Appendix 2 - Compendium of regional templates on the status of temperate grasslands conservation and protection

The mission of the Grasslands Protected Areas Task Force of the World Commission on Protected Areas is:

To promote and facilitate the establishment of new or expanded grassland protected areas throughout the grasslands biome, with a priority on temperate grasslands, toward a goal of protecting 10% of the temperate biome by the year 2014, and to provide for the protection, restoration and wise use of grassland protected areas through the development of best management practices and guidelines.

In 2005, the J.M. Kaplan Fund invited expressions of interest designed to enhance international communication and cooperation for the protection and conservation of the world's temperate grasslands. The Grasslands Protected Area Task Force submitted a proposal and in 2006 was awarded a grant - as a result the Temperate Grasslands Conservation Initiative (TGCI) was born. To this end the TGCI scheduled a workshop on June 28-29, 2008 as part of the joint International Range Congress and International Grasslands Congress in Hohhot, China. The goals of this workshop were:

• To establish a global strategy and two regional-specific action plans for increased protection by 2014.
• To develop a mechanism for improving international communications and cooperation for the continued conservation, protection and management of the world's temperate grasslands.
• To establish a Steering Committee to help guide the Project Team and implement the global strategy and region-specific action plans.
• To confirm South America and East Asia as the two priority pilot regions for the project.
• To discuss the potential for and benefits of transboundary protected areas.

This compendium is Appendix Two of the report Life in a Working Landscape: Towards a Conservation Strategy for the World's Temperate Grasslands, a record of the Temperate Grasslands Conservation Initiative workshop in Hohhot China June 28-29, 2008.

(Received courtesy of Mountain Research Initiative (MRI)