8 June 2009 World needs to invest in nature says conservation union head

The world has “over-drawn its account with nature” and is running out of time to reverse a series of dangerous trends, says the head of the oldest and largest global environmental network, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

Speaking at Lincoln University, Julia Marton-Lefevre, Director-General of the IUCN, which has its headquarters in Switzerland,  said the world had to make an “investment” in nature and time was short.

 “The environment is not a separate sector to be addressed once everything else has been fixed,” she said in her address which was entitled “The case for the protection of ecosystems, biodiversity and natural resources in a time of global recession”.

The investment in nature had to be made through taking up eco-system and landscape scale challenges, she said. There was an “explosive cocktail” out there made up of economic hardship, degraded eco-systems and climate change.

“To get us to the post-carbon future we have to take the investment in nature seriously.”

The investment could be made by “putting the environment at the centre of our concerns”,  and she gave the example of France where the conservation ministry had now been given one of the highest rankings in the French Government.

Stressing the need to underpin conservation activities with sound scholarship, the Director-General said that even though the IUCN was based on governments and NGOs, “our real boss is science".

She said she was proud it was the IUCN which had originated the phrase “sustainable development”, back in 1982 before the Brundtland Report, to which it is usually attributed.

Referring to the IUCN's special status at the United Nations, she said “we are the ambassadors for nature  -  the voice of nature”.

Founded in 1948, the IUCN has over 1000 government and non-government member organisations and almost 11,000 volunteer scientists and experts in some 160 countries. Sixty-five percent of its income comes from government sources. Lincoln University, through its Faculty of Environment, Society and Design, is the only university member in New Zealand.

The Dean of Lincoln University's Faculty of Environment, Society and Design, Dr Stefanie Rixecker,  pointed out to the meeting her faculty's long association with the IUCN. From the original application for membership made by Lance McCaskill, the mantle had passed to Emeritus Professor Kevin O'Connor, then Professor Ian Spellerberg, and now to Dr Ann Brower.

Also present at the address were the Chair of the New Zealand National Committee of IUCN, Dr David McDowell,  who is a former Director-General of the Union, and Taholo Kami of Fiji, the Director of IUCN's Oceania Regional Office. The gathering was chaired by IUCN regional councillor Diana Shand.