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CATEGORY
I
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Strict
Nature Reserve / Wilderness Area: protected area managed
mainly for science or wilderness protection
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| CATEGORY
Ia |
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Strict
Nature Reserve: protected area managed mainly for science
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Definition
Area of land and/or
sea possessing some outstanding or representative ecosystems, geological or
physiological features and/or species, available primarily for scientific research
and/or environmental monitoring.
Objectives of
Management
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to preserve
habitats, ecosystems and species in as undisturbed a state as possible;
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to maintain
genetic resources in a dynamic and evolutionary state;
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to maintain
established ecological processes;
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to safeguard
structural landscape features or rock exposures;
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to secure examples
of the natural environment for scientific studies, environmental monitoring
and education, including baseline areas from which all avoidable access is excluded;
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to minimise
disturbance by careful planning and execution of research and other approved
activities; and
- to limit
public access.
Guidance for Selection
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The area should
be large enough to ensure the integrity of its ecosystems and to accomplish
the management objectives for which it is protected.
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The area should
be significantly free of direct human intervention and capable of remaining
so.
- The conservation
of the area's biodiversity should be achievable through protection and not
require substantial active management or habitat manipulation (c.f. Category
IV).
Organizational
Responsibility
Ownership and
control should be by the national or other level of government, acting through
a professionally qualified agency, or by a private foundation, university or
institution which has an established research or conservation function, or by
owners working in cooperation with any of the foregoing government or private
institutions. Adequate safeguards and controls relating to long-term protection
should be secured before designation. International agreements over areas subject
to disputed national sovereignty can provide exceptions (e.g. Antarctica).
Equivalent
Category in 1978 System
Scientific Reserve
/ Strict Nature Reserve
CATEGORY Ib Wilderness
Area: protected area managed mainly for wilderness protection
Definition
Large area of
unmodified or slightly modified land, and/or sea, retaining its natural character
and influence, without permanent or significant habitation, which is protected
and managed so as to preserve its natural condition.
Objectives
of Management
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to ensure that
future generations have the opportunity to experience understanding and enjoyment
of areas that have been largely undisturbed by human action over a long period
of time;
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to maintain
the essential natural attributes and qualities of the environment over the long
term;
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to provide
for public access at levels and of a type which will serve best the physical
and spiritual well-being of visitors and maintain the wilderness qualities of
the area for present and future generations; and
- to enable
indigenous human communities living at low density and in balance with the
available resources to maintain their lifestyle.
Guidance for Selection
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The area should
possess high natural quality, be governed primarily by the forces of nature,
with human disturbance substantially absent, and be likely to continue to display
those attributes if managed as proposed.
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The area should
contain significant ecological, geological, physiogeographic, or other features
of scientific, educational, scenic or historic value.
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The area should
offer outstanding opportunities for solitude, enjoyed once the area has been
reached, by simple, quiet, non-polluting and non-intrusive means of travel (i.e.
non-motorised).
- The area
should be of sufficient size to make practical such preservation and use.
Organizational
Responsibility
As for Sub-Category
Ia.
Equivalent Category
in 1978 System
This sub-category
did not appear in the 1978 system, but has been introduced following the IUCN
General Assembly Resolution (16/34) on Protection of Wilderness Resources and
Values, adopted at the 1984 General Assembly in Madrid, Spain.
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