1.
Protected areas .... equity and equitability
A quick review of CBD decisions on protected areas
Trevor Sandwith
IUCN
March 2015

2.
• 1992 Convention on Biological Diversity
• 1995: UNESCO MAB Biosphere Reserve Strategy
• 1999, 2002 & 2005: Ramsar Convention
COP7, COP8 and COP9 wise use policy
• 2003: Vth IUCN World Parks Congress
• 2004: CBD Programme of Work on Protected Areas
(COP 7 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia)
• 2005: First Marine Protected Areas Congress
• 2007: United Nations Declaration on the
Rights of Indigenous Peoples
• World Conservation Congresses and CBD COPs
• 2014 IUCN World Parks Congress
A time line of inclusion of concepts of good governance and
equitable practice in international conservation policy:

3.
Preamble:
Recognizing the close and traditional
dependence of many indigenous and
local communities embodying traditional
lifestyles on biological resources, and the
desirability of sharing equitably benefits
arising from the use of traditional
knowledge, innovations and practices
relevant to the conservation of biological
diversity and the sustainable use of its
components992
Convention on Biological Diversity 1992
3

4.
• Recognizing the close and traditional
dependence of many indigenous and local
communities embodying traditional lifestyles
on biological resources, and the desirability of
sharing equitably benefits arising from the use
of traditional knowledge, innovations and
practices relevant to the conservation of
biological diversity and the sustainable use of
its components,
CBD Article 8 (j)
4

5.
2. Each Contracting Party shall take all
practicable measures to promote and
advance priority access on a fair and
equitable basis by Contracting Parties,
especially developing countries, to benefits
arising from biotechnologies based upon
genetic resources.
CBD Article 19 (2)
5

6.
1. Type of governance: 2. Quality of governance:
• legitimacy and voice
• direction
• performance
• accountability
• fairness and rights
6
Two main
dimensions in
order to make
governance
“practical”,
easier to
comprehend,
assess and
evaluate:
The Vth IUCN World Parks Congress 2003
Protected area governance diversity and quality
Type A:
Governance
by government
Type C:
Governance
by private actors
Type B:
Shared
Governance
Type D:
Governance
by indigenous
peoples and local
communities

7.
• Striving towards equity (sharing equitably the costs and
benefits of establishing and managing protected areas)
• Making sure that public service promotions are merit‐based
• Maintaining the rule of law (legal frameworks are fair and
enforced impartially)
• Providing timely and competent support
to effective conflict management processes
• Ensuring access to justice (legal assistance
and avenues towards impartial judgment
are available to all stakeholders in case of conflict)
6. Governance quality: fairness and rights
7

8.
Programme of Work on Protected Areas
Goal 2.1: To promote equity and
benefit‐sharing
Target: Establish by 2008 mechanisms for the
equitable sharing of both costs and benefits
arising from the establishment and
management of protected areas.
2004 COP 7 Decision VII/28
8

9.
2.1.1. Assess the economic and socio‐
cultural costs, benefits and impacts
arising from the establishment and
maintenance of protected areas,
particularly for indigenous and local
communities, and adjust policies to avoid
and mitigate negative impacts, and where
appropriate compensate costs and
equitably share benefits in accordance
with the national legislation.
PoWPA Programme Element 2.1
9

10.
3.1.4 Consider governance principles, such as
the rule of law, decentralization, participatory
decision‐making mechanisms for
accountability and equitable dispute
resolution institutions and procedures.
PoWPA Programme Element 3
Goal 3.1: To provide an enabling policy, institutional
and socio‐economic environment for protected areas
10

11.
3.1.9 Identify and foster economic
opportunities and markets at local, national
and international levels for goods and
services produced by protected areas and/or
reliant on the ecosystem services that
protected areas provide, consistent with
protected area objectives and promote the
equitable sharing of the benefits.
Programme Element 3 (continued)
11

12.
6(e)Further develop and implement
measures for the equitable sharing of both
costs and benefits arising from the
establishment and management of protected
areas and make protected areas an important
component of local and global sustainable
development consistent with national
legislations and applicable international
obligations;
2008: COP 9 Decision IX/18 Review of the Programme of
Work on Protected Areas
12

13.
19.Encourages Parties to ensure that
conservation and development activities in the
context of protected areas contribute to the
eradication of poverty and sustainable
development and ensure that benefits arising
from the establishment and management of
protected areas are fairly and equitably shared
in accordance with national legislations and
circumstances, and do so with the full and
effective participation of indigenous and local
communities and where applicable taking into
account indigenous and local communities’ own
management systems and customary use;
2008: COP 9 Decision IX/18 Review of the Programme of
Work on Protected Areas
13

14.
31.Invites Parties to:
(a)Establish clear mechanisms and processes
for equitable cost and benefit‐sharing and
for full and effective participation of
indigenous and local communities, related to
protected areas, in accordance with national
laws and applicable international obligations;
2010 COP 10 Decision X/18 Strengthening implementation
of the Programme of Work on Protected Areas
14

15.
Target 11:
By 2020, at least 17 per cent of terrestrial and
inland water areas, and 10 per cent of coastal
and marine areas, especially areas of
particular importance for biodiversity and
ecosystem services, are conserved through
effectively and equitably managed,
ecologically representative and well
connected systems of protected areas and
other effective area‐based conservation
measures, and integrated into the wider
landscapes and seascapes.
2010 COP 10 Decision X/2
Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011‐2020
15

16.
Equitable sharing:
• of the benefits arising from
the use of traditional
knowledge, innovations and
practices relevant to the
conservation of biological
diversity and the sustainable
use of its components
• of costs and benefits arising
from:
 the use of genetic
resources
 the establishment and
management of
protected areas
The use of the concept “equitable”
16
of the benefits arising from
ecosystem goods and services
Recognition equity (who is a
legitimate rights holder or stakeholder)
Distributional equity (for legitimate
beneficiaries) in a suite of tangible and
intangible benefits
Procedural equity or fairness/justice
in the process of arriving at an
outcome characterised by equity

17.
Equitable:
• Access to the benefits
arising from technologies
• Dispute resolution
procedures
• Management
The use of the concept “equitable”
17
Procedural fairness or
equitability – a characteristic
of good governance yielding
an equitable outcome
WHAT needs to be shared with WHOM? Substantive distributional equity
in relation to equity of recognition
HOW this should be accomplished fairly? Procedural equity

18.
http://www.iucn.org/pa_governance
Best Practice Protected Area Guidelines Series No. 20,
Gland, Switzerland:
IUCN. xvi + 124pp.
ISBN: 978‐2‐8317‐1608‐4
© Photos for this presentation are taken from the Publication it is based on.
Copyrights therefore rest with the photographers mentioned there.