Aiita is a Wildlife Biologist and National Geographic Explorer from Uganda, passionate about protected and conserved areas and how they're managed and governed. He holds an MSc. in Biodiversity ...
IUCN COMMISSION GROUP
IUCN WCPA Wilderness Specialist Group
Overview and description
Description:
The IUCN WCPA Wilderness Specialist Group (WSG) is a global network of peers advancing wilderness conservation worldwide. WSG serves as a focal point across IUCN for wilderness-related policy ...
Group leadership
Mr AIITA JOSHUA APAMAKU
Aiita is a Wildlife Biologist and National Geographic Explorer from Uganda, passionate about protected and conserved areas and how they're managed and governed. He holds an MSc. in Biodiversity, Conservation and Management from the University of Oxford and currently Co-Leads at Terra-NatureWILD Conservation. He too serves as the Regional Focal Point for Young Professionals of the IUCN WCPA in East and Southern Africa.
Mr Adam HANSON
Adam Hanson is a conservation professional with over 20 years of experience advancing protected area governance and facilitating international collaboration across governments, Indigenous Peoples and local communities, civil society, and academic institutions in diverse cultural and geographic contexts. He is part of the leadership team at WILD Foundation, which convenes the World Wilderness Congress, and serves as an Executive Member of Wilderness Foundation Global. His work supports the guidance and practice of IUCN Protected Area Category 1b (Wilderness) and advances stewardship approaches that uphold ecological integrity, cultural continuity, and community leadership. Building on his role as Manager of the IUCN WCPA Wilderness Specialist Group since 2020, he is honored to serve the wilderness community as Co-Chair.
Adam Hanson is a conservation professional with over 20 years of experience advancing protected area governance and facilitating international collaboration across governments, Indigenous Peoples and ...
If you are interested in becoming a Wilderness Specialist Group member or want to be notified of WSG hosted events for the public, please fill this short form.
WSG works to:
1. Strengthen, clarify, and promote the benefits and application of IUCN Protected Area Category 1b (wilderness) in all IUCN programmes, publications, and initiatives.
2. Support practical outcomes and alignment across the World Wilderness Congress, IUCN World Conservation Congress, IUCN World Parks Congress and/or any Wilderness related processes.
3. Provide technical support to professionals and governments working to explore, establish, or strengthen Category 1b wilderness designations and recognition.
4. Promote science-based area targets, including the designation and quality management of large, connected, and ecologically intact landscapes and seascapes (including IUCN WCC 2020 Resolution 125, and related science supporting the protection of at least half of the earth).
5. Produce publications, such as guidelines or technical notes promoting wilderness and ecologically intact ecosystems. (e.g., Wilderness Protected Areas: Management Guidelines for IUCN Category 1b Protected Areas, 2016; Chinese translation 2024; and Technical Notes, including on the relevance of remoteness in wilderness management (2022).
6. Assure diversity and reciprocity and full partnership with Indigenous Peoples and local communities in the recognition, designation and management of protected and conserved areas.
7. Assure that cultural aspects of human life and society are integrated equally with science, policy and economics in the effective designation and management of wild and ecologically intact areas on land and sea.
8. Function as an expert and specialist panel on wilderness challenges and solutions.
WSG secretariat is hosted by WILD Foundation.