Read about WWF's efforts to implement Conservation First in Canada's Mackenzie Valley.
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In our key ecoregions, WWF’s approach towards preserving plants and animals, and the ecosystems on which they depend, involves working to achieve conservation of the most vulnerable ecosystem components while ensuring sound management of the ecoregion as a whole. We call our approach ‘Conservation First’.
Conservation First
The Conservation First approach has three main components:
To support environmental decision-making, the stakeholders in a region must assess:
The assessments must involve all stakeholders. They must be long-term, e.g 30 years. They must be comprehensive, flexible and dynamic. And finally they must have strong political support.
Such assessments answer fundamental questions, such as:
Following assessments, the stakeholders must protect the most valuable and vulnerable parts of the region against negative impacts.
The areas should be selected and managed based on:
Steps 1 and 2 are essential parts of a broader ecosystem approach to the management of arctic nature. Once they have been implemented in a region, development may proceed in a planned and conscious fashion, with improved planning tools and more control of development also outside protected areas.
Benefits
Conservation First means that no large-scale industrial development in the Arctic should take place without first identifying and protecting areas of special conservation and cultural importance. Implementing Conservation First in the Arctic has three major benefits:
For communities: It conserves renewable natural resources and ecosystems that have been the basis for humans in the Arctic for thousands of years, and will be the basis for long-term, sustainable development in the future.
For the environment: It secures the survival of key species, habitats and processes that are important to and representative of the region. Some areas also have ecosystem functions far beyond the region itself, for example as havens for migratory species, ground-water preservation, or moderators for larger-scale climate processes.
For business: It allows conflicts to be identified and resolved before major investments are made, providing certainty and predictability for investors, developers, governments, conservationists, and other stakeholders.
Call to Action
WWF calls on arctic peoples, governments, and industries to adopt Conservation First as a fundamental part of sustainable development plans, and to implement this principle at national, regional, and local levels.
Adopting the Conservation First Principle is a direct deliverable to major national, regional and international commitments. By adopting proactive conservation principles, combined with careful planning of development, the Arctic can still be a leading example of sustainable development in practice.
Conservation First
The Conservation First approach has three main components:
- Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA)
- Protecting key areas and functions
- Ecosystem-based management
1. Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA)
To support environmental decision-making, the stakeholders in a region must assess:
- the current state of the region’s natural environment and human activities.
- areas, ecosystem components, and processes that of importance to local people; biodiversity; ecosystem function (such as spawning or breeding grounds); or natural processes.
- planned infrastructure, industrial development, large-scale resource exploitation, and other processes expected to impact the region’s environment.
- cumulative effects of known and expected activities and developments, including global impacts such as climate change and long-range pollutants.
- uncertainties, e.g. lack of knowledge about species, ecosystem dynamics, or global and long-term impacts.
The assessments must involve all stakeholders. They must be long-term, e.g 30 years. They must be comprehensive, flexible and dynamic. And finally they must have strong political support.
Such assessments answer fundamental questions, such as:
- What are the natural and cultural values in the region?
- What long-term goals do communities and government have for the region’s environment, and for economic development?
- Are there conflicts between areas of high environmental or cultural value, and areas of high value for resource exploitation or development?
- What level and types of activities are acceptable? In key areas? Outside of them?
- Where are “no-go” areas for certain types of activities?
- Where will expected industrial and infrastructure development have least impacts?
- What areas, ecosystem components, and processes best represent the natural and cultural qualities of the region?
2. Protecting key areas and functions
Following assessments, the stakeholders must protect the most valuable and vulnerable parts of the region against negative impacts.
The areas should be selected and managed based on:
- Conservation value – How important is the area, component or process in terms of biodiversity, uniqueness, cultural and spiritual value, and ecosystem function?
- Representativeness – How well does the area, component or process represent the ecological and/or cultural qualities of the region?
- Size – Larger areas are of greater value as they provide habitat for larger varieties and numbers of each species and for large or wide-ranging species. They are also rare on a global scale.
- Connection – Protected areas function better if connected, thus allowing movement of species between areas. This is particularly relevant if parts of the network are seasonally or otherwise under pressure, or for example to allow movement and migration in the face of climate change.
3. Ecosystem-based management
Steps 1 and 2 are essential parts of a broader ecosystem approach to the management of arctic nature. Once they have been implemented in a region, development may proceed in a planned and conscious fashion, with improved planning tools and more control of development also outside protected areas.
Benefits
Conservation First means that no large-scale industrial development in the Arctic should take place without first identifying and protecting areas of special conservation and cultural importance. Implementing Conservation First in the Arctic has three major benefits:
For communities: It conserves renewable natural resources and ecosystems that have been the basis for humans in the Arctic for thousands of years, and will be the basis for long-term, sustainable development in the future.
For the environment: It secures the survival of key species, habitats and processes that are important to and representative of the region. Some areas also have ecosystem functions far beyond the region itself, for example as havens for migratory species, ground-water preservation, or moderators for larger-scale climate processes.
For business: It allows conflicts to be identified and resolved before major investments are made, providing certainty and predictability for investors, developers, governments, conservationists, and other stakeholders.
Call to Action
WWF calls on arctic peoples, governments, and industries to adopt Conservation First as a fundamental part of sustainable development plans, and to implement this principle at national, regional, and local levels.
Adopting the Conservation First Principle is a direct deliverable to major national, regional and international commitments. By adopting proactive conservation principles, combined with careful planning of development, the Arctic can still be a leading example of sustainable development in practice.