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The UN List is compiled by the UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre working in close collaboration with the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA)
. Information is provided by national protected areas authorities and the secretariats of international conventions and programmes. However, the 2003 UN List also benefits from the establishment in 2002 of the World Database on Protected Areas (WDPA - the database that underpins the UN List) Consortium.
In June 2002, the WCPA, IUCN, UNEP-WCMC and other organisations agreed to progress the development of the WDPA through the formation of a Consortium of co-operative stakeholders. The Consortium currently comprises membership of intergovernmental and non-government organisations, including the major global conservation organisations. Since the formation of the Consortium, members have made valuable contributions to the WDPA, including data that has improved the quality of information in the 2003 UN List.
The format and content of the 2003 UN List is a significant departure from the previous editions that have been produced. The UN List has been an evolving process since its inception in 1962, moving from the iconic national park "roll of honour" concept that characterised the earlier UN Lists to one that reflects the range of protected area objectives and values relevant to the late 20th and early 21st century.
Criteria and definitions for inclusion have changed, although both the 1997 and 2003 UN Lists use the IUCN Protected Areas Category System as the basis for analysis. Globally the numbers of protected areas have increased substantially, and their conservation values and role in the provision of ecosystem services and sustainable development has broadened considerably. The recent emphasis (relative to the time period of the UN List) on ecosystem approaches, ecological corridors and the function of protected areas as "core" sites within wider landscape conservation frameworks calls for a more inclusive approach to presenting protected areas in the UN List.
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Mountain Watch provides a new map-based synthesis of information on environmental change, and its implications for sustainable development, in mountains
. It is designed to assist achievement both of the Millennium Development Goals, which aim to ensure environmental sustainability and improve people's livelihoods, and the Plan of Implementation of the World Summit on Sustainable Development, agreed in Johannesburg, South Africa, in 2002.
Mountain Watch profiles methods to assess mountain ecosystems, the pressures that affect them and the services they provide to people. A new analysis of global data is supplemented by regional and local case studies drawn from around the world. Tools are provided for decision-makers to ensure that development sustains mountain environments and the people who depend on them. The report is designed to support an assessment process, launched at the Bishkek Global Mountain Summit during the International Year of Mountains, 2002. This will involve a series of regional workshops, bringing together many stakeholders living in and visiting mountain regions, and will lead to the production of a World Atlas of Mountain Environments. Mountain Watch was compiled by UNEP-WCMC and the UNEP Mountain Programme, in collaboration with the GEF, UNEP Regional Offices, UNEP GRID Centres and other partners, as a contribution to the International Year of Mountains, for which FAO is the lead UN agency, in collaboration with governments, UNEP, UNDP, UNESCO and other partners
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This report provides the first map-based overview of environmental change in mountain regions and its implications for sustainable development
. New global maps illustrate selected values of mountain ecosystems and many of the pressures that are causing environmental change. A range of case studies illustrate how environmental assessments can inform the sustainable development of mountain regions. Mountain environments cover 27 per cent of the earth's land surface and directly support 22 percent of the people who live within them. Lowland people also depend on mountain environments for a wide range of goods and services, for example, water, energy, timber, biodiversity maintenance and opportunities for recreation and spiritual renewal. Mountain people face an environment where everyday physical demands are great, natural hazards are significant, and agricultural production is constraine
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