We are excited to share stories from ILCN members. If you have a successful conservation initiative, story, event, or webinar to share, then please contact us at ILCN@lincolninst.edu.
|
|
ILCN makes new contacts in China
In June 2018, Jim Levitt, an ILCN co-founder and Associate Director for Land Conservation Programs at the Lincoln Institute, had the opportunity to travel to a conference facility near the Great Wall of China in Yanqing, about 90 kilometers (55 miles) northwest of central Beijing, to make a presentation on New Frontiers in Conservation Finance. The talk, presented to about 100 Chinese foresters, conservationists and policy makers, also served as an introduction for the Chinese audience to the International Land Conservation Network (ILCN). The talk was well-received and was followed up with a panel discussion  that included questions from the audience for Levitt, George McCarthy, Armando Carbonell and Zhi Lui, all of the Lincoln Institute, as well as Jeff Allenby of the Chesapeake Conservancy and Bob Tansey of The Nature Conservancy. The talk and panel discussion considered the similarities and differences between the development of National Parks specifically, and of the advancement of nature conservation in general, in the United States and China.
While at the conference, Levitt and his colleagues made good contacts with a variety of individuals and organizations, and helped solidify plans for the upcoming visit of about a dozen Chinese conservationists to the northeast United States in October 2018. The Chinese will participate in a study tour and learn more about conservation practices used in the civic, private and public sectors in the United States. They will think through how such practices might be adapted or reconstituted to advance land, water and biodiversity conservation in their home nation.
|
|
Exploring new frontiers: A brief summary of the June ELCN workshop on legal tools for private land conservation
An international workshop on Legal Tools for Private Land Conservation took place in Rovaniemi Finland from June 13th-15th. Organized by the European Land Conservation Network (ELCN) and hosted by the Lapland ELY Center, the meeting took place at the Arktikum, a beautiful science center and museum providing comprehensive information and exhibits on northern Finland's history, culture and environment. Attended by 29 representatives from 15 countries, the workshop was the first of three that will be organized by ELCN as part of the LIFE preparatory project "Development of a European Private Land Conservation Network". Other workshops on incentives for private land conservation and on cooperation will take place in Madrid, Spain in November 2019 and in Romania in May 2018.
The Rovaniemi workshop was organized to explore the question of how private land conservation can be implemented under existing EU and national legislation and how new instruments could be legally codified in the future. The workshop sought to investigate the potential and risks of  such new legal tools with a focus on conservation, property, tax and charitable law.
The workshop was organized around two major topics: the first was conservation easements, featuring presentations and discussions on the use of easements (or easement-like instruments) in the United States, Catalonia, France, Scandinavia and the Baltic States. The use of conservation easements in the US has been extensive and has had tremendous impact over many decades on land conservation. However, US-style conservation easements face challenges when transferred into the legal, land use, cultural and financial context of most countries in Europe. More relevant examples of conservation easement-type legal instruments have been developed in Catalonia and France and these tools and their potential applicability to other jurisdictions were also explored at the workshop.
The second topic covered in the workshop was privately protected areas (PPAs) and included presentations from Portugal, Belgium, Croatia and an overview and summary on the current development of PPA guidance from the IUCN, provided by Sue Stolton, a co-leader of the IUCN PPA Specialist Group. The group will be sharing the final Best Practice Guidelines for PPAs at COP14 in Egypt in November 2018.
The workshop was a stimulating and informative opportunity to share information across geographies and to compare differences and similarities in the development of private land conservation. All participants felt there was great benefit to sharing learning and experiences and look forward to future opportunities to continue the discussions. A report on the workshop and all presentations can be found on the website of the ELCN (elcn.eu).
|
|
Upcoming Events:
Global Climate Action Summit
September 12-14, 2018
San Francisco, CA USA
"The Global Climate Action Summit will bring leaders and people  together from around the world to 'Take Ambition to the Next Level.' It will be a moment to celebrate the extraordinary achievements of states, regions, cities, companies, investors and citizens with respect to climate action.
It will also be a launchpad for deeper worldwide commitments and accelerated action from countries—supported by all sectors of society—that can put the globe on track to prevent dangerous climate change and realize the historic Paris Agreement. States and regions, cities, businesses and investors are leading the charge on pushing down global emissions by 2020, setting the stage to reach net zero emissions by midcentury."
Land Trust Alliance Rally 2018
October 11-13, 2018
Pittsburgh, PA USA
"Rally is the exciting annual gathering of nearly 2,000 inspired and passionate land conservation practitioners from the US, Canada, South America and beyond, who are dedicated to conserving cherished places in local communities.Serving as the premier training and networking conference, Rally ’18 offers more than 130 educational sessions focused on land conservation topics, special networking events, field trips highlighting the region’s natural treasures, exhibits, a plenary session presentation, a Welcoming dinner and an awards presentation celebrating conservation leadership."
|
|
Many thanks to our content contributors for this newsletter: Laura Johnson (Senior Advisor, International Land Conservation Network), Jim Levitt (Associate Director for Land Conservation Programs, Lincoln Institute of Land Policy), and Jivan Sobrinho-Wheeler (Project Coordinator for Land Conservation Programs, Lincoln Institute of Land Policy)
July 2018
|
|
|
|
academic sectors, making her particularly well-suited for this work. As a 2010 graduate of Cornell University, with dual Bachelor’s degrees in Economics and English, she began her career at Accenture creating change management strategies for clients as diverse as the United Nations Secretariat and a large New York-based investment bank. Pursuing her passion for social impact and the environment, since 2014 Chandni has worked with organizations in Mexico, Peru, Norway, and New York City on projects related to land conservation and community well-being. She returned to school to earn a Master's degree in Environmental Science from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies in 2017. In addition to English, Chandni speaks Spanish, Hindi, and conversational Russian and Sinhala.
