The Great Escape
On 26 and 27 April IUCN NL organised the two-day conference ‘the Great Escape: There is no Planet B!’ at Artis Zoo. The aim was to provide clarity amongst policy-makers on the importance of maintaining healthy ecosystems to achieve economic development goals.
Participants from around the world were invited to debate in public plenary sessions and closed expert meetings about dilemmas in the following areas: 1) The Great Escape: An Exploration
During this session, the importance of ecosystems for human well-being was explored. Participants determined which from the following routes was the best escape route:
Economise or monetarise nature, innovate, regulate and protect or change the behaviour of humankind.
A roundtable discussion was held with: Dr. Ashok Khosla, president IUCN, Mr. Willem Ferwerda, director IUCN NL, Mr. Fokko Wientjes, director Sustainable Development DSM, Prof. Dr. Louise Vet, director Netherlands Institute for Ecology.
2) The Biobased Economy: Escaping the land-use realities?During the expert meetings the challenges for the transition to a sustainable biobased economy were discussed. At the plenary session, participants proposed a shortlist of priority actions on how to transfer to a sustainable biobased economy.
The solutions varied from development of feed stocks that put low claims on natural resources, integrating all the external costs of production of biomass to multifunctionality of land use. It is clear that there is no one-size fits all solution.
A roundtable discussion was held with Ms. Dorette Corbey, Chair Netherlands Commission Sustainability, Issues Biomass; Mr. Hans Langeveld and Dr. Johan Sanders, Authors ‘The Biobased Economy’; Mr. Fokko Wientjes, Director Sustainable Development DSM; Ms. Karin Kaechele, vice coordinator at ICV, Instituto Centro de Vida Brasil
Here you can read the report of the expert meeting in the Biobased Economy >>
For more information please contact Henk Simons: henk.simons@iucn.nl or 0031 20 6261732
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) Emergency Aid and Ecosystems: Escaping the impact of emergency aid operations on long-term environmental security.The meeting brought together various international experts from humanitarian aid organisations, national governments and various African and European NGOs. They discussed ways of integrating environmental considerations into emergency aid and recovery operations in the earliest possible stages, in order to prevent long term environmental damage and related negative impacts on future livelihoods of the refugees and the host communities. Many participants expressed the importance of involving host communities and affected communities in protecting and restoring ecosystem services such as clean water supply, fertile soils, shade, fuel and construction materials. Another important recommendation for aid organisations was to strengthen coordination of environment-related activities.
A roundtable discussion was held with A roundtable discussion was held with Mr. René Grotenhuis – Cordaid, the Netherlands; Mr. Eelko Brouwer – Netherlands Red Cross; Mr. Valentine Ndibalema, UNHCR; Dr. Phosiso Sola, Southern Alliance for Indigenous Resources, Zimbabwe; Dr. David Stone, ProAct Network, Mr. Tommy Garnett – Environmental Foundation for Africa; Mr. Ben Wandago, IUCN East and Southern Africa, as well as other participants from the audience.
Here you can read the report of the plenary session>>
For more information on the plenary of the expert sessions, please contact Eric van de Giessen: ericvandegiessen@envirosecurity.org or + 31 70 365 2299
4) Payments for Ecosystem Services: Escaping the monetary stronghold: local ownership of REDD, and other financial instruments that put a value on the protection of ecosystems.
The provision of clean air, water, food, carbon sequestration and materials is generally not priced, leading to their loss. PES instruments try to counter this apparent market failure by providing financial incentives for ecosystem management. The session tackled a number of dilemmas encountered when setting up PES instruments that aim to serve the dual goals of preserving critical ecosystem services and the biodiversity upon which they depend, while also contributing to poverty reduction.A Brief introduction was made by Sven Wunder (CIFOR). A roundtable discussion was held with Dr. Clovis Ricardo S. Borges, Executive Director Wildlife Research and Environmental Education Society (SPVS) Brazil; Dr. John J. Mason, President Nature Conservation Research Centre, Ghana; Mr. Pacifique Mukumba Isumbisho, Director Support Centre for Indigenous Pygmys and Vulnerable Minorities (CAMV) Democratic Republic of Congo; Dr. Jean-Remy Makana, representative World Conservation Society (WCS) in the Democratic Republic of Congo; Ms. Maria Cristina Guerrero, Deputy Director Non Timber Forest Products-Exchange Programme, The Philippines; Dr. Ashok Khosla, president IUCN and Ms. Danielle Hirsch, Director Both ENDS
Here you can read the report of expert meeting on PES>>
For more information please contact Aukje ter Horst: aukje.terhorst@iucn.nl or 0031 20 6261732
5) Closing
The conference was closed by presentations by and a discussion between Dr. Ashok Khosla, President of IUCN, Mrs. Gerda Verburg, Minister for Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality and Mr. Roger van Boxtel, Chair IUCN NL
