Many national parks and government-protected wilderness areas in developing nations are threatened or in bad condition, according to a new report conducted by the World Conservation Union (IUCN). Many of the parks are at risk from logging, hunting, mining, pollution, agriculture, human settlement, tourism, and war. The World Bank and the World Wildlife Fund, which jointly sponsored the report, launched an effort yesterday to work with indigenous people and governments to improve protection and management of 125 million acres of threatened national parks and other protected areas by 2005. Most of the money for that endeavor will come from the Global Environmental Facility, managed by the World Bank.
