The European Union’s BESTLIFE2030 Programme has announced a €5.57 million funding boost for biodiversity conservation across its Outermost Regions and Overseas Countries and Territories. 

During the plenary sessions, which involved Members and Commissions, discussions covered a range of priority issues, including the process for Members to submit motions for deliberation at the next IUCN Congress in Abu Dhabi.

The upcoming 2025 International Ranger Awards will open for nominations from 11^th October 2024, at the World Ranger Congress, through 31^st January 2025. Awardees will be announced during the 2025 IUCN World Conservation Congress in Abu Dhabi (October 9 – 15, 2025). 

“As we align our strategies with global environmental targets for 2030 and 2050, our focus on inclusivity and innovation will guide us. We're not just planning for the immediate future. We are setting the course for a bold, impactful 20-year strategic vision that embraces all nations within a diverse and dynamic union,” President Razan Al Mubarak said.

In Việt Nam, two conservation areas including Cát Tiên National Park and Vân Long Wetland Nature Reserve are recognised on the IUCN Green List, along with seven project sites participating in the IUCN Green List programme. Jake Brunner, head of IUCN’s Lower Mekong Sub-region, spoke with Việt Nam News reporter Trần Khánh An about the significance of IUCN Green List status for Việt Nam’s protected areas.

This volume identifies six approaches or pathways and provides guidance on implementing 20 good practices for appropriately recognizing, respecting and supporting overlapped ICCAs in existing, new and expanded protected areas of all governance types and management categories.

After the dialogues held during the TRɄA World Summit on Traditional Knowledge related to Biodiversity, which took place from August 26 to August 29 in Bogota, Colombia, a series of recommendations were made to the parties of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) to be considered at the Sixteenth Meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP16), in October, 2024.

Protecting 30 per cent of the Earth is the aim that most people have heard of, but this is actually just a single step on the ambitious pathway to halt and reverse the loss of biodiversity. Key to this is how countries measure the effectiveness of protected and conserved areas: how well managed they are, whether they are equitably governed, and whether they are delivering good conservation outcomes.

From September 11 to 13, 2024, more than 70 representatives from civil society, Indigenous organisations, international organisations, and conservation experts gathered to define the OECMs Collaborative Agenda 2025-2030.

Under the theme ‘Peace with Nature’, IUCN will participate at COP16, the first meeting of the COP after the adoption of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) in 2022, also known as the Biodiversity Plan. As focus now turns to implementation, Governments will review the progress made in translating the global framework into national strategies and plans.

The implementation of the Biodiversity Plan needs to be supported by strong mechanisms. IUCN provides recommendations on mechanisms for planning, monitoring, reporting and review, including the monitoring framework, resource mobilisation, and on capacity-building, technical and scientific cooperation, knowledge management, among other things. 

This report takes stock of the policies and practices relevant to other effective area-based conservation
measures (OECMs) in China. The report explores the critical role of OECMs in China’s conservation
efforts, emphasising their potential contribution to the country’s commitment to Target 3 of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF). 

The Biobío River is now the first ecosystem to have a Declaration of Rights in Chile.  The communities of Defensa Ribera Norte Chiguayante, situated downstream on the Biobío River, and Malen Leubü, located in Alto Biobío, alongside the NGOs Defensa Ambiental, Manzana Verde, International Rivers, and Earth Law Center, proudly announced the launch of the Declaration of the Rights of the Biobío River.

The concept of ‘long-term’ is a key part of the definitions of both protected areas and other effective area-based conservation measures (OECMs).This technical note outlines existing global guidance on the interpretation of ‘long-term’ for area-based conservation and clarify aspects that may have led to misinterpretation. The definition of ‘long-term’ is: “Protected areas should be managed in perpetuity and not as a short-term or temporary management strategy.”

In declaring 2022-2032 the International Year of Indigenous Languages, UNESCO’s Resolution A/RES/74/135 sought ‘to draw attention to the critical loss of indigenous languages and the urgent need to preserve, revitalise and promote indigenous‘. It is estimated that of the approximately 6,700 languages spoken worldwide about 40% are endangered, and 97% of the world's population speaks only 4% of those languages.

Limiting global warming to 1.5°C could
save glaciers in two-thirds of World
Heritage sites. Glaciers are crucial sources of life on Earth as they provide vital water resources to half of
humanity for domestic use, agriculture and hydropower. They are also sacred places for many local communities and attract millions of tourists globally.

 Dr. Hyun-Ah Choi, a Senior researcher at HSF Korea, attended IUCN Asia forum, shared GMACC activity along the Flyways, and talked about how securing Asian flyways through the IUCN Green List can contribute to achieving the Global Biodiversity Framework's 30x30 target in Asia.

The Festival of Northern Fisheries was conceptualised by professional fisherman Olli Klemola, keeper of fishing traditions in Pälkäne, Finland. Klemola believes that organising spaces in which small-scale and Indigenous fishers can exchange between themselves, face-to-face enables them to self-organise to meet the new challenges of the 21st century.

Legal experts working with IUCN have submitted written responses to the International Court of Justice as part of their ongoing participation in a case that will address State obligations to protect the climate system and the legal consequences if such obligations were breached. IUCN is the only international organisation with both state and non-state members being heard by the Court. 

Peter made extraordinary national and global contributions to forest conservation, rainforest protection, World Heritage, and national parks. He was a visionary, with a green future for our planet firmly in his sights. Peter Hitchcock left an indelible mark on nature conservation and on those who knew him. His determination to win results for the environment in the face of adversity is legendary in Australia and many parts of the world.

Charlie Tokeley, from the IUCN Protected and Conserved Areas team, shares a reflection on place and what it means to ‘be from’ somewhere. "The most formative times of my life took place on a rock. A big mass of Cornish rock, to be precise. The Godolphin-Tregonning granite lode cuts like a comma in a short, slight diagonal, forcing a pause on the north of Mount’s Bay before the big splash of granite further west at Land’s End. It contains the entirety of Cornwall’s history (in summarised form, of course), as well as my own."

This is the first global empirical study that specifically explores the perspectives of Indigenous peoples, people working for Indigenous Peoples’ Organisations (IPOs) and people working in other relevant roles (e.g., conveners
of large environmental NGOs) on the barriers to meaningful and effective participation in global environmental
governance forums. A total of 30 key informant participants were interviewed for this study. Participants were
invited based on their engagement with and/or their interest in Indigenous participation and leadership related
to environmental governance.

The first recipient, Vance Martin, serves as co-chair of the IUCN WCPA Wilderness Specialist Group and was celebrated for his lifelong commitment to wilderness conservation. Alan Watson, co-author of the Management Guidelines for IUCN Protected Area Category 1b (Wilderness) and committed wilderness researcher, was the second honouree, recognized for his longstanding service to wilderness and the World Wilderness Congresses. Alan's leadership as Executive Editor of the International Journal of Wilderness has further cemented his legacy as a key figure in wilderness research and conservation.

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