On behalf of MCD, Ms. Ho Thi Yen Thu – Deputy Director, virtually attended IUCN’s 7th World Conservation Congress (WCC) held in the coastal city of Marseille, France, during September 3-11, 2021. WCC is the world’s largest and most inclusive environmental decision-making forum, bringing together leaders from governments, civil society organizations and communities.

As the first hybrid in-person and virtual environmental event since the COVID-19 pandemic began, the IUCN Congress aimed to enable broad participation from around the world while safeguarding the health of participants. While no statistics yet about the number of in-person participants in Marseille, it was informed that the number of virtual participants was about 13,000, including delegates from nearly 1,400 IUCN member organizations.

The Congress chose the theme of “Resilience is in our nature” to emphasize that the world is facing many severe challenges including the Covid19 pandemic, and it is necessary to have appropriate action options to recovery and reconstruction. Key themes include biodiversity, nature-based recovery, and climate change. During the Congress, more than 500 events and forums were held.

Opening ceremony of the congress on September 3, 2021

On behalf of MCD, Ms. Thu attended virtually the sessions for IUCN members, and varioussessions on the themes closely related to MCD such as:

– The Ocean Decade and Marine Biodiversity – Co-Designing Knowledge for Global Marine Biodiversity Recovery

– Extended Producer Responsibility, a tool to fix Ghost Gear

– Scaling-up! Using best-practice to create networks of large marine PAs toward IUCN’s 30% by 2030 target

– Fisheries and biodiversity: Smooth sailing or stormy seas?

– From science to action: Innovative solutions to tackle ocean plastic pollution

– The Influences of Biodiversity Loss and Climate Change on Public Health

– Strategic Discussion on Structuring economies in a post COVID-19 world

– Strategic Discussion on Building a culture of conservation through new alliances and strengthening the agency of key actors.

Ms. Ho Thi Yen Thu attending virtually the session of member representatives from national and regional committees

With 9 plenary sessions, the Congress approved the IUCN Work Program 2021-2024 and its subcommittees, elected key positions of IUCN including 28 Council members, and elected the IUCN President for the term 2021-2024. The President-Elect is Ms. Razan Al Mubarak (from the United Arab Emirates). Ms. Razan is the second female president in IUCN’s 72-year history and the first female president from Asia.

Ms. Razan Al Mubarak, the IUCN President-Elect delivering a speech at the Congress

The Congress agreed to the 4-page Marseille Manifesto, recognizing that the world is currently facing a global pandemic, escalating climate and biodiversity emergencies exacerbating inequalities, besides unsustainable human activities continues to compound the situation, and threatens not only our own survival but the foundation of life on Earth, and humanity has reached a tipping point. Our window of opportunity to respond to these interlinked emergencies and share planetary resources equitably is narrowing quickly. Our existing systems do not work. Economic “success” can no longer come at nature’s expense. We urgently need systemic reform.

In that context, the Marseille Manifesto states that we have one nature, one future and so commits to: (i) Respecting and harnessing the perspectives and agency of all citizens; (ii) Pursuing collaboration and partnerships; (iii) Local action as a powerful tool for change.

IUCN members and partners renewed their commitment to working together to address these major crises, with a particular focus on: (i) Countering the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic; (ii) Halting biodiversity loss by committing to a transformative, effective and ambitious post-2020 global biodiversity framework; (iii) Confronting the risks and impacts of the climate emergency. The Marseille Manifesto also highlights 10 specific actions that IUCN members and partners will commit to action. The host country France of this 7th Congress, also committed to 5 important actions, including the target of 30% of protected areas nationally by 2022 and promotion a treaty on plastic pollution.

See more official information about the Congress at: http://iucnworldconservationcongress.org