The WILD Mapping Project
The WILD campaigns is producing a set of maps and reports about the world's remaining natural areas--information which is crucial to all decisions regarding sustainable human development and the sustainability of life on the planet.
WILD is gathering and integrating information which currently exists on the location, characteristics and state of the world's natural, wild areas.
WILD is coordinating working conferences which will facilitate the data collection and bring together people to work on the maps, evaluate the current state of wilderness protection, coordinate strategies to quickly protect endangered wild areas and assess the possibilities for sustainable wilderness use.
WILD's overall strategy is being developed in the context of ecologically sustainable land use planning.
Environmental, indigenous and local groups as well as scientists will help WILD identify hotspots: wild places which warrant special attention because of their rarity and vulnerability, and the immediacy of the threat to their survival or health. WILD will publish and internationally distribute, particularly to environmental and native groups, the information it gathers in a series of high quality educational publications and detailed maps.
The publications and maps will help focus international attention on how little wilderness actually remains on our planet and how fast we must move to protect it.
The Importance of Mapping
Meanings of Wilderness
In December of 1989, WILD distributed a four-page questionnaire about wilderness to the 2,000 environmental and native groups, research institutes and government offices on its mailing list. Although the mailing list included groups form every country in the world, the almost 200 responses (10 percent) were weighted heavily in favor of North America and Europe (almost 50 percent of responses).
Sixty-two percent of respondents (primarily from Australia, North
America and Europe) confirmed that they use the word wilderness. Almost one-half
of the respondents who chose other words (e.g., "nature", "primary or virgin
forest", "pristine" area) defined these words using language identical
to that given for the word wilderness. Consistent characteristics for all
terms were:
* natural ecological processes intact-89%
* free-ranging populations of indigenous wildlife-84%
* indigenous vegetation intact-74%
* naturally self-sustaining - 71%
Variations in definitions were most pronounced in regards to wilderness being a homeland for traditional and indigenous peoples. Of those who use the word wilderness, 50 percent consider it a native peoples' homeland. Of those who use other terms, only 35 percent consider their term as a people's homeland.
Interestingly, WILD has been cautioned about the use of the word wilderness--that its meaning might imply the lack of human occupance and use. Yet our survey showed that people using the word wilderness had a greater tolerance for human activity, including the presence of roads and industrial use, than those who chose to use other words such as "nature" or "primary forest."
For the purposes of its mapping project, WILD has chosen to define wilderness similarly to our questionnaire respondents: An ecological unit where natural processes are largely undisturbed and which may be used by a community or communities of people in a sustainable way, so long as it still largely maintains its natural character.
WILD is using the terms "natural areas" and "natural ecosystems" interchangeably with the word "wilderness."
