Los Parques Nacionales y otras Áreas Protegidas siempre han sido una de las más importantes estrategias de conservación de la biodiversidad a escala mundial y son el instrumento más utilizado para asegurar el patrimonio biológico y ecológico, aunque en muchos casos, también, el histórico cultural de casi todas las naciones.

Desde hace ya varias décadas, el esfuerzo de los países de América Latina, se ha ido consolidando en el desarrollo de políticas y estrategias para lograr una adecuada gestión de estos espacios naturales, dándole un decidido alcance y valor como bien publico y permitiendo consolidar aspectos fundamentales de representatividad biológica y ecosistémica.

Después de que en 2003 la UICN organizó el Quinto Congreso Mundial de Áreas Protegidas en Durban (Sudáfrica) y en seguimiento de la recomendación de Caracas, la REDPARQUES y la Comisión de Áreas Protegidas de la UICN solicitaron la colaboración de la FAO, UICN y PNUMA para la organización del II Congreso Latinoamericano de Parques Nacionales y Otras Áreas Protegidas en 2007.

http://www.congresolatinoparques2007.org/

The Conservation Geoportal is a collaborative effort by and for the conservation community to facilitate the discovery and publishing of geographic information systems (GIS) data and maps, to support conservation decisionmaking and education. It is primarily a data catalog, intended to provide a comprehensive listing of GIS data sets and map services relevant to biodiversity conservation. The Conservation Geoportal does not actually store maps and data, but rather the descriptions and links to those resources, known as "metadata."
It includes the following capabilities:

• Search for data and maps by keyword, category, geography, or time period.
• Save your search queries for future use.
• Use the built-in Map Viewer to display, manipulate, and combine live map services.
• Create, save, and email custom maps using data from various map services.
• Publish metadata for your maps and data so others can find them.

http://www.conservationmaps.org

EUROPARC is the umbrella organisation of Europe's protected areas. It unites national parks, regional parks, nature parks and biosphere reserves in 38 countries, with the common aim of protecting Europe's unique variety of wildlife, habitats and landscapes.

http://www.europarc.org/international/europarc.html

Europarc España: http://www.europarc-es.org/

The American system of national parks was the first of its kind in the world, and provides a living model for other nations wishing to establish and manage their own protected areas. The park service actively consults with these Nations, sharing what we've learned, and gaining knowlege from the experience of others.

Beyond national parks, the National Park Service helps communities across America preserve and enhance important local heritage and close-to-home recreational opportunities. Grants and assistance are offered to register, record and save historic places; create community parks and local recreation facilities; conserve rivers and streams, and develop trails and greenways.

http://www.nps.gov/