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Powerpoint presentation on priorities emerging from the IUCN World Parks Congress 2014

As environmental problems continue to increase at an ever more rapid rate, exacerbated by the major threat of global climate change, the need for widespread remedial action is becoming ever more pressing. Scientific consensus on both the root causes of these problems and the measures required to tackle them is growing, while mass media and public interest has reached fever pitch. Of course, while this has put pressure on decisionmakers to take positive action, the realisation of the gravity and extent of the environmental problems has encouraged all those concerned about the state of our world to search for partners around it: one such significant partnership to e­merge in recent years is between those concerned with the conservation of nature –and of its biodiversity– and the custodians of sacred sites, representing both indigenous beliefs and mainstream faiths.

The world's protected areas number nearly 114,000 and cover almost 20 million square kilometers. However, researchers and practitioners alike have documented numerous problems with the management effectiveness of the world's protected area. For example, more than 70 percent of 201 tropical parks are affected by poaching, encroachment, logging and a host of lesser threats; more than 90 percent of Russia's 197 National Parks have serious gaps in infrastructure, management, planning and staffing, and most of the 110 parks in South Africa's KwaZulu-Natal Province have major gaps in data collection, park layout and design, field equipment, and research.

The world's protected areas number nearly 114,000 and cover almost 20 million square kilometers. However, researchers and practitioners alike have documented numerous problems with the management effectiveness of the world's protected area. For example, more than 70 percent of 201 tropical parks are affected by poaching, encroachment, logging and a host of lesser threats; more than 90 percent of Russia's 197 National Parks have serious gaps in infrastructure, management, planning and staffing, and most of the 110 parks in South Africa's KwaZulu-Natal Province have major gaps in data collection, park layout and design, field equipment, and research.

Protected areas are areas of land and/or sea especially dedicated to the protection of biological diversity, natural and cultural resources, which are managed by government or nongovernmental agencies. Protected areas include, but are not limited to: National Parks, National Reserves, Game Reserves, Forest Reserves, Forest Parks, Marine Reserves, Marine Sanctuaries, and Nature Reserves.

Protected areas are areas of land and/or sea especially dedicated to the protection of biological diversity, natural and cultural resources, which are managed by government or nongovernmental agencies. Protected areas include, but are not limited to: National Parks, National Reserves, Game Reserves, Forest Reserves, Forest Parks, Marine Reserves, Marine Sanctuaries, and Nature Reserves.

Protected areas are areas of land and/or sea especially dedicated to the protection of biological diversity, natural and cultural resources, which are managed by government or nongovernmental agencies. Protected areas include, but are not limited to: National Parks, National Reserves, Game Reserves, Forest Reserves, Forest Parks, Marine Reserves, Marine Sanctuaries, and Nature Reserves.

Protected areas are areas of land and/or sea especially dedicated to the protection of biological diversity, natural and cultural resources, which are managed by government or nongovernmental agencies. Protected areas include, but are not limited to: National Parks, National Reserves, Game Reserves, Forest Reserves, Forest Parks, Marine Reserves, Marine Sanctuaries, and Nature Reserves.