The IUCN World Conservation Congress closed in Marseille, on Friday 11, setting the future agenda for the nature’s conservation. The World Conservation Congress is the world’s largest and most inclusive environmental decision-making forum. The event held on Sept. 3-11, brought over 1,500 Members who debated and voted on 39 Motions, to approve the next IUCN programme for 2021-2024 – Nature 2030: Union in Action.
This year, the Congress’s strong focus was on the post-COVID recovery, the biodiversity and climate crises, and on the role and rights of indigenous peoples in conservation. The world is increasingly recognising the inextricable link between biodiversity conservation and human and economic wellbeing, a connection made all the more visible by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The IUCN Congress will be a key milestone for nature conservation and the development of a new global framework for biodiversity. The objective is to “drive action on nature-based recovery, on climate change and biodiversity for decades to come,” said van Ham. She said policymakers “are not at the same level of awareness” and don’t yet feel as much urgency to act on biodiversity as they do on climate change.
The French government and IUCN remain steadfast in their commitment to these goals. President Emmanuel Macron opened the congress with the vision of “putting nature at the top of the international agenda, because our destinies are intrinsically linked, the planet, the climate, nature and human communities.”
Find out more about the conference here.
