Story | 06 Sep, 2021

A snapshot of IUCN Europe's successes

Today, the IUCN European office released a summary of its successes over the past 4 years to coincide with the World Conservation Congress. Despite the unprecedented circumstances over the last few years, the IUCN European Region has persevered with its influential work.

Photo: Riccardo Chiarini / Unsplash

Whether by informing EU policies, pushing Nature-based solutions (NbS) up the European agenda or improving the evaluation of European species with our flagship Red List projects, the IUCN Europe office has remained at the centre of action for Nature.

The ‘Snapshot of IUCN Europe’s successes’ showcases the work of the Union, Secretariat, Members, Experts and National Committees as a movement for raising the bar and accelerating implementation for nature conservation. We continue to see our members grow and still represent the largest IUCN Membership globally with 371 members, including some of IUCN’s main Framework Partners and State Members.

Photo: IUCN

IUCN Members, Commissions and the Secretariat have been working hard, supporting an enhanced European (One)Program and implementing a number of projects to improve biodiversity conservation and sustainable development across the continent.

One of our most prominent and successful results from the Secretariat was facilitating dialogues between environmental and farming communities on sustainable agriculture. In 2018 and 2019, we organised round tables on the environmental measures of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) together with the EU Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development.

IUCN Europe was also instrumental in the considerable uptake of NbS into key EU policies such as in the Climate Adaptation Strategy and the Nature Restoration Action plan. We will continue our work to ensure NbS projects follow our Global Standards to optimise their impact.

The European Red List (ERL) has only grown with time, with a number of additions published during 2017-2020. Through the ongoing support of the European Union, IUCN is currently assessing all European hoverfly and macro moth species for the ERL, and reassessing 11 previously assessed taxa as part of the IUCN European Red List Pulse project.

However, much more still needs to be done. IUCN Europe will continue to support the goals with its members and assist and convene open dialogues with all stakeholders.

For futher information contact Edel Shanahan, Policy and Communications Officer, IUCN Europe.

Downloads: