The Diversity of Sacred Lands in Europe - IUCN

the world, make to the conservation
of biodiversity and to the long-term
maintenance of ecosystems that provide
many benefits to communities,
peoples and countries.
• A recommendation that measures to
value and protect SNSs of all peoples
and communities should be
adopted by the CBD Parties at a national
and international level, with
due respect to the traditional governance
systems that have taken care of
and maintained such sites for centuries
or millennia, and with due and
meaningful involvement of their custodians
at all relevant levels.
• A request to the Parties of the CBD
and other stakeholders involved in
the implementation of the Convention
to work together with religious organisations
and the traditional custodians
of sacred sites to support the improvement
of tools and approaches,
as well as appropriate policy frameworks,
to enhance the resilience of
SNSs in the face of global changes
that bring new and unprecedented
challenges to their present and future
conservation, which includes maintenance,
restoration, preservation and
protection (according to the 1980
IUCN-PNUMA definition).
This was not possible at the 10th Conference
of the Convention on Biological
Diversity held in Nagoya, Japan, in
October 2010. However, the mandate
of the Delos Initiative remains valid for
other related international meetings in
the near future, including the IUCN
Congress in Busan (of the Island of
Jeju, Republic of Korea) in 2012.
Participants of the Workshop at the opening of a cave on Ukonsaari Island.
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