Report
Introducing NEOPS at the Third IUCN World Parks Congress
Robert Blasiak, Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, The University of Tokyo
Every 10 years, researchers, decision-makers, and representatives of civil society join together for the World Parks Congress, organized by the International Union for Conservation and Nature (IUCN), and in November 2014, the third congress was held in Sydney, Australia under the theme: "Parks, people, planet: inspiring solutions".
A particular emphasis of this congress was on transboundary solutions, based on the recognition that conservation and sustainable management of biodiversity depends not only on the establishment of protected areas and parks, but also on integrated, holistic solutions that extend beyond such boundaries. In addition, the congress was especially focused on marine areas, among other things in light of the Convention on Biological Diversity's Aichi Target #11 that by 2020, at least 17% of terrestrial and 10% of coastal and marine areas be conserved through a well-connected system of protected areas.
The international and transboundary issues related to marine parks and connectivity among protected areas are relevant to issues being considered under NEOPS. The project provided support for The University of Tokyo researcher Robert Blasiak to present work conducted together with Prof. Nobuyuki Yagi on "Cooperative Management of Ecosystem Services". The work focuses in particular on displacement effects and shifts in dominance in the exploitation of shared marine resources.
The University of Tokyo researcher Robert Blasiak
introducing NEOPS research on cooperative management
of shared marine resources.
The NEOPS presentation is now available on the World Parks Congress website here. In addition, Blasiak attended and contributed to a series of ocean-related events, as well as sessions on satoyama and satoumi issues. Blasiak also subsequently published a short article for the United Nations University titled "Valuing the priceless: Greenland and the World Parks Congress" reflecting on cultural impacts of climate change, in collaboration with the National Museum of Denmark.
