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ECOSYSTEM INSIDER

Ecosystem Insider brings you news from the IUCN Commission on Ecosystem Management
December 2019 Edition 4
Dear IUCN CEM Member,
We are pleased to bring you the 4th Issue of the IUCN Commission on Ecosystem Management (CEM) Newsletter for 2019
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CEM Highlight

CEM in the side events of the Climate Change Conference - COP 25 - Madrid

The United Nations Climate Change Conference -COP 25- has been the COP where NbS has been mentioned the most in side events and corridor conversations as instruments to promote the mitigation and adaptation based on ecosystems. NbS are grounded in comprehensive perspectives where the climate and biodiversity crises are managed simultaneously, as well as other social challenges which are emphasized in the SDGs. Also, COP 25 was the Oceans’ COP where several reports were presented on the deoxygenation of oceans and their impacts. The IUCN delegation participated in a series of parallel events in themes such as Natural Climate Solutions  (NCS) specifically emphasizing mitigation, to the comprehensive solutions and the seed of a transformational change with NbS. Angela Andrade -CEM Chair- had the chance to present in various events promoted by the Colombian delegation in their pavilion, as well as in the launching of a publication developed by WWF: Climate, Nature and our 1.5 C Future which gathers a synthesis of reports presented in 2019 by the IPCC and IPBES. She also participated in the event promoted by the French government: ‘Nature-based solutions to climate change: from the UN Climate Action Summit to the IUCN Congress’ where she had the chance to highlight the central themes of the NbS Standard process under development by IUCN..

Learn more about Nature-based Solutions
UN Climate Change COP
Leadership Corner

Global Standard for Nature-based Solutions

With the fast-growing interest and momentum of Nature-based Solutions (NbS) to address societal challenges, the IUCN Secretariat together with CEM have been working for the past two years, on developing a global standard for the design and verification of NbS. A second and last public consultation took place during the past two months and has again, attracted a lot of interest. CEM-NbS TG wants to thank the numerous experts at CEM, who have dedicated their time and expertise, to participate in this important initiative and provide insightful comments during the first and second public consultations. A core group – composed of CEM Thematic Group Leads and the CEM Steering Committee – is currently reviewing the last version of the standard, to be finalised by the Secretariat. CEM Chair Angela Andrade will then present the standard to the IUCN Council for endorsement, and it will then be launched at the World Conservation Congress in June 2020.
More Information...

Global Forum on Ecological Restoration 

In September, CEM partnered with the Society for Ecological Restoration (SER) to host the second biennial Global Forum on Ecological Restoration in Cape Town, South Africa. Thirty-eight experts from sixteen countries came together to address The Role of Ecological Restoration in Achieving Global Biodiversity Targets: Broadening the Post-2020 Framework.  Forum participants discussed challenges, solutions, and priority actions with regard to:

  • Elevating ecological restoration as a mechanism to meet post-2020 biodiversity targets and goals
  • Incorporating principles and standards for restorative activities into large-scale restoration initiatives
  • Balancing the delivery of ecosystem services for human wellbeing with protection and restoration of biodiversity

The Forum resulted in a list of 14 priority strategic actions to improve capacity for ecosystem restoration, especially in view of the United Nations declaration of the Decade on Ecosystem Restoration.  A preliminary report on these actions was prepared for the Convention on Biological Diversity thematic consultation on ecosystem restoration in Rio de Janeiro in November, 2019.  Cara Nelson, lead of CEM’s Ecosystem Restoration TG and co-organizer of the Forum, represented CEM at the Rio consultation. In early 2020, Forum participants and CEM members will be invited to participate in working groups to address one or more identified priority actions.  For more information, please contact Cara Nelson. 

More information about CEM's work on ecosystem restoration

CEM participation in the 3rd Congress of Protected Areas of Latin America and the Caribbean - III CAPLAC Lima, Peru

CEM played a key role as leader of the transversal theme of climate change, with support from CONANP - México and WWF Colombia, promoting discussions and analysis on the new challenges of biodiversity conservation systems and ecosystem services; the blue economy as an emerging opportunity, and institutional adjustments for adaptive management of protected area systems, all this in the face of climate change scenarios. CEM had an active membership participation.
Congress Website
Thematic Areas

Transatlantic MPA Network EU project - Coastal Resilience partnership

The final conference of the Transatlantic MPAs Network EU project has been held in Brussels the 18th and 19th November. The MPAs Resilience working group developed in the framework of the Transatlantic Partnership includes partners from:

  • Portugal, Northern Littoral Natural Park
  • Gabon, Emerald Ark ecological complex (3 MPAs surrounding the capital city – Libreville)
  • USA (New Jersey), Jacques Cousteau National Estuarine Research Reserve
  • Brazil, Abrolhos National Park and Ecological Mosaic of Marine and Coastal Reserve of Florianopolis.
  • Mexico, Cozumel biosphere Reserve and Puerto Morelos Coral Reefs National Park.

This working group involves the CEM Coastal Specialist Group (CSG). Most of the partners are members of the CSG. This group is working on strategies to increase MPAs resilience on one hand, and strategies developed by MPAs to increase to the resilience of surrounding coastal areas in the Atlantic Basin on the other hand. The last achievements have been presented, especially Resilience Guidelines (to MPAs managers) and the Online Resilience Self-Assessment Toolkit (R-SAT). This online tool is still in a bêta demo version, but will be released in full version soon (beginning of 2020) and presented during a workshop and a speaker pitch session during the WCC in Marseille, June 2020. The Transatlantic MPA Network UE project will start its third phase in January 2020, and further developments of the Coastal Resilience Platform are planned.

Measuring the ecological and economic effectiveness of restoration in biodiverse areas impacted by invasive species.

The Ecosystems and Invasive Species Thematic Group has been working since 2011 on an innovative approach to measure the ecological and economic effectiveness of restoration in biodiverse areas impacted by invasive species. This project was recently awarded the United Nations of Australia / Western Australia Environment Award. The group is currently writing the methodology into a Thematic Group Case Study of Best Practice to enable others to implement this approach to understand and improve the effectiveness of their restoration actions.
Learn more about CEM's work on Invasive Species 

Ecosystem Restoration: Global Initiatives in Science and Practice Webinar Series

In 2019, CEM’s Ecosystem Restoration Thematic Group (ERTG) launched a monthly webinar series, Ecosystem Restoration: Global Initiatives in Science and Practice, to provide a forum for IUCN and CEM members to share knowledge on ecological restoration and to facilitate networking and direct engagement. Webinar sessions were delivered by CEM ERTG members, IUCN secretariat programs, IUCN member organizations, and restoration practitioners. Topics ranged from Effective Restoration Monitoring Programs, Traditional Knowledge, and Sourcing Seed and Native Plant Materials. Additionally, Thematic Group members Abraham Ekperusi, Shalini Dhyani, and Consuelo Bonfil presented an overview of activities and lessons learned from restoration work from their respective CEM Regions (West Africa, South Asia, and Central America, Mexico and Caribbean). The Rewilding and Global Restoration sessions were held jointly with the NatureServe, GEO BON and EcoHealth Alliance “Pulse-of-the-Planet” webinar series. Throughout 2019, there have been 750+ registrants to the series, 173 unique participants from 35 countries attended the live sessions, and 1200+ views on YouTube. 41% of participants indicated they are part of IUCN (primarily CEM).  Sector participation ranged from private (i.e. EcoLogic Consultants Ltd., Environmental Science Associates), NGOs (Conservation International, World Resources Institute, Society for Ecological Restoration), local (Seattle Parks - Green Seattle Partnership), state (Saskatchewan Research Council, Washington State Department of Natural Resources), central governments (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Ministerio de Ambiente de Panama), academia (McGill University, Nigeria Maritime University), and one tribal organization (Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission). We aim to grow participation each month and create a forum to learn and connect with restoration practitioners from around the globe. Please stay tuned and join the ERTG for the 2020 Series.

You can find the complete 2019 Series Playlist here ; Registration URL; for more information, please contact Brock Blevins.

SUME too on Climate Change

Thanks to help and advice from several CEM members, the Thematic Group for Sustainable Use and Management of Ecosystems has launched in English a page on Climate Change in time for the Madrid COP. Further good news is that Patrons of European Sustainable Use Group have contributed enough to the Naturalliance project to get 40 languages online by the time we meet in Marseille for WCC7. Young SUME members will hold a speaker pitch on the Forum there entitled “Does everyone speak English?” to explain about this and other networks that promote conservation of ecosystems through sustainable use. In the meantime, work is in full swing to roll-out simple satellites in the languages of the areas covered (sometimes countries, sometimes regions), aiming by June 2020 for at least one satellite in each language. 
Learn more..

IUCN RLE symposium in the III Latin American and Caribbean Congress on Protected Areas

An RLE symposium titled “Experiences of the IUCN Red List of Ecosystems in Latin America - implications for decision-making and effective biodiversity management" was held during the III Latin American and Caribbean Congress on Protected Areas, which took place in Peru last October. The goal of the symposium was to showcase the results of recent and ongoing ecosystem risk assessments within Latin American countries, with emphasis on their applications for biodiversity and protected areas management.  The event was co-organized by Provita and CEM. 

IUCN RLE team at the 70th National Botany Congress of Brazil

Irene Zager (Provita and RLE Thematic Group) participated in an RLE symposium titled “Red List of Ecosystems in Brasil” for the 70th National Botanical Congress of Brazil, organized by Natália Ivanuskas from the Instituto Forestal de Sao Paulo and the Sociedade Botânica do Brasil. The event took place on October 22, 2019, in Maceio, Brazil. The symposium aimed to disseminate the method and tools available for the elaboration of the Red List of Ecosystems and to form a network of institutional partnerships and collaborators for implementation on a national scale, aiming to achieve robust results by the International Botanical Congress in 2023.   

IUCN Red List of Ecosystems assessor training - Florianopolis, Brazil

Experts in coastal and marine ecosystems, managers and decision makers from Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina gathered in Florianopolis - Brazil for a three-day capacity building workshop on the IUCN Red List of Ecosystems, led by Irene Zager and Lila Garcia, from Provita. The event was the kick-off activity of a regional effort called LEAP - Leveraging Ecosystem-based Approaches for Priority-setting, led by the Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina (UFSC) and focused on the South Atlantic Coast as a first step towards an approach that can be replicated in other regions. The project is supported by the Bio-Bridge Initiative (BBI) of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and counts with a close collaboration with the IUCN Commission on Ecosystem Management (CEM) and Provita.

The group selected sand dunes as the first ecosystem for a case study to be conducted in a collaborative way with four universities: Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS) and Universidade Federal do Rio Grande (FURG) from Brazil, Universidad de la República (UdelaR) from Uruguay and Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata from Argentina

Joint training workshop on species and ecosystems Red Lists held in Venezuela.

Moving ahead with strong collaborations, a joint training workshop on risk assessments of species extinction and ecosystem collapse was held in Venezuela as part of the XII Venezuelan Ecology Congress program. The course brought together professionals from different sectors, researchers and students interested in better understanding the RLE and the RLTS protocols and the requirements to carry out ecosystem and species risk assessments.

Ecosystem Indicators for global reporting

Jess Rowland’s paper on ecosystem indicators for global reporting has been published in Conservation Letters. See the blog post at:post: https://conservationscience.org.au/2019/11/13/new-paper-ecosystem-indices-to-support-global-biodiversity-conservation/

The role of Ecosystems in Human well-being

Emily Nicholson (Deakin University) was awarded a Future Fellowship grant from the Australian Research Council to investigate the contributions of ecosystems to human well-being. Summary: This project aims to provide theory and practical guidelines to integrate ecosystem science into policy and action to address human well-being. Ecosystem risk assessment provides critical information for conservation, and has compelling but unexplored relationships with human health and nature’s benefits to people. The research will identify ecosystem measures that highlight areas of risk to human well-being as well as biodiversity. Expected outcomes include new standards for including ecosystem change in policy frameworks globally and in Australia, such as natural capital accounting and United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

Australian alpine ecosystems

A project is underway to develop a Red List assessment of Australian alpine and subalpine ecosystems. Chloe Sato and Tracey Regan organised an expert  workshop to complete the classification of and description of ecosystem types for assessment, plan and initiate the data analyses and documentation for the risk assessment, to be held with 25 expert participants on 16-19 December.

Oceans Accounting

The Oceans Accounting Initiative held its international meeting at UNSW in Sydney in November. David Keith presented on the IUCN global ecosystem typology as an option for classifying ocean ecosystem assets for accounting. An informal group was convened to further develop spatial units for ocean accounting.

Red List of Antartic ecosystems

David Keith in collaboration with Alex Terauds, Justine Shaw, Jonny Stark, Nick Murray and Steve Chown were awarded an Antarctic strategic science grant to undertake a risk assessment Red List of Antarctic terrestrial ice-free and near castal marine ecosystems. Dr Aniko Toth has been appointed as a postdoctoral fellow to undertake the work with guidance from the research team. The project is expected to commence in March 2020.

RLE and CEM at Europarc 2019

David Keith attended the CEM steering committee meeting to present an update on the global ecosystem typology and contribute to the CEM presentation and forum at the Europarc 2019 conference in Jurmala, Latvia in September.
Euoparc 2019

National Red Lists of Ecosystems

Tytti Kontula (Finnish Environment Institute) convened a workshop in October to share learnings from national Red List projects in Europe. It was well attended by conservation scientists from France, Norway, Sweden, Russia and Finland, among other countries, as well as Nick Abery and Andre Stutz, with presentations from Chloe Sato and David Keith (Australia). Tytti has prepared a report on the discussions, which will prove an important resource for the next revision of the RLE guidelines.
Regional News

South America

Regional CEM meeting of Latin America and the Caribbean members

During the 3rd Congress of Protected Areas of Latin America and the Caribbean - III CAPLAC in Lima, Peru, a CEM meeting of Latin America and the Caribbean members was held on October 17. Around 17 people from the two Latin American regions attended. They exchanged their visions and concerns on improving communication among members of the regions and how to disseminate CEM strategic issues. Several initiatives were identified such as:

  • Conduct a webinar on the results of IPBES for the Americas.
  • Concentrate the efforts of the CEM in both regions, on the issues under the umbrella of Nature based Solutions (NbS).
  • Arrange bimonthly virtual meetings between the coordinators of each region with members interested in knowing more about the work of the Commission.
  • Take advantage of technical webinar spaces (for members of the Commission) and have short reports from the Commission Steering Committee representatives on the strategic decisions take during their meetings.
  • Collaborate jointly among members to find more assertive forms of communication.

Please contact Doris Cordero - Regional Chair for South America; Rocio Córdoba - RC for Central America, Mexico and Caribbean or Bernal Herrera - SC member for Latin America, for further information. 

Dissemination of the Ecosystem Approach and Nature-based Solutions in Latin American course

The CEM Regional Chair for Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean (Rocío Córdoba) was invited to give a training module within the "Second International Course on Ecosystems and Integrated Watershed Management with a Participatory Approach" (October 21 and 22, 2019) in Panama City. The course was organized by the Ministry of Environment of Panama and sponsored by the Japanese Cooperation Agency, JICA. The module emphasized the ecosystem approach, water resources governance and nature-based solutions in watersheds and their importance for climate change adaptation, 15 professionals from Belize, Bolivia, Costa Rica, Cuba, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, and Uruguay attended the course.
Spotlight on Ecosystems

Towards the elaboration of a National Wetland Inventory in Argentina

The National Wetland Inventory (INH) is an instrument through which updated georeferenced information is provided on the extent, variety, characteristics, ecological functions, ecosystem services and conservation status of wetlands within the national territory. The INH is conceived as a tool for the sustainable management of wetlands and the  environmental planning of the territory according to the instruments established in the General Environmental Law (Law 25,675) and international commitments acquired by the country. The process of implementing the National Wetland Inventory (INH) in Argentina is lead by the Ministry of Environment with the collaboration of National University of San Martin and Wetlands International/Fundacion Humedales from Argentina. The general objective of the INH is to contribute to knowledge about the country's wetlands, their functions, and their social and cultural-ecological value. As specific objectives the INH proposes:

  • Provide a geographic database of regions, systems, landscapes and environments that provide information on the area occupied by wetlands, their delimitation, distribution spatial and context in which they are located.
  • Obtain a system consisting of its nomenclature, use, and communication for different geographical regions, which facilitates the comparison and exchange of information at different levels (local, national and international).
  • Provide a classification suitable for understanding the diversity of wetland environments existing in the country.
  • Provide updated georeferenced information on the extent and variety of wetlands within the national territory.
  • Provide information on wetland characteristics with emphasis on their ecological functions and ecosystem services.
  • Establish a baseline for assessments and monitoring of wetlands in terms of its state of conservation within the framework of land use, of land planning and variability and climate change.
  • Facilitate the development of national reports to the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, to the Sustainable Development Goals and the Convention on Biological Diversity

Regarding the representation of the geographic distribution of wetlands, four scales or levels of anaylsis have been defined for the INH: a) Wetland Regions, b) Landscape Systems; c) Wetland Landscape Units, and d)  Wetland units. 

Promoting strategic action for global peatlands

The IUCN UK Peatland Programme team (Chair of the CEM Peatlands TG) have been busy travelling outside of the UK as part of their CEM role to share peatland restoration expertise globally:

Monitoring global strategies for peatlands

The IUCN and a team at Newcastle University (led by Prof. Mark Reed) have been monitoring progress towards  the 2016 Resolution 43- Securing the future for global peatlands with results presented at COP25 in Madrid. Desk research and an international survey of peatland nations revealed that most had or were developing national strategies to protect and restore their peatlands.  A total of 27 national peatland strategies were found.

Most of these included:

  • co-ordination of action to protect existing peatlands
  • work to assess the distribution
  • condition of peatlands and policies to support local communities

However, few included policies to sustainably manage peatlands, monitor greenhouse gases, stop peat extraction or leverage private investment in restoration. Details of the report can be found at www.iucn-uk-peatlandprogramme.org/about-us/commission-ecosystem-management.  Looking forwards to the WCC 2020 in Marseille, we will continue to update this report with news of new and developing peatland strategies and seek to build on global support for peatlands at events held during the Congress.

European Peatland Strategies workshop, Bonn, Germany

Over 30 representatives from across 12 European countries attended a workshop to examine existing and developing national peatland strategies. Emma Goodyer (IUCN UK Peatland Programme Manager) and Steven Grady (IUCN UK National Committee Chair and EU Policy Advisor for the JNCC) attended the workshop (28th-29th October 2019) to feed in experiences of developing and delivering strategic action for the UK’s peatlands.  

Hosted by The German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (Bundesamt für Naturschutz, BfN) and supported by the Succow Foundation and Ramsar, the workshop aimed to bring together respective experts and stakeholders of the public sector and civil society in order to exchange knowledge and experiences on existing and planned national peatland strategies. The focus of work over the two days was to identify core elements of a national strategic action for peatlands that fosters best practice peatland management, considering aspects of conservation, restoration and sustainable use.  
Youth Section

ATTENTION PLEASE! The call for nominations for the CEM Young Professional Award 2020 is now closed. CEM thanks everyone who submitted their nominations by November 1, 2019. If you have any questions please email CEM.Officer@cem.iucn.org or Liette Vasseur.

CEM Young Professionals Network present in COP25

Youth participation in COP25 of UNFCCC stood out, and the message is clear: young people are not only activists, they are also experts and deserve to be part of decision making and negotiations. Vania Olmos Lau, a member of the IUCN-CEM Young Professionals Network, was present during the event through her role as Regional Coordinator of Latin America and the Caribbean for Youth4Nature, a youth organization advocating for nature-based solutions in climate action. During COP's first week Youth4Nature had two events: 1) a panel with young politicians and their role including the environment in policy-making, 2) a powerful rally where youth shared their stories on NbS action on-the-ground together with Conservation International and The Nature Conservancy. During the second week Youth4Nature closed the last day of the COP with an intergenerational dialogue. Vania Olmos Lau was a panelist in an event ran by the Cities4Forests initiative.

YPN participation in Experiences of the IUCN Red List of Ecosystems in Latin America

The CEM-YPN participated in the symposium: “Experiences of the IUCN Red List of Ecosystems in Latin America - implications for decision-making and effective management of biodiversity”, which was held in the 3rd Congress of Protected Areas of Latin America and the Caribbean - III CAPLAC in Lima, Peru. It was attended by speakers from Costa Rica, Chile, Uruguay, Venezuela and the Dominican Republic. Lemuel Familia (Dominican Republic) member of the YPN-CEM presented the case study: Applying the criteria of the Red List of Ecosystems in the Dominican Republic (preliminary) - the case of the Pterocarpus officinalis swamp forest, in the Hispaniola island and its implications for effective management. YPN also participated in the intergenerational panel, on how protected areas work in the region, based on a preliminary study about management.

New leadership: weaving networks among young leaders for our heritage

From October 11 to 13, members of the CEM-YPN, Lemuel Familia, Brenda Cárdenas and Moises Oswaldo Flores Armillas, participated in the pre-congress youth workshop “The new leadership: weaving networks among young leaders for our heritage” as part of the 3rd Congress of Protected Areas of Latin America and the Caribbean.

This meeting was held in Paracas National Reserve in Peru and aimed to: a) recognize and disseminate the work of young people to strengthen effectiveness in protected areas, b) improve the articulation of diverse young professionals with the volunteers of the IUCN commissions members and working groups, and c) strengthen the network of young leaders from Latin America and the Caribbean in the field of conservation and communication.

The skills acquired within this workshop will help the application of effective conservation strategies within the CEM membership and will strengthen the articulation with other IUCN commissions, such as the World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA) and the Education and Communication Commission (CEC).
IUCN's World Conservation Congress

The IUCN World Conservation Congress is where the world comes together to set priorities and drive conservation and sustainable development action. IUCN’s 1300+ government, civil society and indigenous peoples’ Member organisations vote on major issues, action which guides humanity’s relationship with our planet for the decades ahead.

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What's on the Calendar

Information on Experiences in the Implementation of Marine Spatial Planning. 
Deadline: January 21, 2020

Submissions may include relevant management plans at sub-national, national, or regional levels, case studies (including specific sectors/uses involved, objectives, tools/approaches used, and outcomes), challenges, success factors, and lessons learned.

To coordinate the submission of inputs and comments from IUCN, please send your inputs to cbd.contact@iucn.org, no later than the deadline. Read the full notification

Views on possible targets, indicators and baselines for the post-2020 global biodiversity framework and peer review of a document on indicators. 
Deadline: January 30, 2020

Please note that the request of the notification is two-fold: views on targets, indicators and baselines on one hand, AND the peer review of document CBD/SBSTTA/23/INF/4 entitled “Indicators for global and national biodiversity targets – Experience and indicator resources for development of the post-2020 global biodiversity framework”

To coordinate the submission of inputs and comments from IUCN, please send your inputs to cbd.contact@iucn.org, no later than the deadline . Read the full notification

Views and suggestions regarding the draft proposals to strengthen technical and scientific cooperation in support of the post-2020 global biodiversity framework. 
Deadline: January 15, 2020

Paragraph 3 of SBSTTA recommendation CBD/SBSTTA/23/L.7 invites Parties, other Governments and relevant organizations to submit to the Executive Secretary additional views and suggestions regarding the proposals contained in Annex I of said recommendation for the consideration of SBI3 and OEWG-3.

To coordinate the submission of inputs and comments from IUCN, please send your inputs to cbd.contact@iucn.org, no later than the deadline.

Peer review of the fifth edition of the Global Biodiversity Outlook. 
Deadline: January 3, 2020

The draft report as well as review guidelines and template are accessible at https://www.cbd.int/gbo5/review/.

To coordinate the submission of inputs and comments from IUCN, please send us (cbd.contact@iucn.org) your comments using the required template. Read the full notification.
Publications

Report of the workshop The Role of Forest Ecosystems in Meeting SDGs in South Asia

The report of the workshop supported by the CEM Forest Ecosystems SG and South Asia CEM region in May 2019 (see June edition of this newsletter) "the Role of Forest Ecosystems in Meeting Sustainable Development Goals in South Asia" in Goa is available in this link.

Gosnell, H., N. Gill, and M. Voyer. 2019. Transformational adaptation on the farm: Processes of change and persistence in transitions to ‘climate-smart’ regenerative agriculture. Global Environmental Change 59:101965. https://authors.elsevier.com/a/1a3T93Q8oP-9Fz

This new article is led by the EbA TG leader Hannah Gosnell and is about sheep and beef farmers’ experiences transitioning from conventional to regenerative agriculture. While there’s been a lot of buzz recently around “regen ag" and its potential contribution to climate change mitigation and adaptation, not much has been published in the peer-reviewed literature yet. This article frames the transition process in terms of practical, political, and personal spheres of transformation, emphasizing the importance of the latter and drawing on qualitative research in Australia. The article also focuses on what facilitates persistence on the transformation journey. Change is hard, but sticking with a new program can be even harder. A key finding is that practicing regenerative agriculture can be intensely rewarding and life-affirming, but there are a variety of challenges in the three spheres that need to be addressed. Dr. Gosnell says: “If we’re going to support transformation in the ag sector, I believe we need to understand the real world experiences of farmers and ranchers around the world who are trying to rebuild their soil and make sound management decisions based on their understanding of fundamental ecosystem processes.”

 PS - Note that free access to the article will expire on January 3, so if you’re going to download, do it before then!

Governance for Ecosystem-based Adaptation

IUCN’s Regional Office for Central America, Mexico and the Caribbean and the Environmental Law Centre launched together earlier this year (at the PreCOP25) the book “Gobernanza para la adaptación basada en ecosistemas” which gathers 10 years of experience on adaptation to climate change in transboundary basins in Mesoamerica. Here is a link to the webstory.

Ecosystem Indicators for global reporting

Jess Rowland’s paper on ecosystem indicators for global reporting has been published in Conservation Letters. See the blog post 

Principles and Standards for Ecological Restoration

In September, the second edition of the International Principles and Standards for the Practice of Ecological Restoration  (or the “Standards”) was published in the journal, Restoration Ecology.  The Standards were developed by the Society for Ecological Restoration, in partnership with more than a dozen other organizations around the world, including CEM. The Standards establish norms to guide the development and implementation of ecological restoration projects worldwide.  By providing a clear, coherent, and versatile approach, the Standards help ensure restoration can achieve a wide range of benefits, including mitigating climate change, recovering biodiversity and ecological integrity, and enhancing human wellbeing. They also assist countries in meeting international biodiversity and sustainability targets, such as those set forth in the United Nations 2030 Sustainability Goals, the Paris Climate Agreement, and the Bonn Challenge, including the African Forest Landscape Restoration Initiative (AFR100). 

The Standards can be accessed here.
Images

Image 1:Angela Andrade - Stephen Cornelius (Chief Adviser on Climate Change -WWF), Angela Andrade -CEM Chair- , Manuel Pulgar Vidal (Climate & Energy Glbal Practice Leader -WWF), Thelma Krug (Vice-Chair of the IPCC) in the launching of the WWF publication: Climate, Nature and our 1.5 C Future. 
Image 2: Angela Andrade - CEM Chair- in the Colombian pavilion in COP 25 – Madrid, in the event “Progress in EbA projects in Colombia”.  
Image 3:NBS Graphic
Image 4: Rafael Chavez, Secretariat for the Environment of the State of Sâo Paulo (Brazil), participating in the global Forum in South Africa.
Image 5: Cara Nelson, CEM Ecosystem Restoration TG Lead, and Radhika Dave, IUCN Senior Forest Programme Officer, at the UN Convention on Biological Diversity’s Consultation on Ecosystem Restoration.
Image 6: III CAPLAC Lima, Peru
Image 7: Marine Protected Areas Resilience Guidelines
Image 8: Baseline weed cover mapping of Trigg Bushland Reserve Perth Western Australia, Judy Fisher
Image 9: Naturalliance page. The Climate Change page still needs translating to Mongolian, one of 27 Naturalliance languages.
Images 10 and 11: IUCN Red List Symposium in CPAPC
Images 12 and 13:  IUCN RLE Team present at the 70th National Botany Congress of Peru
Image 14: RLE Assessor Training
Image 15: A toucan in Venezuela, J Thorsell
Image 16: These Brazilian children live along the banks of the rivers that wind around the fringes of Marajó Island. The river is their playground, but it is also their road, their shower, their drinking water and, sadly their trash can. J Griffin
Image 17: Mount Feathertop, Australia, PeopleinNature
Image 18: Atolla jellyfish in the Indian Ocean, Sarah Gotheil
Image 19: Robertson Bay, Antarctica , J. Thorsell
Image 20: Europarc Conference
Image 21: IUCN Red List of Ecosystems
Image 22: CEM members from Latin America and the Caribbean in CAPLAC, Lima-Perú.
Image 23: Turtles in Panama, Ger Bergkamp
Image 24: Wetlands Claudio Baigun
Image 25 and 26: Workshop attendees discussing recommendations and take home messages for strategic action on European peatlands.
Image 27: From right to left: Emmanuel Nii Odartey Obetsebi-Lamptey, Vania Olmos Lau, Eleanore Henderson,  Silvia Brilhante
Image 28: From right to left: Hailey May, Eduardo Murat, Ana Carolina Martínez, Vania Olmos Lau.
Image 29: From right to left:Hailye May, Ana Carolina Martínez, Eduardo Murat
Image 30 and 31:  Lemuel Familia, YPN member.

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Title

Far far away, behind the word mountains, far from the countries Vokalia and Consonantia, there live the blind texts. Separated they live in Bookmarksgrove right at the coast of the Semantics, a large language ocean. A small river named Duden flows by their place and supplies it with the necessary regelialia.
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