Rewilding Europe is among the 10 leading international conservation organisations that endorsed “The Statement from Salamanca”, one of the two major policy initiatives of the 10th World Wilderness Congress (WILD10). This statement shows a strong commitment of the organisations to collaboration and practical, positive actions to make the world a wilder place.
“Making the World a Wilder Place” is a call for action to create a society that understands that human health and prosperity are dependent upon wild nature. Such a society respects both a decent standard of human living and the role, rights, and values of wild nature, because the two are inextricably linked. “To do this, our work involves changing the development paradigm that regards nature as a store house to be looted for short-term gain, to one that integrates a new imperative to protect the life-supporting services – and the beauty, mystery and magic – of wild nature”, the ten say in the Salamanca Statement.
They call upon governments, international institutions, the private sector and civil society to:
I. Communicate the extent and impact of industrial development activity more effectively.
II. Increase the global Protected Areas estate, and connectivity between Protected Areas, to the
extent necessary to protect biodiversity and maintain the full range of ecosystem services.
III. Make full use of available governance mechanisms to achieve conservation objectives.
IV. Protect primary forests and other intact habitats on land and at sea.
a. Develop the potential to meet global wood supply needs through plantations or in heavily modified and degraded forests.
b. End subsidies for industrial logging in primary tropical forests and redirect logging subsidies to local communities, indigenous groups and Protected Areas.
c. Raise awareness in key timber markets about the destruction of primary forests and about the potential for alternative sources of supply.
d. Explore the potential for World Heritage status for the planet’s remaining primary forests.
V. Provide stronger support for indigenous and community conservation initiatives and promote rights-based approaches.
VI. Integrate conservation and development planning more effectively.
a. Provide funding and technical assistance to conduct sectoral environmental impact analyses systematically in developing countries and increase capacity for conducting, interpreting and responding to environmental impact analyses.
b. Define no-go zones for industrial activity.
c. Increase capacity for conducting biodiversity offset analyses and provide assistance to developing countries to design and implement national offset strategies.
VII. Link and harmonize international agreements relating to biodiversity conservation, in particular the Convention on Biological Diversity and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
VIII. Fully value natural capital and end subsidies that create incentives for the destruction of natural resources.
IX. Defuse the illegal wildlife trade crisis.
X. Link the human population and nature conservation agendas.
With a healthy foundation of wilderness, we can realize our full potential as humans. But when wilderness is degraded, the promise of human societies dims. Without wilderness, the legacy for future generations is a deeply impoverished planet: biologically, culturally, economically and spiritually. We must act immediately to keep intact Earth’s remaining wilderness, the ten organisations conclude.
See here the summary and the full text of THE SALAMANCA STATEMENT