The Urban Specialist Group of IUCN's World Commission on Protected

Areas is concerned with the many links between human settlements and

larger environments, focusing on the particular role of protected areas.

The specialist group came out of discussions that started in 2000 among

several people long active in IUCN who were concerned about the absence of

urban dimensions on the global conservation agenda. This informal group

found that others active in IUCN had been thinking along the same lines,

and the circle gradually widened.

HIGHLIGHTS

Here are some highlights of the specialist group's activities. In most

cases, details are readily available by looking elsewhere on this Web site through its home page, or by using search engines.

The Urban Imperative workshop, Durban, 2003. The informal group

held a three-day workshop, The Urban Imperative, at the World Parks

Congress held in Durban, South Africa. The event was well attended

and became an opportunity to discuss plans and recruit members for

the proposed specialist group. In addition, the informal group secured

approval of a World Parks Congress Recommendation that IUCN take

urban matters more seriously. The workshop was organized by

InterEnvironment Institute with support from the Santa Monica Mountains

Conservancy, a unit of the California State Government.

Urban biosphere reserves, New York, 2003. Several members of the

informal group participated in a conference organized by UNESCO and

Columbia University in New York to discuss the concept of urban biosphere

reserves. This led to a continuing interest in this topic, as well as

connections with people who had been outside IUCN networks.

Specialist group authorized, secretariat established, 2004. The

steering committee of the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas

authorized the specialist group (originally called the Task Force on Cities

and Protected Areas). InterEnvironment Institute, an IUCN member

organization based in California, agreed to serve as the group's

secretariat.

Malibu workshop, 2004. The specialist group held its first event, a

four-day workshop in Malibu, California, to plan its overall program, as

well as a theme on cities and conservation in the world’s five Mediterranean-

type regions. Twenty-seven people from eight countries participated. The

workshop resulted in The Malibu Declaration and program ideas. It was

hosted and cosponsored by the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy.

Bangkok World Conservation Congress, 2004. At the IUCN World

Conservation Congress in Bangkok, Thailand, the specialist group organized

three formal events in cooperation with IUCN's Commission on Ecosystem

Management. These were on links between coastal cities and large

ecosystems, cities and conservation in Mediterranean-type regions, and

the importance of the urban connection for the conservation movement. In

addition, the Congress passed two motions resulting from the specialist

group's work, one relating to protection of Mediterranean-type ecosystems,

the other described immediately below.

IUCN "Cities and Conservation" Resolution, 2004. This Resolution,

WCC 3.063, calls for IUCN's quadrennial Programme document to take into

account the connections between cities and their larger environments. It

became the basis for discussions described below.     

The Urban Imperative book. This IUCN book, based on the workshop held

at the 2003 World Parks Congress, was issued in print form and on the

Internet. 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.

"Urban Dwellers and Protected Areas: Natural Allies" book article, 2005. An article by the Specialist Group Chair based on The Urban Imperative workshop was included in an IUCN volume, Friends for Life, on building broader support for protected areas.

Urban Protected Areas Best Practice Guidelines, 2005-present. The

specialist group was authorized to produce a volume on urban protected areas in the Best Practice Protected Area Guidelines Series of the World Commission on Protected Areas, and has since collected much material toward that goal. (The publication will be produced in 2012.)     

Urban Nature 2006, Cape Town. The specialist group co-sponsored the first of a projected series of workshops on practical ways of connecting nature with urban people and urban places. Urban Nature 2006 was held in Cape Town, South Africa, as a side-event to the General Assembly of ICLEI – Local

Governments for Sustainability. It was organized by the South African National

Biodiversity Institute.

ICLEI Local Action for Biodiversity initiative, Rome, 2006. Several specialist group members participated in a workshop in Rome, Italy, to plan this initiative of ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability, which focuses on the role of municipal governments. It was hosted by RomaNatura.

Working Group on Urban Protected Areas, 2006-present. This group is focusing initially on producing the volume on urban protected areas in the Best Practice Guidelines Series of the World Commission on Protected Areas.

UNEP workshop in Nairobi, 2006. Along with the United Nations Environment Programme and the Kenya Wildlife Service, the specialist group organized a one-day African Regional Workshop on Cities, Ecosystems, and Biodiversity at the Africities 4 Summit, held in Nairobi, Kenya.

"Global Urbanization and Protected Areas," 2007. This paper, prepared for the IUCN Secretariat, is based 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" drew from the specialist group's work since 2003. The paper, part of a United Nations project on impacts of global change on protected areas, identified several themes for further research and discussion.

Barcelona World Conservation Congress, 2008. The specialist group

cosponsored a workshop, Climate Change as an Opportunity for Conservationists to Build New Alliances.

Working Group on the Biosphere Reserve Concept and Urban Areas, 2008-present. This group fosters information exchange. For example, it has hosted a discussion of the Biosphere Eco-Cities concept developed in Canada as a means of formalizing links between urban areas and UNESCO's Man and the Biosphere Programme; has worked with UNESCO's URBIS project, an unofficial effort involving 11 cities; has made a presentation to the staff of Parks Victoria, Australia, on the biosphere reserve concept, especially as it relates to cities; and has produced several published papers.

IUCN urban initiative, 2009-present. The 3rd IUCN World Conservation Congress (Bangkok, 2004) adopted a broad-ranging resolution, "Cities and Conservation," WCC 3.063, calling for IUCN to give more attention to urban dimensions of nature conservation. In late 2009, the specialist group provided detailed contributions to an IUCN Secretariat "scoping exercise" on IUCN's role in what it called "urban biodiversity." Discussions with the Secretariat on implementation of the Bangkok resolution continued.   

Urban Protected Areas Network, 2010-present. The specialist group became an active partner in an initiative called the Urban Protected Areas Network, based at the University of Paris X. This initiative is conducting extensive social-science research on the management and use of four key urban protected areas in Brazil, India, Kenya, and South Africa.

Cooperation with Sciences Po, 2010-present. The specialist group helped initiate a series of "capstone" projects on urban protected areas in the master of public affairs program at the Institut d'études politiques (Sciences Po) in Paris, one of the world's leading political science schools. The first of these projects have focused on Cape Town, Mumbai, and Nairobi.

BiodiverCities 2010 conference. The specialist group was a leading partner in the BiodiverCities 2010 conference, held at Sciences-Po, Paris. This event brought together researchers and practitioners to examine the interdependence of cities and protected areas. A key lesson was that protected areas in cities represent a clear “urban exception,” and that such areas require different strategies and approaches than those customarily used in wilder settings.

Dark Skies Advisory Group, 2009-present. This group is IUCN's first effort to deal with the effects of light pollution on natural ecosystems. Among other things, it has developed cooperative relationships with several international organizations on light pollution issues and submitted a statement on behalf of IUCN to UNESCO's World Heritage Commission.

Publication of a 2009 NASA/Columbia University paper, "Global Assessment of Light Impacts on Protected Areas," was recognized as a "contribution to the work of" the specialist group.

Historic Urban Landscapes, 2009. The Specialist Group Chair represented IUCN at a meeting in Rio de Janeiro of a UNESCO World Heritage Centre Expert Group on Historic Urban Landscapes. This may lead to further involvement of the Urban Specialist Group in helping to formulate policies and conduct case studies.

A book and a film from Cape Town, 2010. A 156-page full-color book, Growing Together: Thinking and Practice of Urban Nature Conservators, and a short film, "The Manager," both issued by the South African National Biodiversity Institute, were "inspired in part by the specialist group's work and are seen as contributions to its work."

World List of Dark-Sky Parks, 2010. The specialist group's Dark Skies Advisory Group started a world list of dark-sky parks. This unofficial list is an inventory of protected areas which have specific rules about light pollution.

Connecting the biosphere reserve concept with urban areas, 2010. The specialist group's Working Group on the Biosphere Concept and Urban Areas, in exploring the potential roles of biosphere reserves in meeting the challenge of an increasingly fragmented set of international networks concerned with biodiversity in and near cities, participated in a side event at the World Urban Forum in Rio de Janeiro, meetings of the UNESCO UK Man and the Biosphere Urban Forum, and an International Symposium on Urban Futures and Human and Ecosystem Wellbeing in Shanghai. In addition, two

specialist group members contributed a chapter, “Urban Areas and the Biosphere Reserve Concept,” in The Routledge Handbook of Urban Ecology.   

Preparatory meetings for the 2012 World Conservation Congress, 2011. A meeting for this purpose was organized for the specialist group in London by InterClimate Network, focusing on urban green infrastructure. Specialist group leaders participated in the IUCN regional forums held in Bonn, Incheon (Republic of Korea), and Washington, D.C., in each case making the point that IUCN as a Union must give more attention to urban matters.   

Santa Fe workshop, 2011. The specialist group convened a workshop in Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA, on management of the city's watershed, an example of cooperation among diverse interests on protection of a vital resource serving a small but historically and culturally important city.

Contribution to urban management handbook, 2011. The Specialist Group Chair agreed to write a chapter on nature for Sustainable Cities, a handbook to be published by Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd.

Mediterranean-type ecosystems, 2011. The specialist group, which took the lead in introducing to IUCN the importance and commonalities of the world's five Mediterranean-type regions at its Malibu workshop and by securing broad support for passage of an IUCN resolution on the matter (see under 2004, above), encouraged the IUCN Commission on Ecosystem Management to take lead responsibility on Mediterranean-type ecosystems,

while retaining cities and urbanization in Mediterranean-type regions as a theme of the Urban Specialist Group.  

"Urban dimensions of conservation: Why IUCN must take them much more seriously," 2011. This has received major attention. On the basis of IUCN Resolution WCC 3.063, described above (under 2009), and at the request of the IUCN Director General, the Specialist Group Chair, with the endorsement of the WCPA Chair and others, submitted detailed comments on the draft 2013-2016 IUCN Programme, calling for urban dimensions of conservation to be included explicitly in the document. Later in the year, the IUCN President asked the Specialist Group Chair to submit a brief paper for consideration by IUCN's governing Council outlining the rationale for IUCN's giving greater attention to urban matters and options for incorporating urban dimensions into IUCN's work. The paper, "Urban dimensions of conservation: Why IUCN must take them much more seriously –- and options for doing so," was submitted in October.

CONTINUING ACTIVITIES

Cooperation with other international organizations and networks. Priority has been given to this. Emphasis is placed on the Secretariat of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity, other United Nations entities, European institutions, and ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability, an IUCN member with which IUCN has a memorandum of understanding.

Informal exchanges. Visits and exchanges have occurred between and among members and others from numerous countries.

Web site. The specialist group's Web pages have substantial numbers of pageviews.

Responding to requests for information and comments. The leadership responds to numerous requests for information and connects specialist group members and others individually with people and information resources related to their work. Specialist group members are also asked to comment on draft policy and technical documents. 

Circular e-mails. Periodic e-mails to specialist group members and a wider "IUCN Urban List" provide news, and report on members' activities related to IUCN goals. Some 90 such messages are sent out each year.