Here Are The Actions The IUCN Is Considering Taking
The IUCN kicked off its Members’ Assembly deliberations this week in which more than 1,300 members will debate issues like wildlife trafficking and protecting the rights of indigenous people.
Tuesday is the first day of the Members’ Assembly at the International Union for Conservation of Nature’ World Conservation Congress at the Hawaii Convention Center.
But what exactly does that mean? Here’s what you need to know:
The is the largest conservation organization in the world. It makes decisions that can influence the environmental agenda for government agencies and nonprofits across the globe on everything from the protection of endangered species to combating climate change.
Every four years the IUCN holds a so that the organization’s more than 1,300 members can convene in one location to debate environmental policy and outline its agenda for the next four years.
That event began Thursday and is set to last until Saturday. It’s the first time in the IUCN’s 68-year history that the U.S. has hosted a World Conservation Congress. So it’s fair to say that this is a big deal.
In all, the IUCN will be taking action on 99 motions that have the potential to shape the future of global conservation efforts. While most of those motions are non-controversial and subject to online voting there are 14 that are expected to be debated over the next several days.
Some of the motions include calling for of all domestic ivory markets to curb the illegal wildlife trade, placing of the world’s oceans in marine protected areas to promote biodiversity and developing a legally binding mechanism to on the high seas, which are lawless territories outside of national jurisdictions where overfishing and human rights abuses go unchecked.
Other motions include those encouraging IUCN members to ratify the , developing best practices for the and urging safeguards on so as to protect forestlands and the rights of indigenous cultures.
Read the of motions here.
