Land conservation requires and depends upon adaptive and ongoing management and stewardship of natural, cultural, and landscape values. In some countries and regions, stewardship and land management are the primary means of protecting land, particularly in the context of working landscapes which feature a 'mosaic' of land use and land cover. We explore and share the use of innovative approaches to solving stewardship challenges, and initiatives to support the involvement and participation of land owners, land users, and land managers in land conservation and restoration projects.
Resources & Education
Recent ILCN and external resources related to stewardship and land management.
2021 Global Congress Session Recordings
In this webinar, panelists present different approaches, from three corners of the world, of how and why farmers are succeeding in combining biodiversity protection with well-run, modern and economically sustainable farms.
This manual is a product of the LIFE+ funded project "LandLife: Boosting land stewardship as a conservation tool in the western Mediterranean arc: a communication and training scheme"
This report focuses on the LIFE program and its contribution to establishing land stewardship approaches in the EU. The main purpose of this study was to assess the contribution of the LIFE program in engaging private stakeholders in nature conservation and to explore further opportunities to do so in future LIFE projects.
Guidance from the IUCN's World Commission on Protected Areas for protected areas managers and planners.
Experts
Jofre Rodrigo
Executive Director, Xarxa per a la Conservació de la Natura
Jofre is from Catalonia and holds a Bachelor's Degree in Environmental Studies from the University of Girona, as well as a Master's Degree in Advanced Studies in Foundations of Economic Analysis from the same university. Following his Master’s degree, he focused on professional environmental consultancy. He is currently executive co-director of the Xarxa per a la Conservació de la Natura (XCN). Established in 2003, XCN is a second-level organization composed of over 160 associations, foundations, city councils and enterprises working to foster land stewardship and environmental volunteering as a nature conservation strategy for Catalonia. A working group under XCN coordination facilitated, for the first time in Europe, the civil code regulation of land stewardship contracts in Catalonia. Currently, the Government of Catalonia is working together with the XCN to implement a public Register of Stewardship Agreements and a tax incentive framework for land stewardship.
Anton Gazenbeek
Steering Committee, International Land Conservation Network
Anton Gazenbeek has over 30 years of experience in European environmental and economic policies and funding programmes covering various roles and capacities, both for the EU Institutions (European Parliament, European Commission) and for public and private entities at national or European level. As well as a wide range of topics. In particular, nature conservation (Natura 2000 Network, LIFE programme), maritime policy (the blue economy and its sustainability), the environmental impact of agriculture and forestry, river and wetland processes and restoration, stakeholder and community involvement, landscape management and heritage. Professional activities included policy analysis, project assessment and inspection, project and team management, financial and contractual management and auditing, research and reporting, production and editing of publications. Anton, based in Belgium, was a key participant in the founding meetings of the ILCN, and has been on its Steering Committee since 2014.
Jin Tong
Science Director, The Nature Conservancy China Program
Jin Tong works as Science Director in The Nature Conservancy China Program, where she is responsible for leading a team to provide strategic and technical supports to conservation programs so as to demonstrate “science-based approach” of TNC. Her expertise lies in strategic conservation planning and protected area management. Besides, she is quite experienced in wildlife ecology and primatology, as well as community-based conservation methodologies. Jin serves as the China franchise of Conservation Coaches Network (CCNet) and board member of China Primatology Society. Jin has been with TNC for more than 10 years and initially led the Yunnan snub-nosed monkey conservation project and participated in the national park pilot project. Then she moved on to oversee the monitoring, research and conservation planning for the first land trust reserves in China and accumulated abundant experiences in protected area planning, management and monitoring & evaluation. Jin holds a Ph.D. in Animal Ecology and Conservation Biology from Peking University, studying the socio-ecology and conservation biology of a critically endangered primate species in China. ed the socio-ecology and conservation biology of a critically endangered primate species in China.
Victoria Alonso
Executive Director, Fundación Tierra Austral
Victoria Alonso is an Agriculture Engineer from the Universidad Católica de Chile and holds an MSc in Environmental Sustainability from the University of Edinburgh, UK. Victoria has 20 years of professional experience, in the public, non-profit and private sectors, always linked to the protection of the environment and, more specifically, to the conservation of biodiversity and the search for creative instruments to preserve nature under challenging circumstances. Her last endeavor was the creation of a consulting firm, Templado, which provides services for conservation minded individuals, government institutions and corporations that need assistance in the creation of new protected areas in the country. Before forming Templado, Victoria worked for The Nature Conservancy where she played an important role in the process of strengthening the legal incentives for private land conservation in Chile. Among other things, a working group under her coordination introduced, for the first time in Latin America, a law proposal to modify the civil code in order to create conservation easements adapted to the needs of the private lands initiatives in the country. This law proposal was approved last June 2016.
Carolyn duPont
Growth and Partnerships Lead, Upstream Tech
Carolyn duPont leads the Growth & Partnerships team at Upstream Tech, a technology company that uses satellite data and machine learning to help companies and conservation organizations manage and monitor natural resources. In this capacity, she leads work primarily with land trusts, large conservation NGOs, and agricultural organizations. Prior to this role, Carolyn was a Senior Director at Quantified Ventures developing financial transactions for investments in agriculture, resilience, and forestry. She also served on the venture capital team at Massachusetts Clean Energy Center investing in early-stage water and energy companies, and was a manager for the geopolitical strategy consulting firm Monitor 360, part of the Monitor Group. In graduate school, Carolyn published research on green bonds and land conservation, as well as strategies for financing climate resilient infrastructure. She worked with Encourage Capital on green infrastructure investments across U.S. cities and with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Carolyn holds a BA from Stanford University, an MBA from MIT Sloan School of Management, and an MPA from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. She serves on the board of the Trust for Public Land in Massachusetts, on the finance committee for the Conservation Law Foundation, and on the board of the MIT Sloan Sustainability Initiative. Carolyn lives in the Boston area and spends as much time as possible outdoors hiking, biking, and exploring with her family.
Key Partners and Networks for Additional Resources
