INTERNATIONAL  UNION  FOR  CONSERVATION  OF  NATURE  

IUCN Commission on Ecosystem Management

Report to council November 2014

Piet Wit Chair of CEM

                           INTERNATIONAL  UNION  FOR  CONSERVATION  OF  NATURE  

Mission To provide expert guidance on the integrated approaches to the management of natural and modified ecosystems, in order to promote effective biodiversity conservation and sustainable development

Promote the adoption of, and provide guidance for, ecosystem approaches to the management of landscapes and seascapes and build resilience of socio-ecological systems to address global changes

Objectives

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Membership per CEM-region CEM  Western  Europe   291  CEM  North  America  &  English  Speaking  Caribbean   152  CEM  South  Asia   118  CEM  South  America   71  CEM  Oceania   67  CEM  Meso  America  &  Spanish  Speaking  Caribbean   43  CEM  West  Africa   42  CEM  West/Central  Asia   41  CEM  Southern  Africa   41  CEM  South  East  Asia   41  CEM  North  Africa   39  CEM  Eastern  Europe   35  CEM  East  Africa   33  CEM  North  East  Asia   28  CEM  Central  Africa   14  Grand  Total   1056  

                           INTERNATIONAL  UNION  FOR  CONSERVATION  OF  NATURE  

•  Lead by the Chair & Dep. Chair •  Steering Committee (6) •  Integrated work plan with EMP •  Regional Chairs (15) •  Thematic Groups & Task Forces (24) •  National Focal Points (4) •  Special Advisors •  Commission representatives in IUCN-programmes

Structure and Governance

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CEM-products 2013/2014 A.  Virtually all CEM-products are the results of cooperation with

other partners. Cooperation and collaboration is actively promoted for reasons of (in particular) synergy and outreach

B.  For each “product” some eye-catching examples are given only. Much more has been achieved for which is referred to the SWOT-analysis that has been sent to the members of council

N.B.: There often is much overlap between the different products, e.g. on workshops and advocacy, policy development and technical focal

point. Such cross-references are not made in this presentation

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CEM Products 2013-2014 Clearing House Mechanisms

•  Ecosystem Services TG: –  Marine Kuperminc, intern with IUCN-office in Washington DC has built

a data base of 92 case studies –  Contributions to Ecosystem Services Partnership (coordinated by

Wageningen University) and the Sub-Global Assessment (SGA) Network, (coordinated by UNEP-WCMC)

•  Disaster Risk Reduction TG: –  Case study book about role of Protected Areas in DRR, to be

launched at WPC •  Ecosystem Restoration

–  Willem Ferwerda (Commonland Foundation): Assessment of cases for portfolio of projects for ecosystem restoration

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CEM Products 2013-2014 Lessons learned, guidelines, manuals

•  Red List of Ecosystems TG: –  Article accepted for publication in Philosophical Transactions of the

Royal Society of Britain

•  Task Force on Systemic Pesticides: –  Worldwide integrated assessment of the impact of neonicotinoids:

Series of publications in international scientific journals •  Fisheries Expert Group:

–  Book on Governance of Fisheries, launched in Oslo on the occasion of the Norwegian Fisheries Forum Seminar

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CEM Products 2013-2014 Advocacy & Policy Development

•  Private Sector & Ecosystems Group: –  Input by Annemarie Goedmakers for ICMM-guidelines –  Participation in dealings with Syngenta by the Chair

•  Fisheries Expert Group: –  CBS/SBSTTA in Montreal in relation to Aichi target 6 (sustainable fisheries)

•  Ecosystem-based Adaptation to Climate Change TG –  Participation of Angela Andrade in several high-level meetings and

conferences, e.g. on Mountain Ecosystems (UNESCO), UNFCCC. –  Input WPC coordinated by Angela Andrade: Streamline 2: responding to

Climate Change and coordination of NBS Pavilion. –  Bernal Herrera Symposia on connectivity and climate change (Costa Rica).

•  Mountain ecosystems TG: –  Presentation by Paul Egan at IFIWM-conference (Canada)

•  Disaster Risk Reduction/ Ecosystem Services-TG –  Key contributions by Karen Sudmeier and Dolf de Groot at Ecosystem based

DRR and CC-Adaptation workshop (Indonesia) •  Ecosystem Restoration:

–  Presentation by Piet Wit at Conference in Washington DC: How large scale restoration can stimulate sustainable development

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CEM Products 2013-2014 Conferences, workshops, seminars

(Co-organised by CEM)

•  West Asia region: –  Conference on spirituality and ecosystems with special emphasis on Islam

•  Ecosystem Services TG –  Emmanuelle Cohen-Shachan, Dolf de Groot, Sasha Alexander, Bernal Herrera: 2 sessions at

ESP7 conference in Costa Rica •  Fisheries Expert Group

–  Serge Garcia and Despina Symons organised a workshop in Gland on mitigation of fisheries impact on biodiversity. Publication will follow.

•  Coastal ecosystems: –  Virtual conference on Marine Protected Areas in Argentina by Andrea Michelson

•  South-Asia Region : –  RC Madhav Karki organised a workshop on “promoting ecosystem-based adaptation

approaches in South-Asia (Nepal)

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CEM Products 2013-2014 Sounding board and pool of expertise

•  Ecosystem Services TG: –  Frequently called upon notably for IUCN’s work in IPBES. Coordinated by Emmanuelle

Cohen-Shachan •  Fisheries Expert Group:

–  Serge Garcia, Kjartan Hoydal and Despina Symons in IUCN-delegation for FAO/Committee of Fisheries event in Rome (Italy)

•  Regional Chairs South Asia and South-East Asia: –  Madhav Karki: a/o 2014 Human Development Report and key-note presentation on living with Climate Change (Nepal) –  Sansanee Choowaew & Tran Triet: Mekong wetlands

•  Ecosystem Restoration TG: –  Keith Bowers leading advisor for the restoration of the Hainon Crater (Korea)

•  West Africa: –  Jean-Marie Ouadba (RC-West Africa) Training wetland management (Burkina Faso)

•  North Africa: –  Jabier Ruiz-Mirazo: Grassland management issues

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CEM Products 2013-2014 Emerging issues in conservation

and project development

•  Deep-sea mining TG: –  Malcolm R. Clark: Brochure to be published

•  Resilience TG: –  Mike Jones and Steve Edwards commenting on diverse range of

resilience issues •  New thematic groups:

–  Arctic ecosystems led by Jean Thie –  Nanotechnology led by Khara Grieger –  Aquaculture under the guidance of François Simard (IUCN-HQ) –  Sustainable Use, led by Robert Kenward

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CEM Products 2013-2014 Other products and ideas

•  Young Professional Award: –  YPA 2014 for Shalini Dhyani (India)

•  John Liu: –  Short video-introduction on spirituality and

ecosystem management –  Documentary “Regreening the planet”

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Major weaknesses

•  Volunteer network: (See note by Birguy Lamizana) §  Availibility: leadership and members §  Mobilisation §  Frustration

•  Support staff §  CEM “stepdaughter of IUCN”

•  Culture of development aid: §  Too little recognition for the importance of conservation of the resource

base, including biodiversity

•  Collaboration/Synergy to be improved: §  With other commissions §  With secretariat programmes other than EMP §  With regions §  Among RC’s and TG’s of CEM itself

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Opportunities

•  Developing the World EcoForum –  White-Oak meeting (Florida) –  Developing partnership

•  Collaboration with WCEL –  Dictionary on ecosystem terms and definitions for judges –  Publication on ecosystem management related legislation, in support of future

application of the RLE •  One programme commitments:

–  Commission members’ skill and scholarship can be very valuable to the Secretariat in pursuit of the programme priority areas.

–  Commission based services to the Secretariat model will reinforce the value of Commission and complement the capacity of the Secretariat

–  Commissions give credibility to the union in relation to donors and to attract high level commitments from state members.

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Major Threats

•  Insufficient funding, –  leading to missed opportunities and frustration among commission

members •  Insufficient quality check on members:

–  Science-basis, other expertise –  Activists attitude –  How to cancel membership: Criteria, possibility of appeal

•  Credibility risks IUCN as a conservation organisation –  E.g. Syngenta discussion and the TFSP

•  Political turmoil, e.g. –  Libya –  World Ecological Forum in Tatarstan

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Major Threats: Silo’s!

CEM (as is EMP) is about opening up (biome related and other) silos. This is a long term task as it will involve some existing power structures within and external to IUCN – however it is important that IUCN addresses and works with more integrated approaches – and here CEM can contribute (e.g. EbA, DRR, RLE)

Feed-back from Regional Committee meeting in Stockholm:

“Overall it seemed to be that members and NCs perceived this planning process (for the next intersessional programme, PW) more as a potential burden than

as an opportunity. And were not willing to engage actively in it. Just the minimum commitment was accepted.”

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DANK U