To inspire action for greater justice and sustainability
February 2026
The IUCN WCPA Trails and Conservation Task Force is part of the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA) of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
The Task Force is chaired by Pedro da Cunha e Menezes of Brazil: cunhaemenezes [at] gmail.com.
Ted Trzyna of InterEnvironment Institute is assisting with organizational matters: tedtrzyna [at] gmail.com.
Appointment of a steering committee is in process.
The Task Force is implementing IUCN Resolution 8.004, Trails and Conservation, sponsored by InterEnvironment Institute and adopted at the 2025 IUCN World Conservation Congress in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
Terms of Reference are in process and will be posted here when adopted.
Trails can be powerful tools for protecting biodiversity
Otter Trail, South Africa. Opened in 1868, the Otter Trail is entirely within Garden Route National Park. A coastal trail, it has many steep ups and downs along its 40 km route. Reservations are required to make the hike, which takes five days, staying in huts for four nights.
Pacific Crest Trail, United States. Planned starting in the 1920s, it runs for 4,265 km from Canada to Mexico through the US states of Washington, Oregon, and California, traversing diverse landscapes from desert to glacier-capped mountains. Along the way, it crosses 7 national parks (including Yosemite, a World Heritage Site) 25 national forests, 5 state parks, and 4 national monuments.
Rota Vincentina, Portugal. This is a network of over 1,000 km of hiking and mountain biking trails in southwestern Portugal. One long-distance trail runs along the Atlantic Ocean coast; another follows a historic, mainly inland route. Along the way are farms, towns, and villages, as well as open country.
Trilha Transcarioca, Brazil. Completed in 2017, the Transcarioca stretches for 200 km through several mountainous protected areas around Rio de Janeiro that are within a World Heritage Site called the Carioca Landscapes between the Mountain and the Sea. (Carioca is an adjective in Brazilian Portuguese that refers to anything related to Rio de Janeiro.)