading body of parks and protected areas expertise. WCPA has been
instrumental in organising all previous Parks Congresses and, as
the current Chair, I am committed to making Durban 2003 our most
successful Parks Congress ever. The Durban Congress will focus on
landscape and ecosystem approaches; the development of tools to
help managers cope with a changing world; and ways to deliver benefits
beyond protected area boundaries.
In a paradoxical world
which is becoming both more connected and, at the same time, more
fragmented and insular, protected areas face many threats and challenges.
While global growth in protected areas has been impressive, many
environments remain poorly protected: for instance less than 1%
of marine and coastal environments enjoy any form of protection.
Many countries have very limited protected area systems and many
countries lack the resources and institutional capacities to effectively
protect those areas that have been established.
The Congress theme: 'Benefits
Beyond Boundaries' means challenging ourselves to understand the
many values and benefits that protected areas offer. It asks us
step outside of traditional thinking and mindsets to explore new
approaches and paradigms for establishing and managing protected
areas.
I offer a warm welcome
to participants at the Vth IUCN World Parks Congress, confident
that we will leave Durban feeling a great sense of achievement,
certain that the Congress has been a catalyst for change and a stepping-stone
toward future action for protected areas around the world.
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about WCPA Chair
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