Carolina Figueroa is a technical manager with over 16 years of experience in the field of biodiversity conservation, climate change and low carbon resilient development. Carolina has coordinated low ...
IUCN COMMISSION GROUP
IUCN WCPA Urban Conservation Strategies Specialist Group
Group leadership
Ms Carolina FIGUEROA ARANGO
Co-Chair
Carolina Figueroa is a technical manager with over 16 years of experience in the field of biodiversity conservation, climate change and low carbon resilient development. Carolina has coordinated low carbon resilient projects on different levels (national government, municipalities, urban and rural areas) as well as biodiversity projects within different international organizations, governments and civil society organizations. She has worked in international contexts and has a strong experience working in multidisciplinary teams with different nationalities and backgrounds. Currently Carolina is the Director of Nature and Resilience at SELVAR, a thinks and do tank based in Colombia, working on urban nature-based solutions. Carolina is also a certified Iyengar Yoga teacher and has led several yoga workshops to share mindfulness practices in nature. In November 2024, Carolina has been appointed as the Co-chair of IUCN WCPA Urban Conservation Strategies Specialist.
Mrs Hoda GRAY
Co-Chair
Hoda is a policy and stakeholder relations professional with a rich background in park management in Canada and the UK. Currently serving as Senior Advisor to the Superintendent at Seattle Parks and Recreation, she was previously Executive Director of National Parks England, where she led the strategic initiatives to protect and promote England’s National Parks. Hoda also has extensive experience collaborating and negotiating with Indigenous communities in Canada, highlighting her commitment to inclusive and equitable environmental stewardship practices. She holds a Master of Public Administration and BA Honors from Queen’s University, and a diploma in Women’s Leadership from the University of Oxford. In addition to her professional roles, Hoda is a Board Member for the Pacific Northwest Trails Association and an Independent Reviewer for the National Park City Foundation. Outside of work, she enjoys cooking, trying new things, and spending time in the outdoors, hiking with her husband, dog, and toddler.
Hoda is a policy and stakeholder relations professional with a rich background in park management in Canada and the UK. Currently serving as Senior Advisor to the Superintendent at Seattle Parks and ...
Within that broad purpose we have defined a more specific role. Urban dimensions of conservation are numerous and complex. We focus on things that have been overlooked or neglected, and this has meant going in some new and unexpected directions.
Our Mantra
The wildest and remotest places on Earth, the most imperiled species on Earth, the chain of life sustaining human life on Earth will be protected only if urban people care about nature.
These are our priorities:
- Defining, promoting, and providing advice on urban protected and conserved areas as a distinctive type of protected or conserved area
- Monitoring implementation of IUCN Resolution WCC-2016-Res-029, "Incorporating Urban Dimensions of Conservation into the Work of IUCN," which was drafted by the Specialist Group and adopted by the 2016 IUCN World Conservation Congress in Hawai’i
- The Natural Neighbors initiative: Promoting cooperation within specific metropolitan areas and other regions among conservation and historic preservation agencies and urban institutions such as museums, zoos, and botanic gardens
- Points of Inspiration: Places associated with extraordinary people, events, and ideas can serve as tangible symbols of the kind of imagination and moral courage that is needed to move the world toward greater justice and sustainability. We believe putting a spotlight on them will help change minds and inspire action. A project in development.
- Dark Skies Advisory Group (DSAG). Advancing understanding of the importance of natural darkness and means of addressing impacts of artificial light. Reasons for controlling light pollution relate to protecting biodiversity as well as astronomy and enjoyment of the night sky.
- Trails and Conservation Working Group. (In cooperation with the WCPA Tourism and Protected Areas Specialist Group.) Promoting long-distance trails as conservation tools. We believe such trails have much potential for linking urban, rural, and wild, and shaping new conservationists, young and old. We also see these trails as connectors to places representing cultural, spiritual, aesthetic, and moral values.
- Responding to new challenges and opportunities