Justconservationworkshops

//CEESP Youth Network Proposal for a series of four capacity-building workshops to be submitted as part of the World Parks Congress Call for Programme Content//

= Implementing ‘Conservation Justice’ through Intergenerational Dialogue, Collaboration and Critical Action =

**Authors:** Caroline Seagle, Catie Burlando, Melanie Zurba and Shalini Dhyani

At the World Conservation Congress in 2012, the IUCN Task Force on Intergenerational Partnership for Sustainability (IPS) developed an “Action Plan” to increase youth participation and intergenerational collaboration across the IUCN and beyond through development of capacity building opportunities.
 * Proposal: **

An issue of critical importance in conservation, both for youth and senior members, is the implementation of social justice and rights in protected areas. IUCN-led frameworks such as the Conservation Initiative on Human Rights and IUCN Natural Resources Governance Framework; and action-oriented platforms such as the Whakatane Mechanism, “Rights-Based Approach” and Just Conservation, have influenced conservation policy and practice, across and beyond IUCN. Regardless, practical implementation of social justice in conservation remains fundamentally problematic and often poorly understood. How can we concertedly understand, share knowledge on and develop a capacity building approach to implementing "conservation justice"?

A team of IPS Task Force and CEESP/WCPA young professionals propose 4 workshops with the view of building capacity to address problems of implementation in protected areas, including eviction, land dispossession, livelihoods and compensation. Workshops seek to cut across commissions, age groups and disciplines to follow an open, neutral, facilitated-participatory (intergenerational) dialogue approach, exploring interactive and creative learning methods which challenge participants to adopt different points of view.

(1) **“iAct Dialogue - Perspectives of Indigenous Peoples and Local Land/Sea Users on Conservation Justice**,” an online forum, will take place two weeks before Congress with participation from local and indigenous intergenerational representatives. A follow up report will be circulated to Congress workshop participants. (2) “**Understanding Conservation (In)justice**” will reconsider what conservation justice means, how stakeholders, policy and governance frameworks define it. In terms of implementation: what is working and not working? (3) “**Legal Frameworks for Implementing Conservation Justice**” examines how legal mechanisms and non-legally binding assessments address implementation issues. How have legal frameworks created barriers to or improved social justice near parks? (4) “**Capacity Building and Action on Conservation Justice**” will develop, and later circulate, a "living template" on conservation justice implementation, focusing on locally-adapted as well as IUCN-wide and global capacity building skills and toolkits for emerging and senior conservation professionals from diverse backgrounds.
 * Workshops: **

__For more information, please contact: __ Caroline Seagle: caroline.seagle@gmail.com Catie Burlando: catie.burlando@gmail.com Melanie Zurba: melzurba@gmail.com Shalini Dhyani: shalini3006@gmail.com