National Parks and other protected areas not only provide a safe haven for biodiversity, they provide benefits to local communities and preserve some of the most beautiful places on our planet. ‘Coverage of protected areas’ is also a specific indicator in the 2010 Target of the Convention. Obtaining the data necessary to monitor trends in protected areas requires a massive effort by national authorities to compile, analyse and then distribute this data to the centralised depository of the World Database on Protected Areas (WDPA). With a living and growing system of protected areas that now exceed 100,000 sites covering 19 million square kilometres, you can imagine that this is no small task!
Business and protected areas Business has a different, but also very compelling need for this information — to aid in decision-making. Companies need to know the precise boundaries of protected areas, including UNESCO World Heritage Sites and other sensitive areas (coral reefs, mangroves, etc.), for risk analysis in planning and because some of these places are ‘no-go’ areas for drilling, mining, and other forms of development. In a number of sectors, companies have adopted limitations on how they operate in and around protected areas. For example, member companies of the International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM) have agreed not to explore in UNESCO World Heritage Sites article page 32. In the oil and gas sector, Shell has also stated that it will not explore in World Heritage Sites. In fact, Shell goes further by requiring that a Biodiversity Action Plan be developed before exploring within IUCN Category I-IV protected areas. In the financial services sector, Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan Chase and Co. have stated that they will not fund extractive enterprises that lie within World Heritage Sites. JP Morgan says, in fact, that it will not finance any project or provide loans where the use of proceeds is designated within critical natural habitats, which include existing protected areas and areas officially proposed by governments as protected areas.
But where exactly are these elusive protected areas and World Heritage Sites? Pipeline planning and offshore drilling require very precise planning boundaries as the difference between a few hundred meters could cost thousands or millions of dollars to rectify if mistakes are made. Writing a high quality environmental impact analysis also requires good data. Technology to the rescue UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre (WCMC) is the custodian of the World Database on Protected Areas (WDPA), which it maintains in partnership with the World Conservation Union (IUCN). UNEP-WCMC has been in the vanguard of using technology to support conservation decision-making for the past 25 years, for example by being the first conservation organization to develop an online mapping system for conservation data. This edge rapidly fell by the way-side, however, as many conservation organizations invested in the overhaul of their information technology infrastructure. Today, UNEP-WCMC is back, though, with the Proteus project. Developed in partnership with business, this aims at taking our IT system to the next generation by rebuilding the WDPA and, thereby, assisting our business partners as well as, more generally, the Parties to the Convention Which brings me to the point of this article: technology and its transfer.
All singing, all dancing? With a line-up of mining and oil majors, including Anglo American, BP, Chevron, IHS Energy, Premier Oil, Repsol, Rio Tinto, Shell, Statoil and Total all eager to have better protected areas data as well as mechanisms to seamlessly bring this data into their own Geographic Information Systems (GIS) — the Proteus Partners have shown their commitment to this redevelopment and put their money where their mouth is by making a significant investment. ESRI, the market leader in the development of GIS software and tools is also fully behind this venture as it allows them to tackle real world conservation problems and to extend their own product line.
At the heart of the system now being developed is a flexible database design that will allow both National Focal Points and other conservation partners to, effortlessly, serve or upload their own data from their own national systems and have it become part of the WDPA. Another key feature is the built-in system that will allow authorised experts to review and validate submissions. To most people however, what they will see is much improved higher resolution data for decision-making. This will be made available through the latest interactive technologies like digital globes, 2-D web map viewers with Wikipedia-like functions and, of course, standard query functions through web interfaces.
Tech transfer for conservation The technology transfer is moving in many different directions with this project. Protected areas data is transferred from UNEP and other conservation organizations to business for sound environmental decision-making. Data standards and technical expertise, in the form of guidance and best practice, is transferred from UNEP, IUCN and the Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS) to countries. From country to country, and from countries to a central repository goes information about the entire world’s protected areas, vital information on what some have described as the greatest legacy we can leave our children.
Improving conservation decision-making is the overall purpose of this technology transfer project. By engaging with our corporate partners and delivering what they need when they need it, we are at the same time developing a platform on which everyone with an interest in conservation can get better information. We think this is a recipe for success.
Charles Besançon (
charles.besancon@unep-wcmc.org) is Head,
UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Center.
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http://proteus.unep-wcmc.org