IUCN CEESP Newsletter

September 2019

There is much happening across the Commission. These last few months, the IUCN family has focused efforts on the preparation of WCC forum proposals, motions and revisions to the WCC Program. In this letter, I will share just a few of the many activities CEESP members and chairs are involved in, in terms of our program of work, as well as preparations for WCC.

Anita Varghese, Keystone Foundation and Dilys Roe, SULi Chair
How does conservation and development fare in the context of India and does sustainable use speak for both? A small group of experts met recently, in India, to discuss how to build a platform for sustainable use advocacy in India and to prioritizing key issues and strategies for the same.

Forty-two representatives of indigenous organisations from around the world recently met in Tecpan, Guatemala to share experiences and learn from one another on environmental, business and social issues – taking another step toward a common understanding.

Pasang Dolma Sherpa, Co-Chair of CEESP Specialist Group on Indigenous Peoples, Customary & Environmental Laws & Human Rights
The United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) is a high- level advisory body to the UN Economic and Social Council. It was established in July 2000 by resolution 2000/22, with the mandate to deal with indigenous issues related to economic and social development, culture, the environment, education, health and human rights.

Dr. Nathan Bennett, Chair of the IUCN People and the Oceans Specialist Group, and Dr Ameyali Ramos Castillo, Deputy Chair of the IUCN Commission on Environment, Economic and Social Policy, explore the importance of working with Indigenous communities in conservation. 
Indigenous peoples manage or have rights to more than a quarter of the world’s surface, and their territories host a significant proportion of Earth’s remaining biological diversity. As such, they play a critical role in the conservation of landscapes and wildlife.

Dr. Purabi Bose, Deputy Chair of the CEESP Theme on Governace, Equity and Rights (TGER)
How does multi-stakeholder dialogue matter in nature conservation? When engaging with a diverse range of stakeholders, one is already taking a step towards understanding the complexity of nature-human dynamic interactions.

The CEESP Steering Committee met in Tbilisi, Georgia, in June, 2019. The meeting included reporting on CEESP activities, discussions, and decisions on important upcoming events and initiatives, including preparations for the World Conservation Congress in 2020. 

A short film is about some of the places where culture, spirituality and conservation meet, and why working together could make all the difference in meeting the greatest environmental challenges of our time. 

On World Population Day, 2019, CEESP is proud to be one of the first organisations joining a first of its kind campaign: Thriving Together. The supporters of Thriving Together also include 41 IUCN Member organisations which similarly recognise that family planning is critically important - not only for women and girls ,but also for the environment and sustainability.

The website for the International Conference on Human-Wildlife Conflict and Coexistence on 1-3 April 2020 in Oxford is now live at www.hwcconference.org - and with it the Call for Contributions, which will be open until 30 September 2019.