IUCN, the International Union for Conservation of Nature

Charting the course to 2012

14 October 2008 | News story

Today, at the IUCN World Conservation Congress in Barcelona, the Members Assembly approved the new IUCN Programme for the next four years, effectively defining where the Union's efforts will be directed over the next quadrennial period.

The 2009–2012 Programme, entitled "Shaping a Sustainable Future", recognizes the continuing need to support biodiversity conservation at all levels, involving governments, civil society and the private sector. It takes stock of the current environmental situation, looking at changes in environmental services and human wellbeing.

The programme further strengthens the Union's endeavours on conserving biodiversity as the basis for developing more effective and strategic interventions linked to the global sustainability agenda in the areas of climate change, energy, poverty and security, and economy and markets.

The road to 2012 will pass important landmarks, such as the 2010 biodiversity target to halt the rate of biodiversity loss, and end with the likes of the Convention on Biological Diversity and World Summit on Sustainable Development goals of establishing representative networks of marine protected areas by 2012.

The IUCN Programme 2009–2012 provides the framework for planning, implementing, monitoring, and evaluating the conservation work undertaken by the Commissions and the Secretariat with and on behalf of IUCN members.

It is a result-based, demand-driven plan of action that addresses global issues, incorporates national level priorities, and provides a structure for detailed work plans for the Commissions and the Regional and Global Thematic Programmes of IUCN.

The programme provides focus for the Union to take action and engage with members, partners and other stakeholders to deliver concrete results in the pursuit of IUCN's mission of a just world that values and conserves nature.