The WDPA Consortium
The vision for the WDPA is to have a freely available, accurate and up-to-date World Database on Protected Areas that is accepted as a global standard by all stakeholders. In practical terms, the aim is to ensure that the development, review and update of the WDPA and its placement in the public domain becomes a continuous sustainable process, with consortium members working together to find the necessary resources. The WDPA will also be a central component of the Biodiversity Knowledge Commons, capable of attracting abundant related information.
WDPA Consortium Principles, 2002
This CD-ROM is the product of the WDPA Consortium efforts to share, integrate and distribute data and information on the world's protected areas for improving conservation and supporting better decision making in the framework of the Convention of Biological Biodiversity and the 2010 targets for Sustainable Development.
The WDPA Consortium was established in 2002 in order to expand participation and leadership on the development of this important tool. It groups a growing number international conservation organizations, IUCN members, that have agreed on a set of common principles to ensure that information on protected areas is maintained on a cooperative basis and used effectively in monitoring the effectiveness of global conservation agendas.
The proposal to establish the Consortium resulted from a collaborative review and strategic planning process undertaken by the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA) and the UNEP - World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC) during 2002. At the Vth World Parks Congress held in Durban, South Africa during September 2003, UNEP and IUCN signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that provides the framework for the Consortium and the future development of the World Database on Protected Areas.
The MoU reaffirms and updates the longstanding partnership between IUCN and the UN on protected area information management, dating back to UN resolutions in 1959 and 1962.