It was a huge international conference on conservation of the world’s natural ecosystems.
There were some 10,000 delegates from 192 countries at the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) 10-day meeting in Hawaii which ended this weekend.
The theme was “Planet at the Crossroads”, and it set out a number of resolutions and targets as a guideline for the future sustainability agenda.
A few of the many resolutions include:
- – a call for all national governments to close their markets to elephant ivory.
- – a ban on breeding lions in captivity (esp S. Africa) for hunting in closed areas, also known as “canned hunting”, which is regarded by most hunters as “an ethically repugnant embarrassment”-
- -adopt internationally binding legislation to preserve the high seas, and a target of 30 percent of marine areas to be protected by 2020. Motion 49 advances conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity, including the establishment of marine protected areas (MPAs), in high seas areas that are beyond national jurisdiction, and Motion 53 supports protection for 30 percent of the world’s oceans, which will significantly increase MPA coverage to conserve biodiversity.
- -support for primary forests, and put all land and seascapes classified under any of IUCN’s categories of protected areas off limits for damaging industrial activities – such as mining, oil and gas, agriculture – and infrastructure developments – such as dams, roads and pipelines. To date, only World Heritage sites have been formally recognised as no-go areas.
The IUCN also released its latest “Red List” which now includes 82,954 species of which 23,928 are threatened with extinction, 855 listed as extinct, 68 extinct in the wild,
The next IUCN World Conservation Congress will be in 2020
Plastic Oceans trailer
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