Why Would I Want to Participate with the World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA)?

A great professional honor recently arrived in my email box:  an invitation to become an individual member of the Geoheritage Specialist Group in the IUCN-WCPA.  I had no idea what that agglomeration of letters stood for, so I had to do some web research (bless the web - what ever did we do without it...seriously?).

IUCN - International Union for Conservation of Nature.  According to its website (http://iucn.org/ ), it "helps the world find pragmatic solutions to our most pressing environment and development challenges"  It's vision and mission is "...a just world that values and conserves nature.
Our mission is to influence, encourage and assist societies throughout the world to conserve the integrity and diversity of nature and to ensure that any use of natural resources is equitable and ecologically sustainable."  The IUCN is "the world’s oldest and largest global environmental organisation, with more than 1,200 government and NGO Members and almost 11,000 volunteer experts in some 160 countries. IUCN’s work is supported by over 1,000 staff in 45 offices and hundreds of partners in public, NGO and private sectors around the world."  Finally, its work focuses on "valuing and conserving nature, ensuring effective and equitable governance of its use, and deploying nature-based solutions to global challenges in climate, food and development. IUCN supports scientific research, manages field projects all over the world, and brings governments, NGOs, the UN and companies together to develop policy, laws and best practice."  Their video here is definitely worth watching:  http://iucn.org/about/ !

WCPA - World Commission on Protected Areas and is one of the IUCN Commissions.  According to its website (http://iucn.org/about/work/programmes/gpap_home/gpap_wcpa/ ), the WCPA is "the world's premier network of protected area expertise. It is administered by IUCN's Global Programme on Protected Areas and has over 1,700 members, spanning 140 countries."  It's particular mission is to "promote the establishment and effective management of a world-wide representative network of terrestrial and marine protected areas as an integral contribution to IUCN's mission."  WCPA accomplishes this mission by "helping governments and others plan protected areas and integrate them into all sectors; by providing strategic advice to policy makers; by strengthening capacity and investment in protected areas; and by convening the diverse constituency of protected area stakeholders to address challenging issues. For more than 50 years, IUCN and WCPA have been at the forefront of global action on protected areas."

The IUCN has established the Geoheritage Specialist Group (GSG - yet another acronym) to "ensure that knowledge of biotic nature is fed into the work of WCPA."  By becoming an individual member of the GSG, I would agree to assist and participate through one or more of the following actions.

1. Actively contribute as a member of the GSG;
2. Provide useful material and case studies of geoheritage conservation in practice;
3. Possess knowledge of the theory and practice of geoheritage conservation within a specialized field;
4. Notify the GSG Steering Committee regarding available funding sources and partnership opportunities regarding geoheritage conservation in protected areas.

As a man who has devoted much time and effort professionally and personally to the protection, preservation, and conservation of our natural environment, this was impossible to not find incredibly exciting, a deep honor, and very humbling.  As a man who practices his traditional Lakota beliefs, the opportunity to actually work to protect Mother Earth in such a tangible way was one I could not refuse or ignore, nor would I want to.  Every day, I am constantly mindful of the footprint I leave, and I want it to be as small as a moccasin print.  I turn off water when I am not using it (including between dishes, while brushing my teeth, soaping my hands, etc.).  I turn off lights, use minimal lighting, and I use fluorescent bulbs.   I recycle, and in fact, my recycling bin is always substantially more full than my trash bin.  I buy minimal packaging items.  I buy organic (real organic, not just the word splashed around everywhere).  I buy local whenever possible.  Except for things like bananas and the like since they don't grow in Kentucky...yet.  Let's see what global warming does, eh?  I take good care of what I do own to make it as long as possible.  I have a pair of jeans that has lasted 7 years, and no, they don't get up and walk around by themselves - they are much too weak and thread-thin to do that, but no holey ventilation so they are still functional.  I use biodegradeable soap (really biodegradeable) and I don't use any of those harsh soaps full of chemicals.  It is truly amazing what a great job Dr. Bronner liquid soap does on so many different things.  I must admit I do not use it to brush my teeth even though it claims I can.  In summary, I do the best I can to walk my talk and let my beliefs guide my daily actions.

But then, the membership application asked a simple question that got me thinking:  "Reason you want to join the GSG membership?"  Could I tell them everything I just wrote above as my answer?  Yes, but I felt they wanted something more, something perhaps more profound, in response to such a simple, unimposing question.  I thought about it for several days, worked on it, thought some more, and here is my answer to why I would want to participate with the "world's premier network of protected area expertise" to help it realize its vision of "a just world that values and conserves nature" by accomplishing its mission to "influence, encourage and assist societies throughout the world to conserve the integrity and diversity of nature and to ensure that any use of natural resources is equitable and ecologically sustainable."

We have only one Earth and all that lives upon it (non-human and human alike) are entirely dependent upon the natural environment of the Earth for physical, emotional, and spiritual health.  Mother Earth is precious – we humans cannot re-create the natural environment, we cannot replace it with the same or something else, and in the vast majority of cases, we cannot repair the damage we cause.  

We have this one chance in this one moment to create a heritage for the next Seven Generations (of all living creatures) in which they can both survive and thrive with spaces that meet not only their physical needs but also their emotional, spiritual, and intellectual needs as well.  I believe that humans, because we have the capacity to do so, are charged with taking all necessary steps (both simple and challenging) to protect and preserve Mother Earth.  As my elder, Tatanka Iyotanka (Sitting Bull) said, “Let us put our minds together and see what future we can make for our children.”  
Consequently, I have a long history of involvement in the efforts to conserve, preserve, and properly manage natural areas.  I also believe that the most successful protection projects are so because they have fully engaged the humans who live in and neighbor the area, for they are, in many cases, entirely dependent on the area for their lives but also because they know it best and are in the best position to protect it.  The lessons learned from the creation of Mammoth Cave National Park are poignant.  To create the Park initially, the desired land was, in many cases, condemned out from underneath the humans who lived upon it and made a living from it.  The condemnation process was ruthless and miserly – monies paid to “compensate” for the loss of the land amounted to pennies on the dollar, leaving people destitute who were already struggling.  Hard feelings towards the Park have lasted generations, handed down from parent to child as a bitter legacy that has been hard to overcome.  It is a dramatic contrast to other protected areas that have been created in partnership with the local inhabitants and who take ownership of protecting and preserving the resources so preserved.  The joyful legacy of these areas is one of cooperation and symbiosis.

It is also my belief that scientists have the responsibility to utilize their knowledge in service to all members of the Circle of Life and Mother Earth.  We cannot operate in isolation, and we cannot squander our knowledge and experience on learning for learning sake or science for science’s sake.  We need to be able to translate our technical expertise into lay language and to utilize that expertise to make the world a better place.  That phrase has been so frequently used in so many different contexts that its use here sounds trite, but it is true statement and heart-felt statement on my part.

These beliefs are the core of who I am and they drive why I would be honored to serve as a member of the Geoheritage Specialist Group (GSG) in IUCN-WCPA.

I hope they give me a chance to do my part.