IUCN Green List’s COMPASS platform gets a new look and feel

What is new?  

With this new release, the usability and visual appeal of COMPASS has been improved, moving the platform to a more modern interface. In addition, by enhancing the platform’s digital connection tools, such as groups and private messaging, a dedicated space has been created for members of the IUCN Green List community to connect, exchange, and learn from each other. Lastly, we have continued to enhance the inclusivity of the platform, enabling translations in French and Spanish, with Portuguese and other languages coming soon. 

The launch of this exciting development was accompanied by a suite of virtual orientation sessions. Six sessions were held, and in order to facilitate global participation, the sessions were offered with translations in Spanish, Portuguese, and French. The orientation sessions were attended by about 150 participants globally, offering participants the chance to learn more about this essential digital tool by gaining hands-on experience through several exercises and enabling dialogue within the community. A recording of this orientation will be made available to all members of the IUCN Green List community, in case they were not able to attend one of these sessions.  

What is next?  

This release is the first step towards building a more user friendly, engaging, and inclusive digital platform for the IUCN Green List Community. Based on feedback received from the community, including at events such as the IUCN Green List Development Workshop in September, and an Amazonia Hackathon which took place last June, the platform will continue to be developed to better serve the needs of the community. COMPASS is becoming a powerful tool to support protected and conserved areas, through seamlessly completing their Green List application, a robust database to enable the measurement of progress towards global targets and goals, and a dynamic platform for protected and conserved area practitioners to connect globally.  

2021 will bring several exciting developments as the COMPASS tool continues to develop to better serve the needs of the community, empowering sites in the Green Listing process, and connecting protected and conserved area practitioners globally. Stay tuned for further developments! 

What are the participants saying?  

“It was a pleasant surprise for me, discovering the COMPASS interface, a renewed COMPASS, very visual and organised, which offers us a platform that even allows us to enjoy performing the tasks of this important process, the IUCN Green List of Protected and Conserved Areas. From my point of view, the new COMPASS brings us closer to those of us who work in the Green List process. 

What an excellent idea to train the various COMPASS users, now it is up to us to not only read the user manual, but also to undertake the journey without fear of making mistakes, because we have a window for help (which we used to do by email and was very time consuming) integrated into the system and thus much more accessible. I congratulate the IUCN team for such an important advance, thank you for making our tasks more enjoyable!"

- Elva Ivonne Bustamante Moreno, Subdirectora de Monitoreo, Comisión Nacional De Área Naturales Protegidas (CONANP), México (Spanish original available at end of page)

IUCN is grateful to these supporters and donors for enabling the COMPASS evolution and orientation sessions: BNF - National Qualification Programme, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, the Ministry of Environment of the Republic of Korea, and the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, and Nuclear Safety of the Federal Republic of Germany.

“Fue una agradable sorpresa para mí, viajar en la interface del COMPASS, un COMPASS renovado, muy visual y organizado, nos ofrece una plataforma que nos permite incluso, disfrutar de las tareas a nosotros como usuarios para un proceso tan importante como es, la Lista Verde de las Áreas protegidas y Conservadas de la UICN … Desde mi punto de vista, el nuevo COMPASS nos acerca mas a quienes trabajamos en el proceso de Lista Verde.

Excelente idea de capacitar a los diversos usuarios de COMPASS, ahora nos corresponde no solo leer el manual del usuario, también emprender el viaje sin temor a equivocarnos, porque tenemos una ventana para ayuda, que antes hacíamos por correo electrónico y era muy oportuno, pero integrado al sistema debe ser mucho más accesible, ¡¡¡felicito al equipo de la UICN por tan importante avance, gracias por hacer que nuestra tarea sea más amena!!!!!”

- Elva Ivonne Bustamante Moreno, Subdirectora de Monitoreo, Comisión Nacional De Área Naturales Protegidas (CONANP), México