To influence, encourage and assist societies throughout the world to conserve the integrity and diversity of nature and to ensure that any use of natural resources is equitable and ecologically sustainable.
IUCN, International Union for Conservation of Nature IUCN
IUCN is the world’s largest professional global conservation network. IUCN’s vision is a just world that values and conserves nature, with the mission to influence, encourage and assist societies throughout the world to conserve the integrity and diversity of nature and to ensure that any use of natural resources is equitable and ecologically sustainable. Through collective strength of 1,300 member organizations from over 160 countries and 10,000 scientists, IUCN influences international environmental conventions, policies and laws.
IUCN in China
In 1980, IUCN began to work in China on panda conservation. In 1996, China, represented by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the PRC, became a state member of IUCN. IUCN has opened an office in China since 2003, and hence made outstanding contribution to nature conservation in China, and will continue do this by implementing new IUCN Programme, partnering with SFA, MEP and MOHURD etc. In 2012, Mr. Zhang Xinsheng, former Vice Minister of Education of China, was elected as the President of IUCN. So far IUCN has 32 members in China, including 4 from Hong Kong. The members include Ministry of Foreign Affairs, All China Environmental Federation, China Wildlife Conservation Association, China National Parks Association, Beijing Forestry Society etc. IUCN has offices in Beijing and Guangdong, with 6 full time staff members.
Megacities and Watersheds Initiative, MWI
The great economic achievement has brought huge challenges to water supply, the per capita availability of water resource in China is just ¼ of the world average, and over 60% of Chinese cities suffer from water shortage. In partnership with DWC and BFS etc, IUCN has been working in Jiaquan Watershed, Miyun Watershed and Dongjiang Source watersheds as pilot watersheds to demonstrate nature-based approaches, including ecosystem planning and restoration, sustainable community livelihoods, multiple stakeholder dialogue and engagement, and public communication and education. IUCN is further promoting MWI programme by carrying out megacity watershed assessment and developing Partnership for Megacity Watershed Protection (PMWP).
Gross Ecosystem Product, GEP
GEP is an independent accounting system parallel to GDP, which valuates and displays the ecological environment by accounting natural ecosystem, such as forest, grass land, wetland, desert, freshwater and marine, etc., and human created system based on natural processes, such as farm land, pastures, aquaculture farms and urban green area, etc. Currently, IUCN is actively undertaking pilot projects in Beijing, Sichuan, Guizhou, Jilin etc., and promoting the adoption of GEP as a sustainable development indicator in China and other countries.
Other Initiatives
China Protected Areas Initiative: protect the natural wonders in China through the IUCN Green List of Protected Areas, the National Parks development, PA categorization, management and governance.
Business and Biodiversity Initiative: work with the corporations to manage biodiversity risks across the supply chain, integrate sustainability into decision making, and drive environmental friendly transformation at sectoral level.
