Task force accomplishments 2005

[Click here for Task force accomplishments 2003-2004]  [2006]

Task force planning. The task force leadership decided to take an incremental, exploratory – rather than strategic – approach to planning its activities. Specific work plans are under development.

The Urban Imperative. This book, based on the workshop at the 2003 World Parks Congress, was posted on the task force's Web site and is also available in print form. In 26 articles, 34 authors from 17 countries on 6 continents look at challenges and opportunities posed for nature conservation by a rapidly urbanizing world.

Article for IUCN book. "Urban Dwellers and Protected Areas: Natural Allies," an article by Ted Trzyna based on The Urban Imperative workshop, was included in an IUCN volume edited by Jeff McNeely, Friends for Life, on building broader support for protected areas.  

Best practice guidelines. The task force has committed to producing a volume on cities and protected areas in the Best Practice Guidelines Series of the World Commission on Protected Areas. Deputy Task Force Leader Pedro Menezes is responsible.

Technical and policy assistance. Task force members explored several opportunities to provide assistance in specific metropolitan areas or groups of cities. 

Forging links with parallel international networks in such fields as urban planning and local government. Contacts were made with several such networks, including ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability, and the MAB Urban Group of UNESCO's Man and the Biosphere Programme. In addition, in June-July 2005, task force steering group members Ted Trzyna and Pedro da Cunha e Menezes participated in a week-long Global Meeting held in Havana, Cuba, of the Sustainable Cities Programme and Local Agenda 21 Programme partners, sponsored by UN-HABITAT and the UN Environment Programme.

Other activities:

-- The task force Web site was expanded and regularly updated.

-- Several new new members were appointed to the task force. This is done selectively, based primarily on recommendations of other task force members and IUCN leaders and member organizations.

-- Informal exchanges. International visits and exchanges continued. Periodic e-mails to task force members are reporting on members' activities related to task force goals. In November, Ted Trzyna met with task force members in Croatia and the United Kingdom.