Fellow IUCN Member,
Climate change threatens to undo 70 years of our past victories and undermine our future endeavors to protect nature. How can we best deploy our signature strength, sound know-how and policy advice, to confront this existential threat? We must pool our substantial expertise into an IUCN Climate Change Commission.
The commission will create a hub from which IUCN members can shape the global response to climate change (see our FAQs and draft mandate). More specifically, a commission would create a platform to:
● Leverage IUCN’s collective expertise while coordinating to avoid duplication of effort
● Achieve global consensus on climate-related projects and proposals
● Spread these ideas worldwide and inject them into policy-making efforts at all levels
IUCN and its diverse member organizations are uniquely positioned to devise new climate solutions and refine existing ones, especially at the intersection of nature and climate. For example, IUCN could advocate for lesser-known ocean and wetlands-based carbon sequestration solutions while also maintaining pressure on policymakers to utilize better-known forest-based approaches.
IUCN is not new to climate action. We have led climate efforts for decades. Before the 1992 Earth Summit, we published our Caring for the Earth strategy, which laid groundwork for the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). We deeply appreciate UNFCCC’s efforts, which will continue at COP26 in Glasgow. However, no organization or agreement can tackle climate change alone. IUCN members must continue to lead on global climate action that will limit warming to 1.5 degrees. We recently contributed the Global Standard for Nature-based Solutions, but we can and should do more.
To propel IUCN to the forefront of climate action, an international team of IUCN members proposed Motion 003 – Establishing a Climate Change Commission – for the upcoming World Conservation Congress (WCC). Following some opposition and unreasonable alteration (see our FAQs and legal analysis), Motion 003 is now under threat and needs your support. To make the commission a reality, our team asks you to do four things before and during this September’s Congress:
1. Today, sign up to support the creation of a Climate Change Commission at our website.
2. When the agenda is presented for the congress, vote to amend Motion 003 to restore its original, un-compromised intent.
3. Vote in favor of the amended Motion 003 when it comes to a vote in the Congress.
4. Vote to adopt the Climate Change Commission’s mandate.
The existential threat of climate change must be stopped. Every IUCN member, every citizen, every steward of nature will have a gathering place at the climate commission to implement a plan to protect the earth from global warming beyond 1.5 degrees. We are ready to receive your ideas and help as we prepare for passage of Motion 003 at the WCC this September. Please do not hesitate to reach out with any questions or suggestions or to lend your assistance.
Thank you for your consideration. We hope you join us.
Our Drowning Voices -- The Motion 003 Team
ourdrowningvoices@gmail.com