About the Congress
In December 2022, representatives from countries around the world came together in Montreal, at the United Nations Biodiversity COP 15, to agree upon a global target to protect 30 percent of Earth’s lands and waters by 2030 (the 30×30 target). This was an immense call to action. Rising to this challenge requires increased capacity at every scale and across all sectors of society, and will take unprecedented partnership and collaboration.
Congress Goals
Accordingly, the 2024 ILCN Global Congress will bring together experts and practitioners who are advancing a ‘whole of society’ effort towards realizing 30×30, and will build the capacity and coherence of civic (NGO and non-profit) and private sector conservation organizations to complement and partner effectively with public sector, academic, Indigenous and other essential sectors engaged in land conservation on six continents.
Inspired by the landscapes of Quebec, Canada, the 2024 Global Congress program will have an overarching theme of “Relationships for a Resilient World.” Congress plenary, workshop and panel speakers will focus on how meaningful, ethical and equitable relationships are vital to our ability to secure sustainable financing for conservation, and how to achieve effective long-term stewardship of conserved areas. Our goals for the Global Congress are as follows:
- Build, through case studies and discussions, a better community-of-practice understanding of how regional conservation and climate partnerships can bring together a broad spectrum of conservation organizations to achieve ambitious regional funding and land stewardship objectives
- Recognize the achievements of the Canadian private and civic conservation community of practice on an international stage
- Equip private and civic land conservation organizations with the ideas, tools, and innovative practices they need to support 30×30 and address challenges associated with climate change;
- Facilitate the ability of private and civic conservation initiatives to report their achievements to the World Conservation Monitoring Center (WCMC) and to potentially be identifiable in the IUCN’s Protected Planet database, and
- Help build productive and lasting relationships among Congress participants and between practitioners from around the world, leading to continued knowledge exchange, sharing of expertise, and sense of global community.
Participants
Congress participants will come from the public, Indigenous, private, nonprofit, and academic sectors on six continents. They will include directors and staff of local, regional, national, and international land and biodiversity conservation organizations, conservation landowners, public officials and policymakers, lawyers, conservation finance experts, representatives of Indigenous peoples’ organizations, foundations, students and academics, as well as representatives of multilateral agencies.
