Companies, institutions, NGOs or individuals fully committed to sustainable development cannot be left out of the traditional World Conservation Congress, which will take place between September 1st and 10th, 2016, in Hawaii, United States. Organized by International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), this will be the largest meeting of environmental policymakers since the Paris climate agreement and the adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Held every four years, the congress will bring together around 8,000 world leaders and representatives from governments, the scientific community, universities, NGOs, indigenous and traditional peoples, companies and conservationists from around the world. The aim is to join forces and promote fundamental and most urgent issues on sustainability challenges, as well as viable alternatives for nature conservation, defining an agenda of proposals and actions until 2020.
The Congress will address topics such as protected areas, natural capital, biodiversity offsets, ocean governance, expansion of palm oil production and ecotourism. In addition to the general agenda of the event, the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), in partnership with IUCN, is developing an agenda for business — in the form of workshops, coffees and debates — which will address topics such as the Natural Capital Protocol and its applications, natural infrastructure solutions for business, insertion of biodiversity reporting in the business context, understanding a world of zero deforestation, among others.
One of the expected outcomes of the congress is the formulation of a policy on natural capital and actions to offset biodiversity losses caused by development projects. It is also expected to advance the ocean governance agenda – an initiative that aims to support the Global Agenda for Sustainable Development – which requires the binding of legal instruments for the conservation of marine biological diversity on the high seas.
The IUCN congresses have been pioneering and have been paving the way for important paths for nature conservation since 1948. For example, in 1960, it was the first event to draw the world's attention to the worrying issues surrounding climate change. The movements and deliberations resulting from these congresses have been fundamental to the development of treaties that have been a landmark for the entire world, such as the UNESCO Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage; the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES); and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).
For more information about the congress and to see the complete program, click here.
