Title
Chapter Title: Current wilderness coverage on the World Heritage List: Broad gaps and opportunities
Book Title: World Heritage, Wilderness, and Large Landscapes and Seascapes.
Author(s)
Allan, James R. ;Shi, Yichuan ;Bertzky, Bastian ;Jaeger, Tilman ;Venter, Oscar ;Mackey, Brendan ;van Merm, Remco ;Osipova, Elena ;Watson, James E.M. ;Kormos, Cyril F.
Published
2017
Abstract
For the purpose of this thematic study (see Chapter 1) we define the term “wilderness” generically to describe landscapes and seascapes that are biologically and ecologically largely intact, with a low human population density and that are mostly free of industrial infrastructure (Kormos et al. 2015, Kormos 2008, Watson et al. 2009, Mittermeier et al. 2003, Watson et al. 2016). We emphasize once more that the term “wilderness” is not exclusive of people, but rather of human uses that result in significant biophysical disturbance, and that wilderness quality is often defined in terms of remoteness from urban settlements and modern infrastructure as well as the degree of ecological impacts from industrial activity (Kormos et al. 2015, Mittermeier et al. 2003). In Chapter 3 we review the application of the term “wilderness” at a protected area scale under the World Heritage Convention, by identifying World Heritage sites whose Outstanding Universal Value is explicitly linked to a range of wilderness attributes in official documentation accompanying the site’s inscription on the World Heritage List. In this chapter we review the contribution existing natural and mixed (i.e. sites inscribed under both natural and cultural criteria) World Heritage sites make to the protection of global-scale wilderness areas and also identify broad gaps in wilderness coverage on the World Heritage List. We first assess global scale terrestrial wilderness, then marine wilderness.

Access Full Text

A full-text copy of this article may be available. Please email the WCS Library to request.



Back

PUB21093