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Living Symbols of Peace: The Story of IIPT Peace Parks

Planting an olive tree at the IIPT Peace Park at Victoria Falls

At noon on October 8, 1992, something remarkable happened across Canada. In town after town, from St. John’s, Newfoundland, across five time zones to Victoria, British Columbia, communities gathered to dedicate a park to peace. It was the beginning of one of IIPT’s most enduring legacies.

One day, one country, hundreds of parks

The occasion was Canada’s 125th birthday. IIPT invited every community in the country to dedicate a park as a “place of peace”, timed to the moment the National Peacekeeping Monument was unveiled in Ottawa. Each park received a Peace Grove of 12 trees, one for each of Canada’s 10 provinces and 2 territories.

More than 350 cities and towns took part, and IIPT has reported 381 dedications in all. Of more than 25,000 projects marking the anniversary, Peace Parks Across Canada was said to be the most significant. You can browse the communities on our Peace Parks map.

From Canada to the world

The Canadian project became the model for IIPT International Peace Parks, and since then a Peace Park has been dedicated as a legacy of each IIPT international conference and global summit. A few stand out:

  • Bethany Beyond the Jordan, 2000. Dedicated at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, at the site of Christ’s baptism, as a legacy of the First Global Summit in Amman.
  • Victoria Falls, 2011 and 2013. A legacy of the Fifth African Conference in Lusaka, rededicated as the opening event of the UNWTO General Assembly, with six olive trees from Bethany planted to link two World Heritage Sites.
  • Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, 2018. The city’s two-mile Riverside Promenade became the model for the IIPT Global Peace Parks Project.
  • Serbia, from 2022. The IIPT Serbia Chapter dedicated its first Peace Park and has since proclaimed more, with the IIPT Peace Park Belgrade set to open in December 2026.
“The future belongs to those who give the next generation reasons to hope.” — Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

More than gardens

An IIPT Peace Park is not defined by its size. Some are city promenades, some are village greens, some sit beside world-famous landmarks. What they share is a purpose: each one is a visible reminder that peace is not just the absence of conflict, but the presence of justice, harmony and mutual respect.

Peace Parks bring people together to plant, care for and celebrate a shared space. They become outdoor classrooms where peace education and ecology meet, and landmarks where visitors and residents can pause and reflect on their common humanity.

Cities and towns of peace

The idea has grown beyond parks. Bucharest in Romania, Hobart in Tasmania and Pietermaritzburg in South Africa have been recognised as IIPT Cities of Peace, while IIPT Southern Africa’s Peace Towns Programme encourages municipalities to build tourism into their strategies for harmony and inclusion. Today there are more than 450 IIPT Peace Parks on six continents.

Dedicate a Peace Park in your community

Any community can join the network. If you would like to dedicate a Peace Park, explore our Designated Parks and Cities of Peace for inspiration, then contact IIPT to find out how to begin.