More than 25% of natural World Heritage (WH) sites worldwide are estimated to be under pressure from existing or future mining and energy activities (IUCN 2008; UNESCO 2009). However, that 'pressure' has yet to be quantitatively defined and assessed for many regions of the world. We conducted a GIS-based analysis of overlap and proximity between natural WH sites and areas allocated to oil and gas concessions as well as pipelines and oil wells for all of sub-Saharan Africa. We found that oil and gas concessions were located within 27% of the WH sites, though no currently active oil wells were operating directly within the WH sites. A proximity-based assessment of oil and gas concessions within 5 km of WH site boundaries included only one additional WH site, suggesting that sites susceptible to indirect impacts from oil and gas development are likely to be those already overlapped by concessions. Our findings indicate that activity from oil and gas development in sub-Saharan WH sites has to date been limited; however, future pressure cannot be ruled out, due to continued presence of concessions within more than one quarter of the network, and projected expansion of oil and gas exploration within the region. Our results may be used to inform the inclusion of new sites into the WH network.
IUCN World Heritage Outlook 3 builds on three cycles of Conservation Outlook Assessments undertaken since 2014. It presents the main results for 2020, but also some longer-term trends based on a comparison of three data sets now available. As such, it can ser ve as an indicator of the effectiveness of protected and conserved areas at a time when the international community seeks to measure progress towards global biodiversity targets and defines the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework. Focusing on the natural values for which sites are inscribed, threats to these values, and the effectiveness of actions to protect them, the IUCN World Heritage Outlook assesses the conservation prospects of all natural World Heritage sites. These sites are globally recognised as the most significant natural areas on Earth and their conservation must meet the high standards of the World Heritage Convention. Our ability to conserve these sites is thus a litmus test for the broader success of conservation worldwide. Securing a positive outlook for these sites is a priority, as expressed in the Promise of Sydney carried by IUCN’s World Parks Congress in 2014.
L’Horizon du patrimoine mondial de l’UICN 3 s’appuie sur les trois cycles des Évaluations des perspectives de conservation réalisées depuis 2014. Il présente les principaux résultats pour 2020, mais aussi certaines tendances à plus long terme, en se basant sur une comparaison des trois ensembles de données aujourd’hui disponibles. Il peut donc servir d’indicateur de l’efficacité des aires protégées et conservées, à un moment où la communauté internationale cherche à mesurer les avancées vers la réalisation des objectifs mondiaux de la biodiversité, et définit son Cadre mondial pour la biodiversité pour l’après-2020. Se concentrant sur les valeurs naturelles pour lesquelles ces sites sont inscrits, les menaces qui pèsent sur ces valeurs, et l’efficacité des mesures pour les protéger, l’Horizon du patrimoine mondial de l’UICN évalue les perspectives de conservation de tous les sites naturels du patrimoine mondial. Ces sites sont mondialement reconnus comme les zones naturelles les plus significatives sur terre, et leur conservation doit répondre aux normes les plus élevées de la Convention du patrimoine mondial.
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