Outline

The 1st Asia Parks Congress aims to connect protected area practitioners with a wide range of stakeholders for addressing issues and opportunities in parks and protected areas throughout Asia and the world, building ties and helping to set policy and practice in the world’s largest and fastest growing region. The Congress will address the challenges facing this dynamic region through learning, sharing of experience and close collaboration.

Held one year before the 6th IUCN World Parks Congress in Sydney, Australia, the Asia Parks Congress will serve as a valuable lead-in to the Sydney gathering by providing lessons learned and ways forward.

The Asia Parks Congress theme is “Parks Connect”, illustrating the flexible yet unifying concept of the connections at many different levels which link nature with people, people with people, and protected areas with pressing world challenges, including disaster risk reduction, climate change, biodiversity loss, and sustainable development and livelihoods.

1. Objectives

The Asia Parks Congress will:

• Share best practices in protected areas in Asia, and values of PAs for establishing a cooperative structure among various stakeholders.
• Contribute to protected areas management and planning worldwide through sharing experiences of Asia.
• Establish the future agenda for PAs in Asia and promote actions toward achieving the CBD Aichi Targets and the objectives of the PoWPA (Programme of Work on Protected Areas).
• Build regional capacity to meet current challenges of protected areas.
• Provide regional perspectives and input to relevant regional and global events including the IUCN World Parks Congress 2014.

2. Organizer

• Ministry of the Environment of Japan, The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)

3. Venue

Sendai International Center (Sendai city, Miyagi, Japan)

4. Date

Nov. 13-17, 2013

5. Participants

about 800 (from 40 country/ region)

6. Presentation made

over 300

7. Key outcomes

• Asia Protected Area Charter (Sendai Charter)
  -Fundamental Principal for Protected Area in Asia
• Message from the 1st Asia Parks Congress to the IUCN World Parks Congress
  - Recommendation form six working groups of the Asia Parks Congress
• Youth Declaration to the first Asia Parks Congress
  - Massage from the voice of youth in Asia

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