TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OF WILDERNESS AWARENESS, ADVOCACY AND TRAINING
In September 1983, a small group of South African (SA) wilderness enthusiasts attended the 3rd World Wilderness Congress (WWC3) in Scotland.
Prior to 1983, wilderness was not recognized as a protected area category. Bill Bainbridge drew attention to this anomalous situation in a paper he presented at WWC3, in Scotland. The initial reaction of many prominent people in the audience, including Dr Edgar Wayburn, then President of the Sierra Club, a highly influential NGO in the USA supporting wilderness, was that Bill's statement was erroneous, but a check of the IUCN list showed that this was indeed the case. This led to a resolution at the Congress that wilderness should be included in the IUCN international list of protected area categories. IUCN's recognition of wilderness thus originated from the WWC3 with Bill Bainbridge playing a significant role in identifying this glaring oversight.
Events at the congress stirred the SA delegation to the WWC3 to recognise the need for a NGO dedicated to promote the interests of wilderness conservation in South and southern Africa. Thus the Wilderness Action Group was formed. In September 2008 we celebrate WAG's 25th anniversary. It is important to reflect back on WAG's achievements over the years and honour the outstanding individuals who have worked tirelessly to secure recognition and protection of wilderness and extend the wilderness philosophy and principles to others.
To learn more you can explore the about us section f the site and or download a PDF version of the full brochure.
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