Environment summit pledges to save Earth's most precious areas

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) concluded its once-a-decade World Parks Congress in Sydney, releasing a list of more than 70 conservation commitments announced by countries around the world.

The Congress's Promise of Sydney, which was released on Wednesday, sets out an ambitious agenda to safeguard the planet's natural assets, ranging from halting rainforest loss in the Asia- Pacific and tripling ocean protection off Africa's coasts to a business commitment to plant 1.3 billion trees along the historic Silk Road.

The pledges included Bangladesh's first marine protected area, Gabon's new marine protected area covering 23 percent of its territorial waters, Madagascar's promise to triple its marine protected areas, and Panama's pledge to restore 1 million hectares of degraded lands within protected areas.

"Protected areas are by far the best investment the world can make to address some of today's biggest development challenges," IUCN director general Julia Marton-Lefevre said in a statement.

Organized by the IUCN and hosted by the Australian and New South Wales governments, the Congress brought together more than 6, 000 participants from over 170 countries over eight days.

"Australia is proud to have co-hosted such a successful Congress and equally proud of our own commitments in the Promise of Sydney," Australian environment minister Greg Hunt said.

Other commitments included banning dredging near Australia's Great Barrier Reef, an agreement with China to ban mining in Antarctica, new initiatives to recover the rain forests of the Asia-Pacific and to halt species loss in national parks.

China also committed to increase its protected areas territory by at least 20 percent and its forest area by 40 million hectares.

The Promise of Sydney outlines a pathway for achieving the global target to protect at least 17 percent of land and 10 percent of oceans by 2020.

A key focus was on economic benefits and cost-effectiveness of conserving the world's natural areas, including their contribution to climate change mitigation and adaptation.

It also called for new financing models to maintain them, combining public and private funding.

Modern technology emerged as a new player in nature conservation.

"It has been an inspirational Congress now it is time to deliver the innovative solutions to the challenges facing our planet," Hunt said.