Author: CCIUCN Secretariat

CCIUCN AGM 2022

Please join us on January 19-20, 2022 to learn about current events, initiatives and opportunities to contribute to the work of the IUCN in Canada. Please share this with colleagues and friends. We look forward to the dialogue together. CCIUCN members and non-members are welcome!

Jan 19th (8.30-12.00 Pacific, 12.30-16.00 ET)

Day 1 – Plenary ADM Panel – Collective Impact (PCA, DFO, NCC, CWF)

How national scale organizations are working together to make a difference for nature

AGM (As per 2021 rapid fire format)

Work Plan priority panels (30mins plus 15 min questions)

Indigenous Conservation – Session lead Eli Ennes

Career Pathways – SFI, Eco Canada

Marine Conservation IMPAC 5 – Session lead Sabine Jessen

Jan 20th (8.30-12.00 Pacific, 12.30-16.00 ET)

Day 2 – Plenary IUCN Leaders Panel – Road to 2024 (NA Director, NA Counselor, Global Group)

How the different parts of IUCN are working together to advance nature conservation

Commission priority sessions (30mins plus 15 min questions)

SSC – SSCstrategic plan and national opportunities , Session Lead Axel Moehrenschlager

WCPA – 30×30 Session lead Stephen Woodley

CEM – Nature Based Solution – Session lead Liette Vasseur

CCIUCN AGM & Virtual Open House

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12pm to 3:30pm Eastern Time

January 20-21, 2021

Register: cpcil.ca/CCIUCN

Please join us to learn about current events, initiatives and opportunities to contribute to the work of the IUCN in Canada.  Our agenda is being finalized and your board of directors looks forward to the dialogue.  Please share this invite with colleagues and friends.  CCIUCN members and non-Members are welcome!

Discovering the IUCN in Canada: Ocean Wise

There are over 500 people in Canada who are actively involved with the work of the IUCN and/or the CCIUCN. Many are members in one or more IUCN Commissions. Others belong to IUCN or CCIUCN member organizations. This occasional series will highlight their IUCN-related work in Canada.

Introducing: Ocean Wise

Ocean Wise became a member of the CCIUCN in 2017.

CCIUCN activity highlights 2017

Education and communication
  • In April we participated in the #NatureForAll dialogue in Vancouver and welcomed the Children and Nature Conference to Vancouver Aquarium for a special evening event.
  • In June we launched https://ocean.org our millennial focussed public engagement portal
  • In July and August, we hosted the Howe Sound and Cambridge Bay scientific Bio Blitz150 events as well as contributed to the Stanley Park public engagement Bio Blitz.
  • In time for the National Conservation Summit in November, we were pleased to supply the #NatureForAll campaign with 1,000 pins to acknowledge and identity members and supporters.
  • Throughout 2017 we were pleased to submit three #NatureForAll stories relating to our Youth leadership Program, Shoreline Clean Up and Curriculum Programs.
  • Throughout 2017 our in person ocean education programs reached over 300,000 participants https://education.ocean.org/
Ecosystem management
  • In February, we released the Ocean Watch Report http://oceanwatch.ca/
  • Based on several years of research focusing on marine ecosystem indicators, we identified seven reporting themes. These themes taken together touch on ecological, socioeconomic, cultural, and governance aspects of ecosystem health and provide a window to the whole picture of what is happening in an area.
Species survival

Endangered

  • Oregon Spotted Frog (Rana pretiosa)
    Participant in Amphibian Ark and member of the Oregon Spotted Frog Recovery Team. Active Oregon Spotted Frog breeding and release program.
  • Northern Leopard Frog (Lithobates pipiens)
    Participant in Amphibian Ark and member of the B.C. Northern Leopard Frog Recovery Team. Active Northern Leopard Frog breeding and release program.

Threatened

  • Beluga whale (Delphinapterus leucas)
    VA – coordinates the AZA SSP and participates in SSP. CORI – mother and calf acoustic communication studies Arctic & St. Lawrence.
  • Northern fur seal (Callorhinus ursinus)
    Animals onsite are owned by UBC and are in a conservation focused research program.

Special concern

  • Beluga whale (Delphinapterus leucas)
    Coordinate and participate in SSP
  • Harbour porpoise (Phocoena phocoena vomerina)
    Research and Marine Mammal Rescue rehab and release
  • Seat otter (Enhydra lutris)
    No SSP but particpate in studbook
  • Steller sea lion (Eumetopias jubatus)
    No SSP but involved in field research project with UBC.
Protected Areas

Ocean Bridge http://bridge.ocean.org/

During 2017 we developed our national marine conservation youth service program in collaboration with our partners Parks Canada and Fisheries and Oceans Canada.

Would you like to share your IUCN-related initiatives? Contact us at cciucn@nature.ca.

 

 

Helping IUCN Members work better together

Shared from the National Committee UK

IUCN National Committee UK

The Global Directory of IUCN National and Regional Committees is now available to view and contains information on the activities of these members of the IUCN family as well as their contact details. Global Directory coverYou will see from this document that there are more than 60 officially recognised IUCN National Committees and 7 Regional Committees as well as Country Focal Points in places where these arrangements do not exist. More National Committees are being established regularly, most recently in Benin in West Africa, the United States of America  and Belize in MesoAmerica. The editors intend to regularly update the document which you can also download from the IUCN website.

This Global Directory should also provide some context to help IUCN Members in the West Europe and East Europe and Central Asia region decide on whether to form an InterRegional Committee to join the other Regional Committees in helping IUCN function…

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CCIUCN 2018 Priority Initiative: The Biodiversity Communications Deficit in Canada

Most if not all of our member organizations have communications programs related to biodiversity, so there is no shortage of work being done to improve Canadians’ awareness of the importance of nature. Despite all that effort we aren’t achieving the goals and targets in Canada’s Biodiversity Strategy, and we won’t achieve them until we can communicate the beauty of nature and its many values to society in a way that drives the right policy decisions and enough conservation action to stop the loss.

The importance of this was recognized in the first Aichi Target, which is to ensure “people are aware of the values of biodiversity and the steps they can take to help conserve it.”

In the Biodiversity Strategy for Canada, this need is also reflected in Goal D. Progress has been made, including government’s recent investment of $1.5 billion over five years to reach Target 1 of this strategy by conserving 17 per cent of terrestrial and inland water and 10 percent of our coastal and marine areas by 2020. But there are 18 other targets in Canada’s strategy and as we count down to the end of the 2020 phase of the Aichi targets and the upcoming World Conservation Congress in 2020, we need to re-examine our communications and how it is best linked to achieving the other objectives. We will also need to coordinate our work with others across the IUCN to encourage countries to meet their financial commitments to the Convention on Biological Diversity, for members to share ideas and to maximize our impact.

Discovering the IUCN in Canada: Peter Molnar

There are over 500 people in Canada who are actively involved with the work of the IUCN and/or the CCIUCN. Many are members in one or more IUCN Commissions. Others belong to IUCN or CCIUCN member organizations. This occasional series will highlight their IUCN-related work in Canada.

Introducing: Peter Molnar

Assistant Professor, University of Toronto Scarborough.

I am an active member of the Polar Bear Specialist Group, and the PI of the ‘Quantitative Global Change Ecology Lab’ at the University of Toronto Scarborough. My research on polar bears focuses on physiological and population dynamics models to understand and forecast impacts of climate change. Research on other species ranges from muskoxen and caribou in the Canadian Arctic to jaguars and other large cats in Costa Rica, and focuses on climate change and land use change impacts on these species, in particular through existing and newly emerging parasites and pathogens.

Would you like to share your IUCN-related initiatives? Contact us at cciucn@nature.ca.

Discovering the IUCN in Canada: Kim Taylor Thompson

There are over 500 people in Canada who are actively involved with the work of the IUCN and/or the CCIUCN. Many are members in one or more IUCN Commissions. Others belong to IUCN or CCIUCN member organizations. This occasional series will highlight their IUCN-related work in Canada.

Introducing: Kim Taylor Thompson

I am new to the IUCN and I have been working with Harry Jonas on the guidelines for OECMs. This has included review of the guidelines,  providing case studies, and ongoing application of the guidelines as I work classifying natural heritage areas as protected areas , OECMs ( if I should find one), or as not qualifying towards Aichi 11.

Would you like to share your IUCN-related initiatives? Contact us at cciucn@nature.ca.

Discovering the IUCN in Canada: Dan Kraus

There are over 500 people in Canada who are actively involved with the work of the IUCN and/or the CCIUCN. Many are members in one or more IUCN Commissions. Others belong to IUCN or CCIUCN member organizations. This occasional series will highlight their IUCN-related work in Canada.

Introducing: Dan Kraus

Dan-KrausDan Kraus is Nature Conservancy of Canada’s National conservation biologist. He is a member of the Species Survival Commission and Connectivity Conservation Specialist Group. He co-authored Freshwater Key Biodiversity Areas of Canada and the upcoming IUCN report on forest conservation and restoration.

Dan’s blog “Protecting what matters most: Identifying and conserving freshwater key biodiversity areas” describes some of the work that NCC has done with the IUCN.

Discovering the IUCN in Canada: Lana Ciarniello

There are over 500 people in Canada who are actively involved with the work of the IUCN and/or the CCIUCN. Many are members in one or more IUCN Commissions. Others belong to IUCN or CCIUCN member organizations. This occasional series will highlight their IUCN-related work in Canada.

Introducing: Lana Ciarniello

a woman standing next to a stream with a bear in the background
Image: Shawn O’Connor

I am Co-Chair of the IUCN Species Survival Commission (SSC) Bear Specialist Group’s (BSG) Human-Bear Conflicts Expert Team (HBCET). I have been Co-chair for two terms (last term and this term) and a HBCET member since 2011.

The BSG is part of the IUCN and the SSC. The goal of the BSG is to promote the conservation of bears and their habitats across their distribution world-wide, and to foster cooperative relationships with organizations such as the International Bear Association, other IUCN Specialist Groups, management agencies, educational institutions, captive facilities, citizen’s groups, and non-government conservation organizations (NGCO).

The HBCET exists to provide science-based technical assistance on the prevention or reduction of human-bear conflicts to create a positive effect on human-bear coexistence. Currently, the HBCET has 18 members, representing 4 Continents and 9 Countries (Canada, Croatia, Ecuador, Greece, India, Italy, Turkey, United States and Venezuela). Types of bear conflicts vary enormously around the world, and so do the feasible methods of mitigation, and our members work closely on HBC issues with 7 of the 8 bear species across all 4 continents where bears occur (Polar bears have their own HBC expert team). Our most recent activity was to host an International HBC workshop held in Quito, Ecuador, Nov 2017 (Full with waiting list).

My team’s current initiative is to design a Global Human–Bear Conflicts mitigation manual that captures the variation in HBC in a meaningful way and is useful to people working in the field as well as to governments.

As for me personally, I am an independent Research Scientist that mainly works with bears in BC.

Would you like to share your IUCN-related initiatives? Contact us at cciucn@nature.ca.

Discovering the IUCN in Canada: Ariadne Angulo

There are over 500 people in Canada who are actively involved with the work of the IUCN and/or the CCIUCN. Many are members in one or more IUCN Commissions. Others belong to IUCN or CCIUCN member organizations. This occasional series will highlight their IUCN-related work in Canada.

Introducing: Ariadne Angulo

A woman standing next to a river
Ariadne visiting a strategic site in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, 2014. Image: M. Abadie

I am Co-Chair of the IUCN SSC Amphibian Specialist Group (ASG), a 270+ member, 7700+ species specialist group with a global and class-level remit. The ASG’s mission is to provide the scientific foundation to inform effective amphibian conservation action around the world. The ASG Secretariat works to coordinate ASG’s amphibian research and conservation activities through three main pillars: the Amphibian Conservation Action Plan (ACAP), ASG Regional Groups, and the Amphibian Red List Authority.

Would you like to share your IUCN-related initiatives? Contact us at cciucn@nature.ca.

Discovering the IUCN in Canada: James Thorsell

There are over 500 people in Canada who are actively involved with the work of the IUCN and/or the CCIUCN. Many are members in one or more IUCN Commissions. Others belong to IUCN or CCIUCN member organizations. This occasional series will highlight their IUCN-related work in Canada.

Introducing: James Thorsell

thorsell

I worked at IUCN HQ for 23 years as head of the Protected areas program, then as Head of the Natural Heritage program. I semi-retired in 2003 and moved back to Banff where I still act as Senior Advisor to the World Heritage Programme. My main activity these past 15 years has been to advise on World Heritage issues in China and have undertaken 18 field missions there. I am also involved in assisting on study tours to the western mountain parks by various Chinese delegations.

 

Would you like to share your IUCN-related initiatives? Contact us at cciucn@nature.ca.

Discovering the IUCN in Canada: Pierre Iachetti

There are over 500 people in Canada who are actively involved with the work of the IUCN and/or the CCIUCN. Many are members in one or more IUCN Commissions. Others belong to IUCN or CCIUCN member organizations. This occasional series will highlight their IUCN-related work in Canada.

Introducing:  Pierre Iachetti

iachetti

I am on the IUCN Commission on Ecosystem Management and World Commission on Protected Areas. I also serve on a few sub-groups – Nature-based Solutions Thematic Group, Resilience Thematic Group, Ecosystem-based Adaptation and Mitigation Thematic Group. I have been involved with the IUCN for about 12 years. I have developed research and tools for conservation science and planning, reviewed reports, held a fellowship at the IUCN for a couple years, and provided subject-matter expertise. In my previous work with the Nature Conservancy of Canada, The Nature Conservancy, and provincial, state and federal agencies we developed several ecoregional conservation assessments for the Pacific Northwest of North America using IUCN classifications.

 

Would you like to share your IUCN-related initiatives? Contact us at cciucn@nature.ca.

CCIUCN 2018 Priority Initiative: Engagement in the Post-2020 Strategy Plan

Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) launched an open process for stakeholders to provide their perspectives for potential items for Canada’s position paper for the upcoming meetings of the Conference of the Parties (COP) of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). The 4 key areas ECCC wanted input on were:

1) The Structure and Alignment of Global Targets (e.g. Should the current set of Aichi targets of 5 goals and 20 targets be changed?)

2) Gaps and Opportunities (e.g. What are the gaps that should be filled in a post-2020 strategic plan?)

3) Ambition and Accountability (e.g. Are more ambitious targets needed or is it more ambitious action that we need?)

4) Mainstreaming Biodiversity in Sectors (e.g. Are there specific sectors such as mining, forestry and agriculture, where it would be relevant and possible to have sector-specific targets in the context of the post-2020 strategic plan for biodiversity?

Next steps – Canada’s Approach to the Post 2020 Process

ECCC will finalize consolidating the views and produce a document that will be shared with the discussion group. In the fall, ECCC will reinitiate meetings with the post 2020 discussion group to get input/views on these possible Canadian positions.

The documents and other relevant information will be considered in formally developing Canadian positions for key CBD meetings, including COP-14 (Nov. 2018), SBSTTA-23 (Nov. 2019) and SBI-3 (June 2020). At the end of the process, ECCC will be making recommendations to upper levels of government for a decision on Canada’s negotiating mandate ahead of COP-15 where the post-2020 international strategic plan on biodiversity will be considered.S

Files:
Submission to the CBD Executive Secretary related to the scope and elements of the Post 2020 Global Biodiversity Framework:
Download
Post 2020 strategy from Traffic:
Download

CCIUCN 2018 Priority Initiative: Pathway to Canada Target 1

Pathway to Canada Target 1 is the nation-wide initiative to develop a plan to achieve Canada’s international biodiversity commitment to conserve at least 17 per cent of its land and freshwater by 2020 through a coordinated network of protected areas, Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas (IPCAs), and other conservation measures.

Its achievement will require the collective contribution of federal, provincial and territorial governments, Indigenous organizations, municipalities and local governments, non-profit organizations and the private sector. It will also require reconciliation and a renewed nation-to-nation relationship with Indigenous peoples. A National Advisory Panel and Indigenous Circle of Experts were formed as part of the Pathway initiative to provide recommendations to federal, provincial and territorial ministers on meeting Target 1.

The recommendations of the National Advisory Panel (NAP) and the Indigenous Circle of Experts (ICE) were submitted to federal, provincial and territorial ministers responsible for parks, protected areas, conservation, wildlife and biodiversity in the spring of 2018. These recommendations will inform the federal-provincial-territorial plan to achieve Canada Target 1. The federal-provincial-territorial plan to achieve Canada Target 1 will be announced in the near future.

Related resources, including reports, videos and information sheets, are available on the Pathway to Canada Target 1 website: www.conservation2020canada.ca

Additional information and resources provided here: Canada.ca/Nature-Legacy.

CCIUCN 2018 Priority Initiative: #NatureForAll:

After hearing from members at the 2018 AGM in January, the CCIUCN Board of Directors committed to helping advance the IUCN #NatureForAll movement in Canada. Board members James Bartram (VP of Education and Youth, Ocean Wise) and Dawn Carr (Executive Director, Canadian Parks Council) are working together to help communicate and reach out to members to learn how we can better work collectively through the CCIUCN network to grow Canada’s love for nature.

The #NatureForAll movement continues to expand, with 250+ partner organizations, 55+ #NatureForAll Success Stories, and 20+ blog posts. Have a look at the latest newsletter to discover: #NatureForAll Success Stories, the #NatureForAll blog, and; #NatureForAll partner activities.

In Canada, over 30+ organizations have partnered with #NatureForAll global — many of whom are CCIUCN members — and discussions are taking place to determine how we can coordinate efforts to leverage each other’s reach and influence. If we all work together to engage Canadians in ways that foster a lifelong commitment to conservation, and communicate those efforts exponentially, we will activate #NatureForAll and shift momentum to consistently favour nature as a critical determinant of our future health and wellbeing.

Are you interested in learning more? Do you have ideas that we could act on through the CCIUCN to support #NatureForAll?  We are interested in hearing from you!

Here are a few examples of recent and upcoming actions led by the CCIUCN and its members:

  • CCIUCN members showcased #NatureForAll initiatives with interactive displays and a special session at the IUCN Communities, Conservation and Livelihoods Conference in Halifax, May 28 to 30, 2018.
  • CCIUCN members are also advancing #NatureForAll through the Canada Service Corps – Youth Service Program with Canadian Wildlife Federation and Ocean Wise leading national pilots and several members are applying for regional programs.
  • #NatureForAll is an embedded premise of Parks For All: An Action Plan for Canada’s Parks Community, to be launched this summer, which is supported by numerous members of the CCIUCN community including the Canadian Parks Council.