Today, more than ever, it is clear that reversing biodiversity loss requires action and collective efforts from all segments of society, and the IUCN Species Survival Commission (IUCN SSC) is committed to conserving the integrity of biodiversity and ensuring that the use of species is both equitable and sustainable. 

This Summit which is taking place in New York, USA, in a hybrid format, aims to develop science collaboration to support the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), bringing together leaders, scientists, technologists, innovators, policymakers, decision-makers, financiers, journalists, and community leaders. The event will increase health science and citizen collaborations across a broad spectrum of themes including Information and Communications Technology, nutrition, agriculture, and the environment.

“Informing evidence-based conservation policy is the ultimate goal of the science produced by SSC groups. We know how to do conservation, and there are many examples of successful recovery of species and ecosystems by proactively designing conservation interventions inspired by the best available data and experience. We know how to do conservation, we just need to do more of it.” Said Prof Jon Paul Rodríguez, Chair of the IUCN SSC.

Our impact on Biodiversity

The groundbreaking movement Reverse the Red will host the online presentation Reverse the Red: mobilising national networks to catalyze species conservation on 20 September at 10:00 am ET. This session will explore models that can be implemented to coordinate expertise within countries in order to scale up, measure, and sustain our collective ability to save species, leading strategic biodiversity conservation and providing critical leadership and support at national level. Two additional online sessions will be held on September 27 to showcase how these models are being applied and are currently working in Argentina (11:00 am ET) and Brazil (2:00 pm ET). 

The online discussion panel Global Biodiversity Day, on 21 September at 10:00 am ET, will be the opening for a series of sessions that direct the conversation about Nature-based Solutions and ecological restoration, highlighting the interconnected role across sustainable development goals – from health, water and nutrition to clean energy, sustainable infrastructure, and equality.

Additionally, the Sustainable Use Assessment of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) and the Post 2020 Global Biodiversity Framework will serve to guide the discussion on where we are in the context of these instruments and tools, what are their main contributions and the challenges we are still facing in terms of biodiversity loss.

Showcasing Nature-based Solutions in Latin America 

Defined by IUCN in 2016, Nature-based Solutions have garnered significant interest and momentum worldwide as a promising sustainable development model. Further interest in the concept was catalyzed when IUCN launched a global benchmark for NbS – the IUCN Global Standard for NbS^TM. 

This online session, on 21 September at 1:00 pm ET, will focus on showcasing several case studies from Latin America, in which NbS interventions were or are being successfully implemented. 

The IUCN Red List of Ecosystems

The IUCN Red List of Ecosystems (RLE) is the global standard for assessing the conservation status of ecosystems. Since its adoption as a standard in 2014, over 4,000 ecosystems have been assessed around the world, and Latin America has been one of the leading regions in its application.

In this virtual session on 21 September at 3:00 pm ET, a panel of Latin American experts will discuss the progress of ecosystem risk assessments and the main lessons learned from the diversity in approaches applied, with a strong emphasis on the opportunities and challenges for the application of RLE to inform the post-2020 biodiversity framework and the Sustainable Development Goals.

Among the speakers representing IUCN at this Summit are Jon Paul Rodríguez, Chair of the IUCN Species Survival Commission; Ángela Andrade, Chair of the IUCN Commission on Ecosystem Management; Nahomy De Andrade, SSC Executive Director; Sonia Peña Moreno, Director of the International Policy Centre at IUCN; Gabriela Lichtenstein, IUCN SSC Regional Vice-Chair for South and Mesoamerica and Researcher at National Research Council (CONICET), Argentina.

This is a hybrid Summit with more than 270 sessions scheduled to be held in-person and online and participation is completely free. You are cordially invited to join us. To access ours and all sessions, please register through the following link: https://sciencesummitunga.com/agenda/

# # #

FOR MORE INFORMATION OR INTERVIEWS PLEASE CONTACT:

IUCN SSC Communication Officer - Aritzaith Rodriguez Raymond; ssc@iucn.org
Reverse the Red Communication Officer - Megan Joyce; communications@reversethered.org