World Heritage & Sustainable Development: Perspectives from Development Cooperation

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1 World Heritage & Sustainable Development: Perspectives from Development Cooperation Harald Lossack GIZ The World Heritage Convention at 40: Engaging the IUCN constituency for conservation and communities Seite 1

2 Committed to Biodiversity and Sustainable Development As a federal enterprise, GIZ supports the German Government and other donors in achieving their objectives in the field of international cooperation for sustainable development The conservation of biodiversity for the benefit of the poor is one of the priority areas of German development policy From 2013 on, the German Government will provide 500 million EUR annually for the conservation of biodiversity and to support enabling environments and capacities needed to implement the CBD Strategic Plan GIZ projects take the CBD Strategic Plan as their guiding principle and aim to contribute to its implementation and to integrate biodiversity and human well-being Need for mainstreaming - within the German development policy and into policies and strategies in partner countries Page Seite 2

3 GIZ s engagement in World Heritage GIZ works with its partners to effectively strengthening management capacities of governmental, civil society and private actors as well as indigenous and local communities: good and equitable governance structures income-generating activities in adjacent zones in practise, this may include training for protected area planners, managers and field staff, the joint and participatory elaboration of (co-)management and business plans; or the design of a sustainable tourism development plan The majority of GIZ projects are dedicated exclusively to a particular site, some deal with World Heritage sites as an integral part of more comprehensive programmes, such as support to protected area systems GIZ (often in cooperation with KfW Development Bank) currently supports or is in the process of organising assistance to around 25 World Heritage sites for example to Serengeti, Galapagos or Phonh Nha-Ke Bang Page Seite 3

4 GIZ s engagement in World Heritage Initiated for the first time in 2008 on behalf of BMZ, the International Youth Forum Go4Biodiv invites young professionals from selected natural World Heritage sites to come together and share their experience and ideas and articulate a clear message to governmental representatives and the media to be presented during the (high-level segments) of the CBD CoP negotiations Go4BioDiv 2012 will be hosted by the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), the Government of India and carried out by the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) with support from various international partners, like IUCN and the UNESCO World Heritage Centre Go4BioDiv 2012 will focus on the conservation of the crown jewels of the world s oceans and coasts, with its theme being Conserving coastal and marine biodiversity for sustaining life and livelihoods Page Seite 4

5 Observations on the World Heritage Convention Natural, mixed and many cultural landscape World Heritage sites contribute directly to biodiversity conservation for human well-being The World Heritage Convention is therefore an ideal instrument to seek synergies with the CBD, and implement its Programme of Work on Protected Areas Being at the frontline of nature conservation, natural World Heritage sites are flagships of protected areas; they have the potential to become models and global standards in demonstrating best practices Their extraordinary characteristics and often symbolic features can also contribute to a greater understanding of and visibility for protected areas and biodiversity conservation needs in general The UN-declared Decade on Biodiversity ( ) will be a benchmark for the implementation of strategic action in relation to World Heritage and protected areas in general: If we fail to conserve and sustainably develop these few selected sites, then how shall we achieve the Aichi targets? Page Seite 5

6 Securing better results from World Heritage Use the high political interest and the momentum around the CBD Strategic Plan to accelerate funding allocations in order to catalyse public awareness and secure conservation status of the sites already listed ahead of listing new sites Increase support for up-stream and mainstream processes to better prepare and harmonize tentative lists, enhance the quality of nominations through international assistance or integrate the socio-economic value of the ecosystem services provided by World Heritage sites in national and local development and poverty reduction strategies and planning processes Strengthen the role and rights of indigenous and local communities to sustain the leadership role of the World Heritage Convention and secure community-based level responsibility for protection and management especially women and youth! Page Seite 6

7 Securing better results from World Heritage Strengthen UNESCO s capabilities for natural and mixed heritage aspects and increase IUCN s capacity to support the implementation of the World Heritage Convention Enhance the cooperation between the advisory bodies (like with ICOMOS on cultural landscapes or on cultural considerations in natural and mixed sites) Work with and further strengthen the network of relevant actors, inter alia on developing and delivering capacity building programmes to achieve the envisaged results Page Seite 7

8 Thank you very much! Seite 8