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The International Land Conservation Network is pleased to announce the beta release of an online "Data Wizard" for formatting data for submission to the Protected Planet database of protected and conserved areas.
 
Developed through a partnership between the ILCN and the Center for Geospatial Solutions at the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, this online user interface aims to streamline the process of preparing and validating geospatial data for submission to the World Database on Protected Areas and the Other Effective Area-Based Conservation Measures (OECMs) database. You can access the tool and further information online by clicking on the link below.
WDPA/OECM Data Wizard
Featured Content
This XIII Latin American Congress on Voluntary Conservation Aims to Reinvigorate Collaboration in the Region
 

The Panama Canal winds through rainforest in a national park in Panama. Getty: NICo.

Hernan Mladinic, ILCN Regional Representative for Latin America
May 6, 2025

Scheduled for September 16–18, 2025, this year's Congress will take place in Panama City, Panama, and will be the first such Congress since 2018. It is driven by a dedicated and growing regional network working together to share knowledge, drive innovation and advance a new vision for the future of private and civic land conservation in Latin America.

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Ash Dieback is a Dementia of the Landscape: A Painter Depicts a Story of Loss and the Impact of a European Union LIFE Project's Restoration Work
 

Painting by Sue Prince. Courtesy: LIFE in the Ravines. 

Lily Robinson – ILCN Program Coordinator 
May 5, 2025

As painter Sue Prince watched the treescape around her England home quietly fade away, she was reminded of another loss: that of her father to dementia. Her partnership with the EU's LIFE in the Ravines project tells an urgent story of an emotional connection to the land. 

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Notes From the Field
The Quoin: A Living Laboratory of Solutions for Nature
By Cecilia Riebl
May 5, 2025

In 2013, three Australian entrepreneurs struck it rich when they co-founded the design platform Canva, which achieved a billion-dollar valuation within six years of its launch. Today, Cameron Adams and his zoologist wife are investing part of this fortune in the future of nature.

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What Canada's New Land Trust Certification Means for Conservation Globally
By Lily Robinson
May 7, 2025

Third-party accreditation programs across industries build trust in and generate better outcomes for organizations. Canada is now the second country to launch such a program certifying land trusts. This is the history behind this effort and its implications for the future.

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Webinar Recording: Finance Solutions for Conservation in Africa
By Sustainable Finance Coalition
April 2025

The Sustainable Finance Coalition introduces its Finance Model and showcases two real-world finance solutions in this recent webinar. Tune in to learn about Human-Wildlife Conflict Insurance and Biodiversity Credits. 

Watch the Recording
New Research: Mangrove Ecosystems in Western Asia
By Chee Kong Yap & Khalid Awadh Al-Murairi
April 2025

From the journal Frontiers in Forests and Global Change, this literature review offers the context for new policy approaches to the conservation of mangrove ecosystems across Western Asia. It illustrates strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats regarding finance, geospatial tools, governance gaps, data, and networks. 

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Upcoming Events
ILCN Webinar: Highlights from Private Land Conservation in Australia - Stories of Inspiration and Innovation
 
Imagine a world where threatened species thrive in a national network of predator-free ecosystems; where individuals, businesses, and corporations are addressing their nature impacts through the purchase of voluntary biodiversity credits; and where partnerships with First Nations are embedded in all conservation projects to achieve outcomes for nature, culture, and country.

Join the ILCN for this webinar exploring how solutions for nature are being applied and scaled in impactful and innovative ways across Australia. Its discussion will present relevant learnings for practitioners and innovators worldwide.
 
May 14, 6pm (EDT) | May 15, 8am (AEST), Online

Register
ILCN Webinar: Presenting the CGS Data Wizard for the Protected Planet Database
 
As countries work towards the goal of protecting 30 percent of their lands and waters by 2030, accurately reflecting progress towards the "30x30" target continues to be a challenge. The IUCN’s Protected Planet database is the most up to date and complete source of this data at a global level. The database enables governments and organizations to submit data on protected and conserved land, but it can be challenging for organizations with different approaches to data gathering and management to format their data for submission. In partnership with the ILCN, the Lincoln Institute’s Center for Geospatial Solutions (CGS) has developed a "Data Wizard" intended to help organizations and institutions correctly format their data to meet the standards of the IUCN’s Protected Planet database of protected and conserved areas. The Data Wizard is now available in beta, and we hope to gather feedback on the tool’s performance to identify issues and bugs.
 
Please join the ILCN and CGS for a demonstration of the Data Wizard in action presented by Kyle Onda, Internet of Water Director at the Center for Geospatial Solutions. The webinar will feature an exploration of the tool’s functionality and answer questions from users ahead of its beta launch.

The Data Wizard is now live and can be found here: https://internetofwater.shinyapps.io/wdpa-oecm-wizard/

Please feel free to submit questions in advance for the webinar by including them in your registration or by emailing Robin Beckham at rbeckham@lincolninst.edu.
 
May 28, 8-9am (EDT), Online

Register

ILCN Event: Celebrating the Conservation History of the Longfellow House–Washington’s Headquarters National Historic Site
The Longfellow House–Washington’s Headquarters National Historic Site served as the headquarters for George Washington during the siege of Boston, but it was also once the home of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. The Longfellow family was instrumental in conserving land running from the Longfellow House down to the Charles River, and across to Soldiers Field. Today, much of the land they helped conserve remains protected from development, and the National Historic Site is an important part of the region's larger conservation history. 

Celebrating the publication of the article, "A View of the Charles: how an American poet’s love for his Cambridge estate conserved a piece of the city’s most desirable land," the Lincoln Institute invites you, in person at 113 Brattle Street or online via Zoom, to join this presentation about the history and conservation legacy of the Longfellow House. Following a presentation from ILCN Director and co-author Jim Levitt, staff from the National Parks Service will lead a tour of the grounds of the Longfellow House–Washington's Headquarters National Historic Site for in-person participants. 
 
May 29, 6:00–7:30pm (EDT), Cambridge, Massachusetts & virtual
The Union Bank of Switzerland (UBS) Nature Finance Conference
 
Hosted by the UBS, this event gathers leaders and specialists in nature finance from the public and private sectors to debate, discuss, and drive action on this crucial topic. Attendees can look forward to expert panel sessions, fireside chats, and interactive dialogues, with ample opportunities to engage and speak directly with distinguished guests. 
 
June 10, 9am–7pm, London, England

Learn More
Opportunities
Catalyst Fund Proposal Deadline Approaching
 
The Network for Landscape Conservation is accepting proposals for its 2025 Catalyst Fund through Friday, May 16, 2025. The fund aims to accelerate the pace and practice of landscape conservation and stewardship in the United States. It makes strategic investments in strengthening the collaborative capacity of place-based, community-grounded landscape partnerships. This year it will distribute approximately $400,000 in competitive grants to landscape partnerships that stand at a pivotal point in their development. It will also invite grantees to participate in a two-year peer learning program.

A portion of the fund is dedicated to supporting Indigenous leadership in landscape partnerships, and the network encourages applications by initiatives led by Tribes and/or Indigenous peoples, organizations, and communities.

Learn More
The ILCN is Now on LinkedIn
 
We invite you to join the International Land Conservation Network LinkedIn Group. This forum is intended to facilitate and strengthen connections amongst our network participants; to share updates, news, and resources regarding policy, practice, and innovation in private and civic land conservation across six continents; and to stimulate discussion regarding topics of strategic importance to this global community of practice.

This is a private listed group. To become a member, search for "International Land Conservation Network" on LinkedIn and request to join. 
Call for Artists
 
The ILCN is looking for submissions of artistic work with a connection to land and land protection to feature on our website and in upcoming newsletters. We are open to poetry, short stories, personal essays, visual art, music, and more. Submissions can be sent to Lily Robinson at lrobinson@lincolninst.edu. Please include a short description of the relationship your piece shares with land, nature, or the environment. 
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.
The mission of the International Land Conservation Network is to connect organizations and people around the world that are accelerating voluntary private and civic sector action that protects and stewards land and water resources. 

Learn more at landconservationnetwork.org.
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