News2011

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 * News Briefs 2011 **

Our Jeju Congress workshop proposal on drafting an IUCN-wide action plan for youth engagement and intergenerational partnership, 2013-2016, was accepted! Thanks to Catie Burlando of CEESP for her leadership and to members of the Task Force on Intergenerational Partnership for Sustainability for their inputs on the proposal.
 * December 2011**

Special thanks to those CEC young professionals who volunteered on the Technical Review Panel for all Congress workshop proposals: Alvin Chandra, Sarah Dalrymple, Mahbub Hasan, Biozid Jessorey, Omar Mohammed, Ingrid Mula, Yvonne Otieno, Ivana Savic, and Douglas Williamson.

IUCN Councilor, Grace Mwaura, reports from the 77th Council Meeting held in New Delhi, India from 13-17 November. Youth-related highlights include: trying to ensure a place for young people on the Council; integrating youth engagement and intergenerational partnership into the IUCN draft Program; workshop proposals for Congress; and recognizing "Youth Conservation Champions." These are in bold in her day-by-day reports.
 * November 2011**

= Input on the draft IUCN Program: Report on a Cross-Commission Survey =
 * October 2011**



A group of mostly young professionals - the Task Force on Intergenerational Partnership for Sustainability - wrote this report as input into the draft IUCN Program review process, the Union's policy and action framework for 2013-2016. It synthesizes survey responses from 257 people of all ages, representing all IUCN Commissions and Regions. Many thanks to all survey participants for offering their insightful inputs across the core and thematic program areas; to Commission Chairs for their support in disseminating the survey and this report; and to all contributors and editors.

As the draft IUCN Program evolves, we feel strongly that this diverse group of people have offered valuable ideas and comments that need to be integrated across the program, especially regarding the engagement of young people and collaboration across generations. Please see the Executive Summary for specific recommendations.

The IUCN Council appointed CEESP Youth Leadership Team Coordinator and Commission Member, Catie Burlando, to the CEESP Steering Committee as Youth Engagement and Intergenerational Partnership Advisor. This position will enable Catie to provide advice across the whole Commission with regards to the development of intergenerational partnerships, as well as to the broader aspects of the Commissions' work. Catie is expected to participate in the upcoming Executive Committee meeting in Delhi in November 2011. Congrats! This is a great success for young people in the IUCN!
 * September 2011**


 * September 2011**

The results of a Commission-wide survey on youth engagement and intergenerational partnership are now available, in a report prepared by CEC members Adriana Surez Delucchi, Lisa Marika Jokivirta and Dominic Stucker.
 * Youth Engagement and Intergenerational Partnership: A Survey of Commission Chairs **

Read and download:

How are youth currently engaged in and across IUCN Commissions? How could the Commissions benefit from greater collaboration between young and senior professionals, and what opportunities exist for increasing youth engagement and intergenerational partnership? These are some of the questions raised by a recent survey of Commission Chairs, designed and implemented by members of the CEC Young Professionals Leadership Team.

Inspired by and building on the survey, the report includes key recommendations that the authors, Commission Chairs, and other CEC members have generated for increasing concrete collaboration between senior and young sustainability leaders. The report also includes a brief background on CEC collaboration across Commissions for youth engagement; a summary of survey responses from Commission Chairs; future action steps; and links for further information.

The authors would like to thank all Commission Chairs for participating in this survey, and hope that this initiative may help further meaningful and impactful youth engagement within and across the IUCN Commissions. This report is also available on the CEC website. Young professionals from across all Commissions have created a survey to collect input on the draft IUCN Program, the Union's policy and action framework for 2013-2016. Commission members (and those interested in joining) of all ages are invited to take this survey, which emphasizes the cross-cutting themes of youth engagement and intergenerational partnership. Your voices will be synthesized in a report and submitted to the IUCN Council as part of the Program review process. Thank you for participating! Extension: take the survey by 21 September!
 * September 2011**

"We're In This Together: Five reasons young people are needed to solve the climate crisis." Lisa Jokivirta (lead author) and Dominic Stucker, both on CEC's Young Professionals Leadership Team, recently wrote this article for Monday Developments Magazine, making reference to efforts within IUCN for youth engagement and intergenerational partnership. Click to read the article on pages 19-20 of the Magazine or via the CEC website.
 * August 2011**

Propose an event for the World Conservation Congress's Forum to be held in Jeju, South Korea, from 7-11 September 2012. The deadline is 15 October. Learn more and act!
 * August 2011**

Scouting for Biodiversity: What would the world be like if designed by Scouts? If you let your imagine go wild and could bring a new species to life, what would it look like? How can we make a difference in our home societies so that we live in a more harmonious world for people and nature? These are some of the questions that were explored by Scouts at the 24 workshops ran by IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) during the Global Development Village (GDV) at the 22nd World Scout Jamboree in Sweden, July and August 2011. You can find out more in this article on Scouting for biodiversity and children's environmental rights submitted by Rod Abson, Focal point for the IUCN Commission on Education and Communication (CEC). Rod co-facilitated the above workshops for 500 participants from 28 countries with CEC member Ivana Savic of Serbia, and support from Anna of Sweden and Mike or the UK.
 * August 2011**

The Commission on Education and Communication's (CEC's) Young Professionals Leadership Team is supporting the promotion of intergenerational partnership within the Commission on Environmental, Economic, and Social Policy (CEESP), including the formation of a new Youth Leadership Team. Young CEESP member, Catie Burlando, is taking the lead. Read the full article that she and Dominic Stucker wrote in the CEESP newsletter. And visit the Young CEESP Members and Friends Facebook Group. Furthermore, we are happy to add that Catie has been invited to join CEESP's Steering Committee, which will meet this November in Delhi, India. Congrats, Catie!
 * July 2011**

"Young Cousteau Floats IUCN's Boat: Dedicated marine conservationist Pierre-Yves Cousteau has joined IUCN’s global team of Goodwill Ambassadors." Read more here. "Oriented and Breaking New Ground: the 76th IUCN Council Meeting" By Grace Mwaura, Youth Councilor
 * June 2011**
 * June 2011**

The first this year, and the third for me as a young Councilor, this Council meeting, held from 22-25 May 2011 in Gland, Switzerland, has been phenomenal. The truth is that I have become oriented and can now tell what’s what in the Council. It’s an experience of a lifetime to help provide leadership to this great Union, and I feel honored.

I found this Council more engaging than the previous two. I actively participated in all the sub-meetings, including the most exciting challenges of the year, the IUCN Visioning Process and the Resolutions Working Group. I am pleased to report these successes resulting from my participation:


 * IUCN will have a youth representative on all of the Congress Preparatory Committees for future World Conservation Congresses
 * I will assist the Commission Chairs to develop a mentoring program that will help them attract more younger members
 * I will endeavor to develop an IUCN policy on youth engagement and intergenerational partnership
 * I have been invited to join the ad hoc Working Group on the IUCN Visioning Process

During our final evening together, I had a chance to chat with Julia Marton-Lefevre, the Director General, who is quite eager to strengthen the youth work in IUCN in a more formalized way. It’s up to me as a Council member to help make this happen. Read on for details on different parts of the meeting.

IUCN will be taking an active part in the upcoming World Scout Jamboree in Rinkaby, Sweden with a team of people from the Commission on Education and Communication (CEC). The World ScoutJamboree will bring together more than 38,000 fourteen to seventeen year old Scouts from 150 countries, supported by 8,000 adults in a tent city for two weeks over July, August 2011. Rod Abson (CEC Focal Point), Andres Morales and Ivana Savić will be running workshops on two topics as part of the Global Development Village, helping Scouts to explore Children’s Environmental Rights and Celebrating Biodiversity. The team needs some assistance from young professionals on IUCN Commissions. Read on to find out how you can assist.
 * May 2011**

**April 2011** CEC Young Professionals Leadership Team (YPLT) member Chittaranjan Baruah, 29, has formed a scientific network named the “Turtle Conservation and Research Program (TCRP)” for safeguarding the freshwater turtle species in northeast India. The TCRP is one of the international collaborating partners of the “Year of the Turtle 2011.” Read all about  TCRP's challenges, achievements and efforts to encourage local solutions and global input for saving endangered turtles. Also find out about internship opportunities available at TRCP.

**March 2011** Héctor Antonio Caymaris Zanelli received the 2011 Young Conservationist Award for dramatically reversing species decline and increasing community support in the Protected Area of Laguna de Rocha, which is part of a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve in Uruguay. Read the full story on the World Commission on Protected Areas website.

**February 2011** On 25 February 2011 the Nigerian Youth Climate (NYCC) and partners launched the Biodiversity Young Professionals' Forum in Abuja at the offices of ActionAid Nigeria. The event brought together over 30 young people to engage in biodiversity conversations and explore the role of young professionals. The event, the first of its kind, was an opportunity to get informed, inspired, and involved and was attended by Professor Emmanuel Obot, Executive Director of the Nigerian Conservation Foundation (NCF), Dr. Gloria Ujor from the Federal Ministry of Environment, and Dr. Otive Igbuzor, Executive Director at the Center LSD, former Country Director of ActionAid Nigeria. The event was webcast live with a dozen people joining from Cameroon, USA, Netherlands, Japan, Maylasia, and Lagos.

A presentation on “Biodiversity: the Role of Young Professionals” was made by Professor Emmanuel Obot, and Dr. Otive spoke on “Leadership and Intergenerational Justice.” A presentation and discussion on the “International Year of Forests and Rio+20” was also led by Dr. Gloria Ujor, and Ola Omosebi made a passionate presentation on “ Biodiversity and Youth Entrepreneurship.”

Participants indicated interest in joining the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Young Professionals Group under the Commission on Education and Communication (CEC) and all the Rio+20 processes. At the end of the event, participants elected a Youth Leadership Team for 2011-2012, with Esther Agbarakwe as an advisor. The Team will meet to develop a strategic action plan for effective youth engagement in biodiversity conservation in Nigeria.

The event was funded by LEAP Africa and supported by ActionAid, NCF, and the EarthRISE Foundation. For more information, please visit: www.ypforum.wordpress.com or email ypfnigeria@gmail.com.

The World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA) Young Professionals Group published their fourth newsletter in January, with reporting from the final months of 2010 and contributions from CEC and CEL members. Read more here:
 * January 2011**



Immediately following the conference, below, Dominic went on to co-facilitate two Capacity Building Workshops for Strategic Communication on Biodiversity and Climate Change with CEC Steering Committee Deputy Chair Wendy Goldstein of Australia in close collaboration with IUCN Council Member Diana Shand of New Zealand. The 1-day workshops we held for environmental communicators and educators in Auckland and Wellington. Read more here and download the final report:
 * January 2011**



The Commission on Education and Communicationand young professionals made significant contributions to the CEESP (Commission on Environmental, Economic, and Social Policy) Sharing Power Conference held in Whakatane, New Zealand from 11-15 January. Read more about the CEC workshop.
 * January 2011**

Young professionals spoke passionately about their visions for the future and strategies for getting there in the opening and closing plenaries, plus during workshops throughout the conference. We also produced a rough cut video - shown in the closing plenary - of conference participants talking about what it will take to achieve a transition to sustainability. Youth engagement was initiated by CEESP Chair and conference host, Aroha Mead, and coordinated by Tui Warmenhoven of the He Oranga Trust, New Zealand and Dominic Stucker of the IUCN CEC Steering Committee. CEESP reported on the event in their May 2011 newsletter, emphasizing that "Youth involvement was an intrinsic part of the conference." They also established an 'Aspirations of the Youth of the World" Facebook Group, with hundreds of members.