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The World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA) is the world's premier network of protected area expertise. It is administered by IUCN's Global Programme on Protected Areas and has over 1,700 members, spanning 140 countries.
WCPA works by helping governments and others plan protected areas and integrate them into all sectors; by providing strategic advice to policy makers; by strengthening capacity and investment in protected areas; and by convening the diverse constituency of protected area stakeholders to address challenging issues.
WCPA works by helping governments and others plan protected areas and integrate them into all sectors; by providing strategic advice to policy makers; by strengthening capacity and investment in protected areas; and by convening the diverse constituency of protected area stakeholders to address challenging issues.
I am the Vice Chair of the Young Professionals network of the World Commission on Protected Areas. The Young Professionals Group of the IUCN WCPA is a collective forum of like-minded young peoples associated with protected areas and conservation.
Our Mission is to foster intergenerational partnerships between established and emerging young Protected Area leaders and professionals to contribute in meaningful ways to the work of WCPA and broader IUCN in valuing and conserving biodiversity, governing nature’s use and sharing its benefits equitably, and deploying nature-based solutions to global challenges.
Our Mission is to foster intergenerational partnerships between established and emerging young Protected Area leaders and professionals to contribute in meaningful ways to the work of WCPA and broader IUCN in valuing and conserving biodiversity, governing nature’s use and sharing its benefits equitably, and deploying nature-based solutions to global challenges.
impac3
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The Third International Marine Protected Areas Congress |
The Third International Marine Protected Areas Congress (IMPAC3), held in 2013 in France, aimed to deliver a new vision and new tools for achieving the goal of protecting 10% of the world’s oceans by 2020
- Participated and represented the IUCN WCPA Young Professionals group
- Organised and facilitated a workshop with other young professionals attending the conference and as a result I produced a resolution outlining our priorities and recommendations for marine conservation that will be integrated in the IMPAC3 resolution and then presented at WPC.
- The resolution was published on the award winner ocean conservation blogs: The Official MPA Blog
iucn World Parks Congress, sydney 2014
I led and organised the integration of the marine cross-cutting theme into the Inspire a New Generation Stream 8 of World Parks Congress 2014 and in particular:
from left: Richard Vevers (Catlin Seaview Survey) Ved Chirayath (NASA Ames Research Center) Brian Sullivan (Google Earth) Sally Barnes (Director of National Parks-Australia) Andy Sharpless (President Oceana) Dan Laffoley (WCPA-Marine) Chip Cunliffe (Catlin Insurance) Jenifer Austin (Google Ocean) Sylvia Earle (Mission Blue) Kathy Zischka (ACIUCN) Mariasole Bianco (Worldrise) Rebecca Koss (IUCN IPS)
- Designing and delivery of the pre-congress Young Leader Capacity Development Workshop
- Presenter and session manager for the “Networking for nature: the future is cool” session that will showcase game-changing ocean initiatives with presentations by Sylvia Earle and Mission Blue, Catlin Seaview Survey and Google, Oceana, & SkyTruth
- Presenter at the Intergenerational Dialogues Session and leader of one the dialogue roundtables
- Session manager and moderator of the Empowering Young Professionals session
- Developing an Inter-Leadership Framework for organisations and sectors to mentor, fund and develop young professionals
- Developing the Young Peoples Pact for People, Parks and Planet: the Young Professional overarching legacy document for the Congress
iucn world conservation congress, hawai'i 2016
Held once every four years, the IUCN World Conservation Congress brings together several thousand leaders and decision-makers from government, civil society, indigenous peoples, business, and academia, with the goal of conserving the environment and harnessing the solutions nature offers to global challenges.
Next Generation Journey
For the Congress, I coordinated the theme of involvement and professional empowerment of young people by organizing debates, events and one of the six High Level Dialogues.
As a result the 2016 IUCN World Conservation Congress has strongly reinforced the need to involve, support, empower and engage with next generations recognising them as important stakeholders and actors in the creation of a better future for our planet and making their engagement a priority to address current and future challenges.
“The conservation community has a responsibility to help youth by inspiring those who have yet to
care for nature, empowering young professionals already inspired to develop their capacities and
networks, and by lending our time and experience as mentors -- recognizing that youth have as
much to teach as they have to learn.” Navigating Island Earth:The Hawaiʻi Commitments
Next Generation Journey
For the Congress, I coordinated the theme of involvement and professional empowerment of young people by organizing debates, events and one of the six High Level Dialogues.
As a result the 2016 IUCN World Conservation Congress has strongly reinforced the need to involve, support, empower and engage with next generations recognising them as important stakeholders and actors in the creation of a better future for our planet and making their engagement a priority to address current and future challenges.
“The conservation community has a responsibility to help youth by inspiring those who have yet to
care for nature, empowering young professionals already inspired to develop their capacities and
networks, and by lending our time and experience as mentors -- recognizing that youth have as
much to teach as they have to learn.” Navigating Island Earth:The Hawaiʻi Commitments
impac4
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The fourth International Marine Protected Areas Congress |
IMPAC4 was one of the last milestones in the road of conferences on marine conservation before reaching the 2020 deadline for the Aichi Targets. It was a major opportunity to evaluate and review our practices in MPAs towards fulfilling Target 11, and for combining MPA management with advances on UN Sustainable Development Goal 14 – Oceans, Seas and Marine Resources. It was also a great opportunity to call attention to the important role of the oceans in the control of the planet´s climate, urging to protect this crucial ecosystem service.
I was part of the steering committee of IMPAC4 and a speaker of the Opening Plenary Session
MPAs: OUR SHARED VISION FOR THE FUTURE
Mike Wong (IUCN Noth America, moderator)
Dan Laffoley (IUNC-WCPA)
Tukabu Teroroko (Phoenix)
Mariasole Bianco (IUCN-WCPA Young Proffesionals) Sandra Bessudo (Malpelo Foundation, Colombia)
I was part of the steering committee of IMPAC4 and a speaker of the Opening Plenary Session
MPAs: OUR SHARED VISION FOR THE FUTURE
Mike Wong (IUCN Noth America, moderator)
Dan Laffoley (IUNC-WCPA)
Tukabu Teroroko (Phoenix)
Mariasole Bianco (IUCN-WCPA Young Proffesionals) Sandra Bessudo (Malpelo Foundation, Colombia)
How I became a member World Commission on Protected Areas
I became a member of the WCPA thanks to my passion and enthusiasm to build public awareness, appreciation and support for nature. One day I was running an information stall at the market when a woman approached the stall. Like I usually do with everyone I welcomed her and asked if she wanted more information about the proposed CSMR. As she said yes I started to explain the proposed zoning system of the reserve and provide her with all the information needed to better understand the benefits of marine protected areas and the importance of protecting the outstanding biological values of the Coral Sea. At the end of my explanation, because at that time we were in a public consultation period, I kindly asked her to sign our generic submission to the government. She replied that as the Director of the Australian Committee for IUCN she had already submitted one. That woman was Penelope Figgis the Director of the Australian Committee for IUCN and she told me that she was very impressed by my warmth, enthusiasm, good people and communication skills and great commitment. Penelope said that all these skills would be of great benefit in the international conservation community of IUCN and specifically of the WCPA and she asked me if she could propose my membership for the WCPA. Since then we have established an ongoing working relationship and I helped her during the True Blue Marine Symposium: Progress, Challenges and Opportunities for Australia’s Marine Environment organised by the Australian Committee of IUCN and held in Melbourne in June 2013.
