Environment
Call to save Africa's disappearing wildlands

afrol.com, 12 March - The rapidly-disappearing"wildlands" will be the focus of the first World Wilderness Summit, which will be hosted in South Africa as part of the seventh World Wilderness Congress. The Congress is being held in the Eastern Cape city of Port Elizabeth during November 2001.

- The Summit will include leaders in politics, business, science, education, field management, non-governmental organizations, and rural development, says World Wilderness Congress (WCC) founder Dr Ian Player. "The agenda is based on enhanced protection for wilderness and wildland areas in Africa and internationally," he says.

The summit will "highlight the fundamental services these areas provide to all human communities, and their irreplaceable biological, economic, cultural and spiritual benefits". Dr Player was speaking at a special WCC board meeting in the Eastern Cape Province city of Port Elizabeth last week.

Founded in 1977 by world-renowned South African conservationist Dr Ian Player, the World Wilderness Congress has been held in South Africa (1977); Australia (1980); Scotland (1983); United States (1987); Norway (1993) and India (1998). The board includes representatives from the World Bank, national and provincial government, the World Conservation Union (IUCN), World Wildlife Fund (India), and the US-based WILD Foundation.

Over 100 nations have been represented at the congresses over the past 25 years, and the aim is to bring more than 40 countries together for the Port Elizabeth Congress, says convener Andrew Muir. "The Congress brings together people from across the world including corporate leaders, senior politicians, scientists, educators, forward-thinking local leaders and communities, field and game rangers, conservationists, heads of state, managers, artists, financiers, and others. It was time to bring the Congress back to its roots in Africa," he says.

The theme of the 7th World Wilderness Congress is "Wilderness and Human Communities: The Spirit of the 21st Century." While the focus will be on Africa, the Congress will deal with global issues, says Dr Player. "In the 21st century, we are faced with the rapid disappearance of much that is wild and natural."

- Africa is still custodian to wildlands and cultures which have a deep concern for nature in their original form, Dr Player says. "We will be exploring the ways in which wilderness is a symbol for issues which touch our people, and how can we link across cultures, perspectives and poverty to find ways to express, find and celebrate a connection which is universal to ourselves, each other and to the natural world," he says.

The "Wilderness Summit" will meet for the first two days, followed by a day that concentrates on local conservation and cultural highlights, and then the"Wilderness Working Sessions" (plenary, technical, and training), which will convene for four days. Among the issues to be discussed - and acted upon - at the working sessions are:

• New wildland political initiatives: Public wilderness areas and policy announcements in Southern Africa;
  
• Wilderness in your backyard? Wilderness on privately owned lands - A new model for private sector action and responsibility in designating, managing and sustaining wilderness lands in perpetuity;
  
• Renewing support for our African heritage: New fund for African protected areas
  
• Creating a wildlands agenda for the upcoming World Parks Congress and the Rio+10 Congresses
  
• Learning from others: Expanding models for effective teaching, training and experiencing wilderness
  
• Working closely across the world: Launch of the World Wilderness Council, for expanded international communications and action

Established in 1977, the World Wilderness Congress is the oldest international public environmental forum. Its debate and action helps focus a wide range of people and professions on key issues affecting wildlands and their dependent human and wildlife communities.

The WWC has convened on six occasions: - with participants from over 100 nations including philosophers, influential and forward-thinking local leaders and communities, heads of state and senior politicians, field and game rangers, artists, corporate leaders, scientists, educators, managers, financiers, and others.

Source: World Wilderness Congress (through WildAfricaNet)

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