Dr James Fitzsimons is the Senior Advisor, Global Protection Strategies with The Nature Conservancy. His work includes policy and implementation of the global 30×30 protection target and other targets ...
IUCN COMMISSION GROUP
IUCN WCPA Privately Protected Areas and Nature Stewardship Specialist Group
Group leadership
Dr James FITZSIMONS
Dr James Fitzsimons is the Senior Advisor, Global Protection Strategies with The Nature Conservancy. His work includes policy and implementation of the global 30×30 protection target and other targets of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, management effectiveness and evolving policy on biodiversity credits. He was previously Director of Conservation and Science with The Nature Conservancy’s Australia Program, overseeing the organization’s conservation planning, science and policy functions for that country, including major conservation programs in the tropical savannas of northern Australia, the diverse central deserts, temperate estuaries of southern Australia, the wetlands and floodplains of the Murray-Darling Basin, and urban landscapes and the development and delivery of a major protected area establishment strategy. He holds adjunct professor positions at the School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Deakin University and the School of Law, University of Tasmania, where his research includes private land conservation. He’s previously worked in the fields of conservation policy and planning for government environment departments and agencies, and for non-government environment organisations.
Ms Chandni NAVALKHA
Chandni Navalkha is Director of Conservation and Stewardship at the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, where she leads initiatives that advance and accelerate the enduring protection of land and water resources worldwide. Chandni has worked to advance voluntary private and civic land conservation for over a decade, most recently with the International Land Conservation Network, a project of the Lincoln Institute. She focuses on enabling practitioners and policymakers around the world to strengthen land conservation in their communities and regions by leveraging knowledge, innovation and good practice across boundaries. Chandni holds a Master’s in Environmental Science from the Yale School of Environment.
Chandni Navalkha is Director of Conservation and Stewardship at the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, where she leads initiatives that advance and accelerate the ...
Privately Protected Areas (PPAs) are under-represented in national protected area systems and under-reported internationally despite the fact that they are a rapidly growing element of the conservation estate.
A Privately Protected Area (PPA) is a protected area, as defined by IUCN, under
- private governance (i.e. individuals and groups of individuals);
- non-governmental organizations (NGOs);
- corporations (both existing commercial companies and sometimes corporations set up by groups of private owners to manage groups of PPAs);
- for-profit owners;
- research entities (e.g. universities, field stations) or
- religious entities.
We define stewardship as efforts to create, nurture & enable responsibility in landowners and resource users to manage and protect natural and cultural resources.
Privately protected areas will be an essential component in achieving the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) Aichi Biodiversity Target 11 on completing ecologically representative protected area networks around the world. Privately protected areas provide the opportunity for voluntary contributions to conservation, complementing the role of governmental agencies, indigenous peoples and communities in caring for nature.
Privately Protected Areas (PPAs) are still under-represented in national protected area systems and under-reported internationally despite the fact that they are a rapidly growing element of the conservation estate, and to reverse this situation is one of the SG priority actions.
SG’s Objectives 2021-2025:
1: Improve the enabling environment globally and nationally for designation and support of privately protected areas, chiefly through promoting the IUCN definition of PPAs and integrate PPAs into global frameworks (e.g., CBD)
2: Document and explore enhanced roles of privately protected areas in connecting people with nature as stewards, through expanding opportunities for specialist group interaction and information-sharing.
3: Refine estimates of the extent of privately protected areas (quantitative, spatial assessment); Encourage structures and incentives to report on PPAs both nationally and to the WDPA.
4: Create or strengthen national PPA associations to assess performance, provide training and develop data collection systems
5: Explore boundaries and overlaps with other governance types and classes of area- based conservation, such as OECMs
6: Prepare for a rush of interest in recognizing PPAs as a result of CBD adoption of Target 3 (30x30)
