ICCA Consortium Reports from IUCN Congress and CBD COP11 Available

Two participants' reports are now available from the ICCA Consortium that detail the events and outcomes of the International Union for Conservation of Nature World Conservation Congress (IUCN WCC), held in Jeju in September 2012, and the 11th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD COP11), held in Hyderabad in October 2012. Holly Shrumm (Natural Justice) co-authored the reports in her role as the Consortium's International Policy Assistant.

The IUCN WCC report is available here and more information about the ICCA Consortium's activities in Jeju can be explored here. The CBD COP11 report is available here; more information about the Consortium's activities in Hyderabad can be found here; and an overview of key COP11 outcomes for Indigenous peoples and local communities is available here.

TCF Panel on Linking Agriculture and Conservation

Via www.christensenfund.org

Natural Justice partner and funder, The Christensen Fund (TCF), organised a panel discussion at the International Union for Conservation of Nature's (IUCN) World Conservation Congress (WCC) entitled “from competition to collaboration between agriculture and conservation: moving toward convergence between agro-ecology and conservation biology.” The session included representatives from organisations working on issues such as biodiversity conservation, agriculture and Indigenous people. 

TCF described the session as coming in a “new phase of reflection and innovation around an agro-ecosystem approach as farmers, scientists and policy makers explore how to work with nature to reduce fossil energy subsidies, tighten nutrient cycles, better manage water use, contain the use of biocides, and take advantage of more complex and diverse systems to deliver more resilient and sustainable flows of food and fiber.” 

According to a report by the Earth Journalism Network, participants agreed on the need "to mainstream the idea that conservation of biodiversity need not only exist in places like national parks – which total less than 13 percent of the earth’s land area – but on the farms that cover much of the rest of the world.”  

Read the article by the Earth Journalism Network here. Find out more about The Christensen Fund here.

Participate in IUCN WCC

The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) World Conservation Congress starts next week and the latest newsletter from IUCN has spotlighted the many ways that people from around the world can participate and contribute without traveling to Jeju.

Questions for prominent experts, politicians and CEOs participating in dialogues on the Congress’s five themes (climate, food, development, people and governance, and saving nature) can be asked through this link. Many of the events will be broadcast live and can be viewed here. The conversation on Twitter will be grouped around the #IUCN2012 hashtag and IUCN’s Facebook Page will also be updated frequently.

Natural Justice will be attending. Please share any thoughts on the Congress with us on Twitter (@NaturalJustice) or at our Facebook Page.