Protected areas in progress

The once-in-a-decadeWorld Parks Congress got off to a colorful and symbolic start in Sydney this week. Dozens of Pacific Island residents sailed traditional canoes into Sydney Harbor, sending a message to the forum's delegates about the devastating consequences of climate change. Their journey covered some 11,000 kilometers (6,800 miles) from the Cook Islands via Samoa and Fiji or from New Zealand.

The flotilla was symbolic of the traditional way of life on the Pacific Islands, explained the president of Palau, Tommy Remengesau. "We live in harmony with nature, using the power of sun, wind and ocean currents," he said, before issuing a plea for industrialized countries to work with island nations to address climate change and better protect the planet.

"We are all in this together, we are all in one canoe," he added.

Roadmap for future protection

The first World Parks Congress took place in Seattle in 1962. Since then, the conference has been held once every 10 years to help shape policy on managing protected areas. The meeting - organized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) - was last held in the South African city of Durban in 2003.

The theme of this year's Sydney summit is "Parks, people, planet: inspiring solutions." Around 5,000 environmental activists, scientists and representatives from international organizations and states are attending the week-long event.

The goal of the conference, according to IUCN’s Director General Julia Marton-Lefevre, is to develop a roadmap to meet a global 2020 target of protecting 17 percent of land and 10 percent of marine areas. About 15.4 percent of the world's land mass and 3.4 percent of its seas - more than 200,000 sites around the globe - are currently designated as protected areas.

'Green' role models

At the gathering Down Under, the IUCN - known for its Red List of Threatened Species - was also scheduled to unveil its first ever Green List to rate well-managed conservation areas. The initiative has been in the pipeline since 2012, and aims to set minimum standards and highlight best-practice examples for other parks to follow.

The IUCN said 23 sites had been selected from 50 candidates put forward for the one-year Green List trial, including areas in Australia, South Korea, China, Italy, France, Spain, Kenya and Colombia.

Meeting targets

There are more than 200,000 protected areas in the world covering about 32 million square kilometers - equivalent to the size of Africa. As the World Parks Congress got underway, Australia's Environment Minister Greg Hunt told delegates his country had already met its 17 percent land conservation target.

The southeastern Australian state of New South Wales announced that the Everlasting Swamp in the northern wetlands had been declared its newest protected area.

"This congress is about protecting the great forests, and the ocean and the savannah lands, not just for 30 or 50 years but for 100 years," Hunt said, adding that while there had been progress "we can do better and we can make commitments that will last... for centuries."

More work to do

A recent report by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) found that while individual countries might meet the 17 percent protected land target, there's no guarantee those protected sites cover areas with the highest ecological value. In 2013, for example, just 22 percent of high biodiversity areas were protected. The Protected Planet report also pointed to a need for better overall management of international seas which don't fall under national governance systems.

Protected areas play an important economic role in mitigating the impacts of climate change because they help preserve ecosystems and support ecotourism, according to UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner.

"More areas need to be specifically protected to accompany climate protection efforts, to conserve biodiversity and to protect the ecosystems which support billions of people," he said.

Next on the agenda

Nevertheless, the report's authors are confident the target of 17 percent protected land and 10 percent protected sea areas can be reached by 2020. That means bringing an extra 2.2 million square kilometers of land and 23.7 million square kilometers of marine areas under protection. It's a feasible goal, considering the amount of protected areas has quadrupled since 1992.

The IUCN World Parks Congress runs from November 12 to 19 in Sydney.