Task force accomplishments 2007

[Click here for Task force accomplishments 2003-2004]   [2005] [2006]

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

Working Group on Urban Protected Areas. This working group, set up in July 2006 under the chairmanship of deputy task force leader Pedro da Cunha e Menezes, is focusing initially on producing a volume on urban protected areas in the Best Practice Guidelines Series of the World Commission on Protected Areas.

Urbanization and protected areas. At the request of IUCN's Programme on Protected Areas, task force leader Ted Trzyna wrote a paper, Global Urbanization and Protected Areas: Challenges and Opportunities Posed by a Major Factor of Global Change — and Creative Way of Responding, published in January 2007. The paper draws mainly on case studies in Kenya; South Africa; and the Californias, a binational region including parts of Mexico and the USA. However, its "lessons learned" and conclusions draw from the task force's work since 2003. This paper is part of a three-year UNEP/GEF-funded project on impacts of global change on protected areas. This project identified several themes for further research and discussion.

International Symposium on Cities and Conservation. The task force collaborated in the International Symposium on Cities and Conservation, held in Putrajaya, the new capital city of Malaysia, on 6-7 November 2007. The symposium was organized by the Institute for Environment and Development in cooperation with Malaysian government ministries.

WCPA steering committee meeting. In September, Ted Trzyna participated in the annual meeting of the steering committee of the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas, held in Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming, USA. 

UN Climate Change Conference. Ted Trzyna and John Davidson participated in this conference, held in December in Nusa Dua, Bali, Indonesia.

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

Web site. The task force Web site was regularly updated.  

Other activities:

-- Circular e-mails. Periodic e-mails to task force members provided news about cities and protected areas, and report on members' activities related to task force goals.

Task force membership:

-- New members were appointed to the task force selectively, based primarily on recommendations of other task force members, as well as IUCN leaders and member organizations.