Notes+from+the+75th+Council+Meeting

75th IUCN Council Meeting
Gland, Switzerland Daily reports from youth Councillor, Grace Mwaura

** Day One ** Every council meeting has its own learning and action opportunities, but for a young and new Councillor, the learning opportunities are more. Day One morning (17th Nov) was spent at the Congress Preparatory Committee meeting, unlike the previous Congresses, the preparations for this Congress have kick started quite early and there are all reasons to make this Congress even bigger and productive. I reckon that it is an immense task for the Secretariat team in preparation for the World Conservation Congress: the Logo designing and vetting process, the forum designing process and more so most critical, the fundraising aspect for the Congress. The slogan debate being the most interesting at the time, led to a conclusion that a slogan which was totally new and catchy would be adopted for the Congress. Unlike the Barcelona slogan, this would be a simple and easy to remember and translate into the three IUCN official languages. No clues of the slogan until the Council approves, OK!

Fees for the World Conservation Congress (WCC) has been relatively lowered for all the parties expected to attend the Congress, including lower rates for youth, for daily registration limited up to two days, and early bird registration.. This gives young people an opportunity to be part of the Congress and the Union! We cannot forget to thank the South Korean government for exemption of all taxes in preparations for the Congress; otherwise the fees would almost double! Carbon offsetting will be a voluntary decision for the Congress participants; however they will be made aware of the need to do so through their organizations! What’s important but most stressing for most of us Councillors to work on is the Resolutions working Group for the WCC; I am yet to figure out how I would fit in this Working group towards Jeju, so I opt to listen to their proposals!

To make the Congress more eventful and productive, there is a great deal of support going to the Regional offices in the period of 2011-12 for the Regional Conservation Fora! This will also be an opportunity for members to learn how to better participate in the Members Assembly and Forums and all other events organized at the Congress. It will also enhance better networking and partnerships at the regional level.

I was looking forward to the Congress Objectives, only to learn that its work in progress; they will be part of the Congress manual that’s very important for any Congress participant. Based on the evaluation of past Congress, the Secretariat has noted the need to reshape and reorganize all the Congress events, From the over 900 events held then, we need to ensure that we can ensure quality outcomes of each event, well coordinated and all feeding into the overall objectives of the Congress.

I like the DG when she keeps stressing that IUCN is not set up to organize Congresses, but as I listened to Sebastian's presentation, it hit me, that the Congress is one great learning opportunity for professionals from all backgrounds. It provides the platform to allow the conservation world connect with the business, academic, government, private sector, major groups and local communities. As such the redesigning of the various Streams, Journeys, Pavilions, Learning Opportunities, The Forum and the Assembly all held at the Congress is very critical.

This is ongoing work and I will be looking forward to make recommendations that are relevant for the engagement of young professionals in the lead up to and actual Congress activities.

My membership in the Governance Committee is one hurdle I am still learning how to appreciate! I was here for the afternoon session of Day One. Of course the One Programme Commitment Statement when the DG reminds us that we should not just use the name, but also how the various offices and members are taking it up! Consultations from members have provided a key area that IUCN needs to pay attention to as far as governance is concerned.

Issues of the review of the Motion process, the IUCN Statutory regions, the Effectiveness of the Council, regional governance and decentralisations, Eligibility for Council, Revision of the IUCN statues, are all interesting discussions that Councillors, especially a new one like me would like to be part of.

** Day Two ** The official opening of the Council meeting, with staff invited and sitting at the back of the hall over looking the Councillors, and the whole session being broadcasted to all IUCN offices around the world!

Now I am used to formality! The meeting always starts with the official adoption of the Agenda (of course after we have done some amendments on what should happen when and how, and who should participate).

 For the second time now, I am listening to the DGs report since we last met as the Council this year. She is one lady who has the energy of the whole Union, the immense work she has been able to do in the 6 months! Influencing Global Policy; Implementing the One Programme with Commission members, Members and the thematic programmes and strengthening the Union. Among the key areas that we found the DG engaged in recently is the signing of the MOU for the WCC 2012, the Nagoya CBD meeting, and the opening of the Brazil office.

 Then came the President's Statement; it was with delight to await the inspiring statement that he always gives, but I presume this will happen today afternoon, and tomorrow. It’s the VISIONING SESSION! Don’t miss out the details.

The Commission Chairs make the Council meeting more exciting and result oriented as they report of their work in the past one year. I was impressed by the work of the SSC, WCPA and most importantly the CEC, which I am also a member.

If you have not registered and contributed to protecting the planet, better do so on the [|www.protectedplanet.net] I found this very exciting and will be populating it as we move along. IUCN is a major partner of companies that are performing well globally as far as greening the economy is concerned, and thus we have all the reasons to celebrate and think through up scaling the just initiated [|SOS] campaign, which is currently being supported by Nokia, World Bank, and GEF.

CEC never fails to amaze the Councilors with how well it works with the Union, especially during the recently completed CBD meeting in Nagoya, where it not only held events for a whole week, but it also played a very critical role in the communication of the biodiversity message and the designing of the logo for the International Year of Biodiversity! I hope you can remember [|it!] If you have not watched the CEC video on communicating biodiversity, better watch now! [|LOVENOTLOSS].

One of the key areas for the CEC is the support it gives to the young professionals through the Intergenerational Partnerships. Now it’s just celebrating the immense support they got from one of the young professionals, Yvonne Otieno, at the CBD in Nagoya. In his presentation, Keith Wheeler, the Chair of the Commission, highlighted some of the great work that the IPS were dong within the Commission and hoped to extend to other Commissions, Members, and staff in the Union.

Now let’s get to business! The 30th Policy and Programmes Committee meeting in the afternoon, I do think and feel this is the largest task of the Council. Three taskforces were reporting on the progress of their work: the Resolutions Taskforce, the IPBES, and the Private Sector Taskforce. You may be interested to read about the Impacts of IUCN resolutions on international conservation, which will be available soon on the IUCN website, it may give you an idea what these Resolutions look like!

As usual, private sector engagement is always a heated debate. I like it, but I did something different this time round, in the spirit of IPS I engaged through a Skype call with my supervisor, [|Tom Vandenbosch] in a separate discussion on private sector engagement in the conservation world. He believes that private sector engagement is much more than funding, its engagement in actual conservation work. Giving me a very good example that I am still pondering about. "If I donate 100 Euros per month to WWF, but i kill a rhino, what would WWF do?“ As we discuss the private sector engagement in IUCN, I think this one such question we need to answer.

Reports from the involvement of the Secretariat in the COP processes, that is the CBD and UNFCCC. Of course Jane Smart if the smartest lady at IUCN with CBD and the IUCN targets. We achieved something, there were all reasons to celebrate the Nagoya meeting, and you can view the outcomes of the CBD meeting here. Now it’s upon the Council to review the IUCN CBD strategy and report back to the next IUCN Council meeting. The communication of the CBD outcomes will be the work of the Secretariat and the CEC.

As well, the UNFCCC meeting which we expect almost nothing as an outcome, was a key discussion areas at the PPC. IUCN promotes nature based solutions. This is for the simple reasons that they are central to global emission reductions, can be rapidly deployed, are cost effective and accessible to poor and rural communities, and finally have multiple benefits to biodiversity and livelihoods. Of course we expect a painfully slow decision making process in Cancun, not a legally binding document, and almost no progress on the emission reduction is likely!

However, we must not lose hope as we expect some progress in the discussions around the REDD+ and readiness, adaptation, technology transfer, capacity building and maybe finance? IUCN as a note has been very critical in the pushing for gender within the UNFCCC negotiations as one of the key supporters of the [|GGCA] However, as a safeguard, there still needs to be more work done on ensuring the UNFCCC and CBD linkages are made and IUCN had a huge role to play in making this happen.

A young Councillor will always like to explore, and I think I enjoy most walking around the Conservation Centre and talking to a few staff with my cup of coffee, I took some time to chat with the IUCN Librarian who is also a Youth Champion! We had an interesting chat about the library, the access to information, and how she was assisting the regional offices access library resources. I was taken aback by her interest in intergenerational partnership when she reminded me of Dominic Stucker's article in the September Issue of the CEC newsletter where we had covered various stories of IPS and communicating with older and younger generations. She thought this was the best that IUCN could do, and immediately we started engaging in a social networking discussion for the IUCN. It’s important that the Union finds a way to connect all of their staff to enhance not only knowledge management, but also a social focused working environment.

I further drifted this discussion to Rod Abson, one of the CEC staff at the Science and Learning Division, who informed me of his work to develop a Knowledge Management Portal for the Union. We continue this discussion today, but of course it will be interesting to see what we can write up together in our new writing format!

**Day Three **

We are better off on this day as we only have two days left! And the Visioning Sessions start this afternoon. The whole morning is spent in Committee meetings, the Finance and Audit Committee, the Policy and Programme and the Constituency Committee. We look at the Draft Work Plans and Budget for 2011. Of course we shall approve this in the Council meeting. Later we have updates on the World Parks Congress to be held in 2014, maybe in Australia? We also get updates on the progress of the development of the IUCN Programme 2013-2016.

Just after lunch, we again have this discussion of private sector engagement. Today I like the discussion! It’s more concrete with emphasis on how IUCN can set standards for working with the private sector.

On the sidelines of this discussion evolves the critical issue of the role of IUCN in addressing issues related to livelihoods, one of them being food security. How to work with multilateral agencies and UN agencies like the FAO makes this discussion more interesting as its one of the things I have always asked myself. How relevant are we to the world’s most pressing issues (that directly affect our work in conservation).

The Visioning Session starts in the afternoon facilitated the Prof. Paul Strebel from Institute of Management Development. This session is all about how the IUCN Council is going to make a real difference and what kind of capacity it will need to strengthen or acquire in order to achieve that. This is a session that will extend till tomorrow morning and through focused group discussions, we shall be able to answers these questions:
 * What are the main issues and trends that IUCN must deal with as we move into a future faced with a growing number of planetary crises?
 * What do these trends imply for the goals, functioning and structure of IUCN to enable it to remain relevant to the expectations of its constituents or stakeholders?
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal;">What, then, should IUCN look like a decade from now, in particular in the level and composition of its: Members, scientific networks, policy-influencing, operational and funding partnerships, and its Council?
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal;">What are the main obstacles to implementing this vision of IUCN’s future?
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal;">What are you willing to contribute to removing such obstacles and help move IUCN forward?

<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 11.5pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">The session leaves the Council members with questions and answers, but also a different way of thinking about the future of IUCN. After mapping out several trends and scenarios of the challenges and opportunities we expect in future, we are left to discuss over dinner what role the different constituencies of IUCN would play.

**<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">Day Four ** <span style="color: black; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">Last Day! <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">Everything has to be finalized today and most of us have to leave Gland this evening. The day kicks off with the continuation and finalization of the visioning process. With our scenarios and trends, we now develop what is needed, the obstacles we expect and our individual contributions to moving IUCN forward. It’s a tough process but we manage to finalize it all! Now we are better Councillors than we came, says the President.

<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 11.5pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">Now getting back to the Council Agenda and we have the World Conservation Congress Report. We have the slogan approved!

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px;">Nature +

<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 11.5pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">In the coming months as we prepare for the Congress, you will see how this slogan will be translated to a variety of campaigns and messaging by different constituencies and programmes within IUCN.

<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 11.5pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">The rest of the day we spend time listening to reports from the Committees and taking decisions on each of the items! It’s a long day; we had to end at 6:00pm with most of us having left before then to catch their flights. <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px;">What comes out clearly though is that we shall have to make a decision in the next Council meeting if we need to have two physical meetings in 2011. As well, we have lots of work that needs to be done between now and the next Council meeting, the first task being our positioning as youth in the Union. Now I feel much better to present this position in the next Council!