GRET was present at the World Conservation Congress organised by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), which took place from 4 to 10 September 2021. The event was an opportunity for GRET to share its experience in terms of community-based conservation, founded on a commons-based approach, and to speak on behalf of French development NGOs of the urgent need to strengthen financial resources in favour of biodiversity.
GRET presented feedback on its projects in Madagascar, which are underpinned by community involvement in concerted management of natural resources for more inclusive governance of community fishing areas, strengthening fishers’ ecological awareness, in particular with the creation of a role-play game based on reality.
Henry de Cazotte, GRET’s chairperson, also expressed the views of French development NGOs to donors and development banks on the need to strengthen funding in favour of biodiversity. The determination of sustainable development and environment stakeholders to adopt a common vision as part of the post-2020 agenda (Sustainable Development Goals – SDGs) was reiterated at the event.
The 2021 edition of the World Conservation Congress, which was open to the general public for the first time, brought together 5,700 participants working in biodiversity conservation, around the central theme of nature-based solutions. The strong focus placed by the Congress on economic recovery after the Covid-19 pandemic, interconnections between the future of biodiversity and that of climate, and the role and rights of indigenous peoples in terms of conservation, resulted in the Marseille Manifesto, which features a series of strong commitments in favour of nature.
With a view to COP15 on biological diversity which will take place in 2022 in Kunming, in China, the Congress brought together international and French biodiversity stakeholders in order to create fertile ground ahead of this major event (preparation of negotiations, vote on motions by IUCN members presented to States, presentation of solutions and innovations).
