About the IUCN Congress

What

  • The Congress is the world’s largest environmental and nature conservation event.
  • The Congress is the highest decision-making body of IUCN and instrumental in setting the direction of conservation efforts.
  • The IUCN World Conservation Congress 2016 will be the largest gathering of environmental policy-makers since the Paris climate agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals in New York – a major opportunity to start deciding how to put those deals into action.
  • 6,000 delegates from around the globe, including representatives of 170 governments, leading scientists, NGOs, indigenous peoples and business will convene to take part in the biggest networking opportunity in the environmental sector.
  • The Congress will bring together top professionals from all regions and expertise to share knowledge on how our natural environment should be managed for the continued well-being of humanity and all life on Earth.

Where & when

  • The IUCN World Conservation Congress 2016 will be held in Hawai’i, from 1-10 September.
  • This will be the first time the IUCN Congress will be hosted by the United States, home to over 100 IUCN member organisations.
  • The event will be broken into two parts: the Forum and the Members Assembly.
  • The Forum, taking place from 2 to 5 September, is the largest knowledge. marketplace for conservation and sustainable development science, practice and innovation with over 600 sessions addressing a wide range of issues. It is open to the public and a great place to learn, share, network and influence.
  • The Members’ Assembly, taking place from 6 to 10 September, is where IUCN’s 1,300+ Member organisations collectively decide on actions to address the most pressing and often controversial conservation and sustainable development challenges.
  • The knowledge from the Forum informs the decisions taken at the Members’ Assembly.

 

The history

  • Since 1948, the IUCN World Conservation Congress has been held every 2-4 years in all corners of the world
  • Past IUCN Congresses have been important in building consensus that have led to CITES, CBD and Ramsar Convention.
  • IUCN Congresses have also identified issues ahead of their time e.g. warning about the impact of insecticides in the 1950s; discussing impacts of climate change in the 1960s; and advocating ‘sustainable development’ in the 1970s.

 

Click here to learn more about the Congress history
 

The theme

  • The Congress theme – planet at the crossroads – frames the debate between meeting the immediate needs of human civilization and the long-term impacts doing so may have on the planet’s capacity to support life.

 

Click here to learn more about the Congress theme

 

The speakers

Some of the key speakers at Congress include:

  • Ms Sally Jewell, Secretary of Interior,  Unites States Government
  • HSH Prince Albert II of Monaco
  • Dr Sylvia Earle, Founder, Mission Blue
  • Dr Jane Goodall, Founder, Jane Goodall Institute
  • Ms Irina Bokova,  Director General,  UNESCO
  • Ms Naoko Ishii, CEO, the Global Environmental Facility
  • Mr John Scanlon, Secretary-General, Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species of Fauna and Flora
  • Mr Erik Solheim, Executive Director, UNEP
  • Ms Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

Click here to learn who else will be speaking at Congress.

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