Global Wilderness Policy & Research Initiatives
Leading the way for global wilderness policy & research, WILD develops new tools for wilderness designation and management, leads international advocacy for wilderness, works collaboratively on new initiatives and convenes the World Wilderness Congress to leverage important new policy developments. A few outstanding accomplishments include:
- Establishing and defending a wilderness protected area category in the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) global protected areas classification system;
- Co-founding and co-chairing IUCN’s Wilderness Specialist Group and hosting a forum website for conversation among the specialist group;
El Carmen, Mexico (photo by Wyman Meizner)
- Pioneering the first private wilderness designations in Africa, and the first wilderness legislation and designation in Latin America (Mexico).
- Compiling state of the art information on wilderness law and policy including the first ever International Handbook on Wilderness Law and Policy, the International Journal of Wilderness and the only text book on wilderness management;
- Bringing together government officials for wilderness conservation. In 2004, WILD held a round-table involving participants from 7 countries, reviewing U.S. and international approaches to wilderness law and policy. In 2009, we initiated the first ever international agreement on wilderness. At WILD9, government agency representatives from the US, Canada and Mexico signed a formal Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation for the protection of wilderness.
- Developing policy mechanisms for wilderness designations by indigenous groups on tribal lands, and by the private sector on corporate lands through the Native Lands and Wilderness Council and the Corporate Commitment to Wilderness.