19 November 2012: A publication from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) highlights how transboundary conservation action in South-East Europe’s Dinaric Arc helps protect the region’s biodiversity.

“Initiating effective transboundary conservation: A practitioner’s guideline based on the experience from the Dinaric Arc” also introduces an innovative tool for developing cross-border partnerships. The publication is edited by Boris Erg, Director of IUCN South-Eastern Europe, Maja Vasilijević of IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA) Transboundary Conservation Specialist Group, and Matthew McKinney of the Center for Natural Resources & Environmental Policy, University of Montana. It was published by IUCN and developed jointly by the WCPA Transboundary Conservation Specialist Group, WWF Mediterranean Programme, and SNV Netherlands Development Organization, with the support of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland.

The publication highlights examples of cooperation across borders in the Dinaric Arc area and illustrates the way this approach has advanced the region’s unity in terms of conservation and sustainable development, while strengthening regional partnerships. It also notes that transboundary co-management, in which diverse stakeholders across boundaries of sovereign states negotiate common objectives and management of a particular area, is a complex model of governance that implies long-term engagement of all involved parties.

The proposed diagnostic tool, Vasilijević notes, will assist planners of transboundary conservation processes in carefully diagnosing the situation by assessing the need and readiness to initiate a transboundary process, while also considering opportunities and risks. [IUCN Press Release] [Publication: Initiating effective transboundary conservation: A practitioner’s guideline based on the experience from the Dinaric Arc]