WORLD CONSERVATION STRATEGY Living Resource Conservation for Sustainable Development Prepared by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) with the advice, cooperation and financial assistance of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and in collaboration with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (F AO) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco) ~ '1 IUCN WWF The Symbol The circle symbolizes the biosphere-the thin covering of the planet that contains and sustains life. The three interlocking, overlapping arrows symbolize the three objectives of conservation: - maintenance of essential ecological processes and life-support systems; - preservation of genetic diversity; - sustainable utilization of species and ecosystems. WORLD CONSERVATION STRATEGY Living Resource Conservation for Sustainable Development Prepared by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) with the advice, cooperation and financial assistance of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and in collaboration with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (F AO) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco) 1980 ~ ~ IUCN WWF The designations employed and the presentation of material in this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of IUCN, UNEP or WWF concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. Copyright© IUCN-UNEP-WWF 1980 All rights reserved First published 1980 Second printing 1980 ISBN 2-88032-104-2 (Bound) ISBN 2-88032-101-8 (Pack) WORLD CONSERVATION STRATEGY Contents Preamble and Guide Foreword I Preface and acknowledgements ·II Guide to the World Conservation Strategy IV Executive Summary VI World Conservation Strategy 1. Introduction: living resource conservation for sustainable development · The' objectives of conservation and requirements for their achievement 2. Maintenance of essential ecological processes and life-support systems 3. Preservation of genetic diversity 4. Sustainable utilization of species and ecosystems 5. Priority requirements: ecological processes and life-support systems 6. · Priority requirements: genetic diversity 7. Priority requirements: sustainable utilization Priorities for national action 8. A framework for national and subnational conservation strategies 9. Policy making and the integration of conservation and development 10 .. Environmental planning and rational use allocation 11. Improving the capacity to manage: legislation and organization 12. Improving the capacity to manage: training and research 13. Building support for conservation: participation and education 14. Conservation-based rural development Continued overleaf Contents Priorities for international action 15. International action: law and assistance 16. Tropical forests and drylands 17. A global programme for the protection of genetic resource areas 18. The global commons 19. Regional strategies for international river basins and seas 20. Towards sustainable development Map Section 1. Tropical forests 2. Deserts and areas subject to desertification 3. Priority biogeographical provinces of the land for the establishment of protected areas 4. International river basins 5. Major consumers and exporters of seafood and gainers of large fisheries WORLD CONSERVATION STRATEGY Forevvord . Human beings, in their quest for economic development and enjoyment of the riches of nature, must come to terms with the reality of resource limitation· and the carrying capacities of ecosystems·, and must take acc~unt of the needs of future generations. This is the message of conservation. For ifthe object of development is to provide for social and economic welfare, the object of conservation is to ensure Earth's capacity to sustain development and to support all life. Two features characterize our time. The first is the almost limitless capacity of human beings for building and creation, matched by equally great powers of destruction and annihilation. The escalating needs of soaring numbers have often driven people to take a short-sighted approach when exploiting natural resources. The toll of this approach has now become glaringly apparent: a long list of hazards and disasters, including soil erosion, desertification, loss of cropland, pollution, deforestation, ecosystem deg­ radation and destruction, and extinction of species and varieties. This situation underlines the need for conservation, comprising the ecologically sound management· of productive systems and the maintenance of their viability and versatility. The second is the global interrelatedness of actions, with its corollary of global re­ sponsibility. This in turn gives rise to the need for global strategies both for develop­ ment and for conservation of nature and natural resources. The international com­ munity addresses the former through the development decades and associated enter­ prises sponsored by the United Nations, and is now addressing the latter through the World Conservation Strategy. presented in this pack. The World Conservation Strategy provides both an intellectual framework and prac­ tical guidance for the conservation actions necessary. It cails for global coordi­ nated efforts backed by will and determination, for concerted action at national and international levels, and for global solidarity to implement its programmes. World­ wide action to give practical effect to this strategy is a necessary complement to a world-wide programme for rational development of the resources of our planet. Development and conservation are equally necessary for our survival and for the dis­ charge of our responsibilities as trustees of natural resources for the generations to come. IUCN, UNEP and WWF have joined hands in the preparation of the present World Conservation Strategy, and will continue to coordinate their endeavours in support of its implementation. Mohamed Kassas Mostafa K. Tolba John H. Loudon President Executive Director President IUCN UNEP WWF I WORLD CONSERVATION STRATEGY Preface and acknowledgelllents The World Conservation Strategy (WCS) was commissioned by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) which together with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) provided the financial support for its preparation and contributed to the evolution of its basic themes and structure. IUCN is grateful to both organizations for all their support. While the WCS has been prepared by IUCN and primarily reflects IUCN's views and approaches it is intended that the Strategy represent a con­ sensus of policy on conservation efforts in the context of world development. To this end the final draft was submitted to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco), as well as to UNEP and WWF, and all four organizations carefully reviewed it and made significant contributions to it. The WCS is endorsed by the Ecosystem Conservation Group (ECG) the members of which are UNEP, FAO, Unesco and.IUCN. The WCS, as the product of an extremely thorough consultation process, inevitably reflects a compromise: among conservationists, who may differ on the relative im­ portance of particular ecosystems, species, issues and measures; and between conser­ vationists and the practitioners of development, who may differ in their emphasis on maintenance on the one hand and production on the other. The document also shares the limitations of every global analysis: it is obliged to aggregate and simplify a host of diverse local phenomena and to ignore a host of local problems. Knowledge of the world is so patchy that global generalizations are particularly prone to error. These drawhacks are recognized; but they are considered less important than the need to present a statement of agreed conservation requirements and priorities, around which conservationists and development practitioners alike could rally, and to adopt a perspective unconfined by the boundaries that separate but do not insulate nation from nation, sector from sector, or interest from interest. There is a parallel, paperback version of the World Conservation Strategy for the general reader. The paperback differs from the version in this pack in style and layout and in providing both a fuller account of the importance of living resource conserva­ tion and a more detailed description of the priority conservation issues. The pa­ perback devotes less space than the pack to the organizational aspects of conserva­ tion and its integration with development. Its purpose is to make more people aware of the vital importance of living resource conservation. As a supplement to the two versions of the WCS, a Sourcebook will be published over several years in a number of volumes-on species, on ecosystems of the land, II fresh waters and the sea, and on issues and measures. The Sourcebook will provide more detailed information than can be contained in the Strategy, and a basis for the Strategy's further development. The WCS is intended to be an evolving effort and is expected to be up-dated and improved from time to time, in response to new knowledge, better understanding, changes in perception and values, and conservation progress as a result of the Strategy's implementation.