Motion 004

Rationale

Trails can be powerful tools for protecting biodiversity, but have received little attention from IUCN. The purpose of this motion, Trails and conservation, is to formally acknowledge the importance of trails and ecological trail corridors as conservation tools and set out next steps for providing guidance on them.

Origins

This effort started in the IUCN WCPA Urban Conservation Strategies Specialist Group. We looked for effective models of conservation in metropolitan areas and came across several kinds of trails. We included them in our flagship publication, Urban protected areas: Profiles and best practice guidelines (2014) and pointed out that for urban people such trails can be strong psychological, as well as physical, connectors to the natural world.

Trails and Conservation Working Group

The next step was setting up the Trails and Conservation Working Group, in 2019. Its terms of reference are “To promote a holistic vision of long-distance trails, not only as recreational infrastructure but as conservation tools that link urban, rural and wild; shape new conservationists; and serve as connectors to places representing cultural, spiritual, aesthetic and moral values.” In addition, it is tasked with examining “connections between such trails and animals and plants, e.g., in terms of wildlife corridors, human-wildlife conflict, invasive species and zoonotic disease.” The group’s remit now extends to trails generally, not only long-distance ones.

Leadership

The Trails and Conservation Working Group is led by Pedro da Cunha e Menezes, a Brazilian career Diplomat who is currently seconded to Brazil’s Environment Ministry and directs its Department of Protected Areas. His responsibilities include the Brazilian Network of Long-distance Trails. In a previous assignment, he developed a popular 200-km trail connecting mountainous protected areas surrounding Rio de Janeiro. Other members of the steering committee are experts from Hong Kong, Portugal, South Africa and the United States.

Actions called for in the motion

The work called for in the motion is cross-cutting. It will be carried out by the WCPA Trails and Conservation Working Group in cooperation with the World Trails Network, an independent NGO based in Geneva, Switzerland.

The motion's sponsor, InterEnvironment Institute, will provide administrative and research support. Other parts of IUCN will be consulted; among others, these include WCPA groups on tourism, connectivity, cultural and spiritual values, climate change, health and well-being, mountains and transboundary conservation, the Dark Skies Advisory Group, and the SSC groups on human-wildlife interactions and invasive species.

The Brazilian Government is expected to provide in-kind support including for a trail-related exhibit and panel discussion at the 2025 WCC.

Ted Trzyna
> President, InterEnvironment Institute
> Senior Advisor, co-founder, and former Chair, 2003-2024, IUCN WCPA Urban Conservation Strategies Specialist Group
> Emeritus IUCN Commission Chair, Environmental Strategy and Planning, 1990-1996