Dear colleagues,

Once again, let me wish you a very happy new year! I hope you all enjoyed a well-deserved break with your loved ones, and that you are off to a good start of 2023.

Allow me to begin this message by thanking you for your dedication, passion and energy throughout the past year. This was especially evident during the many Conferences of the Parties (COPs) in the final weeks of 2022. I invite you to watch the recording of the 21 December 2022 townhall to see how much IUCN accomplished in a very busy policy year.

With many milestones reached, such as the passing of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, the coming months will be dedicated to action. Already, we have the fifth International Marine Protected Areas Congresses (IMPAC-5) in Canada next week. And of course, preparations have begun for the next UN Climate Change Conference (UNFCCC COP28) in December. It speaks highly of IUCN that our President, Razan Al Mubarak, is the UN Climate Change High-Level Champion for the COP28 Presidency.

IUCN is also starting 2023 with new internal milestones. All our Secretariat Policies, Procedures and Guidelines (PPGs) now have one single, organised and user-friendly home. You can also access it from the top left of the IUCN Connect homepage, just beneath our logo. As many of you know, we have appointed IUCN’s new Regional Director of the West and Central Africa Regional Office (PACO), Nana Oumou Toure-Sy. Nana, who begins next week, will take over this important leadership role from Aliou Faye, the current PACO Regional Director. Once again, I would like to thank Aliou for dedicating more than 21 years to IUCN. It is due to his leadership that IUCN plays such an important role in this crucial region.

You will find more information on these and other milestones in our IUCN Connect newsletter below. Indeed, there are many more heights for us to climb this year. I look forward to continuing our great work, together.

Alexander Madrigal who joins as Asistente de Administración y Servicios Generales in the Regional Office for Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean.

Alfredo Rueda who joins as Project Director: USAID/Honduras Conserving Coastal Ecosystems Activity in the Honduras Country Office.

Anil Kapoor who joins as Monitoring and Evaluation Officer based in the North America Regional Office.

Diarmaid Ó Cuanacháin who joins as Junior Policy Officer in the European Regional Office.

Elizabeth Murphy who joins as Head, Conservation Management Assurance Team in Headquarters.

Hathaipat Cheechern who joins as Executive Assistant, Regional Director's Office in the Asia Regional Office.

Jemini Manamperi who joins as Programme Officer, Biodiversity based in the Sri Lanka Country Office.

Kimberly Carrillo who joins as Especialista en comunicación institucional y comunicación para el desarrollo: Conservación Ecosistemas Costeros-USAID/Honduras in the Honduras Country Office.

Lucy Lu Reimers who joins as Temporary Programme Officer, IUCN Academy in Headquarters.

Marlin Daniel Aguilera Muñoz who joins as Asistente Administrativo-San Lorenzo: USAID/Honduras Conserving Coastal Ecosystems Activity in the Honduras Country Office.

Richard Malm who joins as Driver in the Ghana Project Office.

Ruth Nohemi Nunez Rodriguez who joins as Asistente Financiero: USAID/Honduras Conserving Coastal Ecosystems Activity in the Honduras Country Office.

Samantha Armstrong who joins as Programme Officer, Species in the Asia Regional Office.

Selene Molina Haylock who joins as Asistente Administrativa-La Ceiba: USAID/Honduras Conserving Coastal Ecosystems Activity in the Honduras Country Office.

Globally, IUCN featured in over 13,000 media articles and reached over 896,000 people on social media in the last month.

IUCN’s reaction to the Global Biodiversity Framework was quoted by Science, Deutschlandfunk, Xinhua and other outlets. The BBC covered the Sports for Nature Framework, and Politico, Business Green and Al Arabiya were among those that reported the President’s appointment as UN Climate Change High-Level Champion.

El País featured the IUCN Global Standard for Nature-based Solutions, and CGTN published an op ed by our colleagues on its impact. NatGeo cited our Palm Oil Taskforce Chair, the BBC referred to our research on plastic pollution, and Carbon Pulse highlighted the STAR metric. ABC News (Australia) featured our World Heritage work, while USA Today, Washington Post, The Guardian and France24 were among outlets citing the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

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