IUCN, the International Union for Conservation of Nature

Wanna be a responsible Congress participant? Read "My guide to a sustainable Congress"

12 August 2008 | News story

My guide to a sustainable Congress has been put together to help delegates make environmentally-smart decisions at different stages of their trip to and stay in Barcelona. It is part of the IUCN’s effort to practice what it preaches at this year’s event on sustainability and conservation. The guide will hopefully get you thinking about how you can combine your own plans and interests with more sustainable forms of travel. The Spanish and French version of the guide will be available shortly.

This year you will be one of the 8,000 or so IUCN members and affiliates travelling from around the world to gather for ten days at the World Conservation Congress in Barcelona. Though we hope much will be gained from us meeting together in one place, we recognize that the travel, consumption and waste generation linked to the Congress have implications for the local and global environment.

Mainly at stake are:

• the global climate through the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions generated through the travel, consumption, and waste generation resulting from the Congress;
• biodiversity, due to links with the food and other products we consume—from fish to wine corks!
• the sustainability of local water supplies, as well as our paper sources.

Also at stake are your time, money and energy.

This guide has been put together with these issues in mind. It aims to help minimize the adverse impact of participation in the Congress, individually and collectively, by providing delegates with a number of smart options that are relevant at different stages of the Congress.

You will find guidelines on how best to plan your trip, from choosing how to get to Barcelona and where to stay, to packing your bags. And further along the line we take into account water use issues, species that invade suitcases and then new habitats, options for eating out responsibly, and some local cultural considerations.