GROUPE DE COMMISSION DE L'UICN

IUCN WCPA Protected Areas and Climate Change Specialist Group

Leadership de groupe

Ms Lauren WENZEL

Co-Chair

As the Director of the National Marine Protected Areas Center at the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Adminsitration (NOAA), Lauren Wenzel focuses on connecting and strengthening the nation’s diverse marine and coastal protected area programs through capacity building, information and tools, and communication and engaging stakeholders. Her focus is on building partnerships among U.S. and international marine and coastal programs and stakeholders to demonstrate and communicate the value of protecting the ocean’s most important places. Lauren has been with the MPA Center since 2004.

Jedediah BRODIE

Co-Chair

Mr Adam MARKHAM

Co-Chair

I am a life-long conservationist with particular expertise in climate change impacts on biodiversity, natural and cultural heritage. I have experience with the UNFCCC, the IPCC and the World Heritage Convention and have directed climate programs at WWF, Clean Air-Cool Planet and the Union of Concerned Scientists. My academic background is in zoology and archaeology, and I am a current co-chair of WCPA's Climate Change Specialist Group and a member of the ICOMOS Climate Action Working Group.

Within this overarching mission, the Climate Change Specialist Group has five strategic areas of work:

Engagement & Coordination: Integrate climate change throughout the work of WCPA.
Knowledge Products: Create, publish and conduct outreach on knowledge products to fill gaps in knowledge and tools about the role of climate change in management of protected and conserved areas (PCAs), and the ways in which PCAs can be climate solutions.
Inform Policy: Develop timely talking points, policy input and position papers to inform IUCN leadership on climate and PCA issues.
Parks Congresses: Plan for strong and integrated consideration of climate issues at two major conferences on PCAs in 2027: the International Marine Protected Areas Congress (March 2027, Senegal) and the World Congress on PCAs (Sept 2027, Panama)
Building Capacity: Serve as a technical resource to IUCN and its members on issues related to climate and PCAs to build capacity for climate-informed decisions.