After a summer marked by the release of the latest alarming report from the IPCC and by violent climatic events, the Congress of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) opens on Friday, September 3 in Marseille.

The event will bring together representatives of governments, public agencies, NGOs, the scientific world, local communities, indigenous peoples and businesses.

During these eight days, the participants will have to identify problems linked to the degradation of nature and biodiversity and bring out solutions. Many environmental NGOs will be present to demand concrete measures and try to put pressure on decision-makers.

Most of them will participate in conferences and offer activities to educate citizens about the preservation of biodiversity, because this year the Congress has decided to open to the general public. "Our member associations will be present on our stand to present awareness-raising actions. We will also carry out an action on a beach to warn about the degradation of the oceans and seas", explains, to France 24, Maxime Paquin, project manager on biodiversity at France nature environment.

During this exchange with @EmmanuelMacron, we insisted on 3 obvious


facts

:

1⃣ The protection of the environment requires financial and human resources # PLF2022


👉Half of our economic activities depend on nature: it must be protected "whatever 'it costs" !

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- France Nature Environnement (@FNEasso) September 1, 2021

But the most strategic stake for associations is first of all to use the Congress as a "platform to send political messages", according to Maxime Paquin. Like other NGOs, the French association will participate in the vote of 19 motions which will be debated in Marseille. Among them are the protection of marine mammals, ancient forests in Europe and the reduction of the impact of the mining industry on biodiversity.

"All of these recommendations will help define the next objectives for the protection of biodiversity in 2030, which will be established at the UN Biodiversity COP15", specifies the IUCN.

These recommendations are not binding but will allow NGOs to influence discussions at COP15 on biodiversity, which will take place in October in China, and at COP26 on climate change, scheduled for November, in Scotland.

Of these 128 recommendations, 109 have already been adopted by States, government agencies, NGOs, associations and indigenous peoples who are members of the IUCN.

A red list 

of endangered species

"We are carrying out influencing work within IUCN to ensure that these motions are voted on and that they are then implemented on a global scale", explains Pierre Cannet, director of advocacy for WWF France, contacted by France 24. NGOs also use these texts as working documents to dialogue with States and with major international organizations, such as the World Health Organization (WHO) or the Food and Agriculture Organization. agriculture (FAO).

Nature is collapsing around us 🐾🪲!



Here are our 10 emergencies for the #IUCN World Conservation Congress to truly serve to protect biodiversity.



We will be present at the congress from Friday in Marseille.

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- WWF France 🐼 (@WWFFrance) August 31, 2021

One of the highlights of the congress will also be the update of the IUCN endangered species list, which classifies endangered species into seven categories, from "least concern" to definitive "extinct".

A true scientific reference, this red list "constitutes the most complete world inventory of the overall conservation status of plant and animal species", specifies the IUCN.

Currently, around one million animal and plant species are threatened with extinction, according to the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (Ipbes).

Since 1900, the average abundance of local species in most major terrestrial habitats has declined by at least 20% on average, according to the same source.

And scientists are unanimous: the disappearance of species and ecosystems is a direct consequence of human activity (overfishing, pollution, deforestation, etc.) and threatens the well-being of humanity.

>> To read also: "Towards an international treaty to protect the oceans?"

Faced with these alarming figures, "the IUCN congress is a good way to regroup and see how we can take decisions, in a context where the recovery plans drawn up at the global level and the national budgets devote very little to biodiversity ", explains Pierre Cannet.

"We are trying to make sure that France, behind Emmanuel Macron's opening speech scheduled for Friday and the reception of the congress on its soil, is also in a position to act for biodiversity", he continues, denouncing in France "a context of inaction in terms of agricultural transition and backtracking, for example on neonicotinoids and glyphosate".

A "stepping stone towards restrictive measures"

Although they are not authorized to vote on motions, associations that are not members of IUCN, such as the NGO Surfrider Foundation Europe, specializing in the preservation of the oceans, seas and their ecosystems, still intend to push the States to act. Contacted by France 24, Antidia Citores, advocacy manager and spokesperson for Surfrider Foundation Europe, considers the congress "as a potential 'catch-up session' for both politicians and the media".

For his part, Maxime Paquin hopes that this congress will put the thorny issue of funding on the table.

"There is a plethora of reports in which we are studying the possibilities of improving funding. But in fact, on the ground, we lack the means. We must therefore increase them, distribute them better and redirect certain taxes," he suggests. -he.

The associations therefore intend to rely on economic players, such as companies or development banks, to finance the ecological transition.

>> To read also: "Climate summit: after the Covid, 'countries must ensure a very green economic recovery'"

WWF France, for example, wishes to highlight the initiative of the International Development Finance Club, a union of development banks led by the French Development Agency (AFD) and which commits $ 630 billion in funding per year for a fairer and more equitable world economy, including 100 billion just for the climate.

Far from seeing this congress as a miracle response, Pierre Cannet sees it as a "stepping stone towards restrictive measures for the preservation of biodiversity".

Antidia Citores recalls that "strong measures are not necessarily the objective of the IUCN Congress and that the Congress is rather an opportunity to adopt framework motions".

But the presence of Emmanuel Macron and several members of the government at the congress still raises hopes.

"We are waiting for announcements from the president on biodiversity, even if, ultimately, it is not even sure that he does," admits Maxime Paquin.

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