Translation. Region: Russian Federation –
Source: Preserved Embassy Foundation
An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.
Why is it so important for our country's representatives to participate in key international environmental events? What developments by Russian conservationists are generating the most interest abroad? Following our participation in the IUCN World Conservation Congress, Natalia Romanovna Danilina, President of the Nature Conservation Embassy Foundation and Director of the Zapovedniki Ecocenter, gave an interview.
Interview: Tatyana Margulyan
TM: Please tell us what is happening at the IUCN World Conservation Congress that is important for the conservation community?
ND: The IUCN World Conservation Congress is one of the largest global conservation events. It's held by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) every four years. This was my seventh I've attended.
The Congress typically lasts over a week and consists of two parts. The first is the Forum, where environmental governmental and non-profit organizations have the opportunity to showcase their achievements, learn from the conservation practices of countries around the world, and discuss strategic documents. The Forum lasts four days and is the most important event of the Congress. The second part is the Assembly, which is attended only by members of the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Proposals for conservation that are most relevant to the majority of countries are put to a vote. Congress recommendations are adopted at the Assembly by vote after a fairly complex and contentious debate. The election of the governing bodies—the President and members of the IUCN Council—also takes place. Our country is part of the Eastern Europe and Central Asia region. The interests of the region are represented by three elected councilors; unfortunately, our country is not currently among them. During the Assembly, the heads of each of the seven IUCN commissions are elected.
TM: What do the IUCN Commissions do, and how can interaction with them be beneficial for Russian protected areas?
ND: An IUCN Commission is an association of experts from around the world in various fields. Such Commissions sometimes bring together thousands of people. The largest by number of experts is the Commission on Rare Species. Within this Commission, experts are organized into working groups: for example, on big cats, on turtles, and so on. This creates a global network of specialists in various fields, which is crucial for sharing experience.
Collaboration with the World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA) is traditional and important to us. The Commission has identified specific regions, including Northern Eurasia—part of the post-Soviet space that encompasses Russia, Belarus, the Caucasus, and Central Asia. The Commission has previously been very active in our country and region. We will strive to revive this activity.
I previously served as the regional vice-chair of the World Commission on Protected Areas for 15 years. My continuing friendships with many global leaders in the field of protected areas continue to be helpful today. I am delighted that my colleagues are always responsive, willing to serve as experts, share their knowledge, and even participate in our projects.
Thanks to the Commission, we can learn from global experience and share our expertise with the professional community. For example, the Zapovedniki Ecocenter published a book on best Russian practices for training personnel for protected areas. This work generated great interest, and the book was distributed throughout the world; it is still available in the IUCN library. We have also translated several books from the IUCN series "Best Practices in Protected Area Management" into Russian, and they are available on our website.
I would also like to highlight the Commissions on Ecosystem Conservation, Environmental Legislation, and Climate as important for protected area experts. And the Commission on Environmental Education and Communications, which is very important for the Zapovedniki Ecocenter and includes our staff, is very important. The Commission's experts have great respect and interest in our educational experience, so at the Congress we worked in partnership and were able to present Russian experience over four days in the Educational Hub pavilion, where we held nine events.
I believe that our work with IUCN Commissions in our country needs to be strengthened to absorb global experience and showcase our strengths. Russian experts should be more actively involved in the work of IUCN Commissions. The number of Russian members of such a major and significant conservation organization as IUCN should also increase. This will allow us to influence decisions on strategic areas of the global conservation agenda and the election of governing bodies. All the most important documents on nature conservation are adopted at IUCN Congresses and subsequently form the basis for the work of the United Nations in this area, shaping the work of UNESCO, UNDP, and UNEP. These documents become recommendations for all UN member states.
TM: Did you notice any interest in Russian experience and practices following the Congress?
ND: Our events at the pavilion proved very attractive to Congress participants. At our request, many of those who attended marked their country with a circle on the globe. Thus, we counted over 80 countries, although we weren't able to cover all visitors with this "mini-survey." All continents were represented: South and North America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia.
An important part of our participation in the Congress was presenting our experience and the importance of business relationships with protected areas and the role of non-profit organizations in implementing partnership projects to conserve biodiversity. This triple alliance produces significant results. We believe it's important to help businesses implement conservation projects in terms of their environmental responsibility while simultaneously fulfilling our organization's mission—to support protected areas and develop Russian nature conservation.
We held a special meeting on this topic with representatives from SIBUR and Rosatom, and also presented our joint projects with Norilsk Nickel, JTI, and MTS. SIBUR is a long-standing, reliable partner with whom we collaborate on a number of effective projects. Our partnership with Rosatom is just beginning, and we discussed the details of our collaboration at a joint press conference we organized at the Congress media center. The company has extensive experience and valuable expertise in environmental conservation, and we hope that our partnership will strengthen this area.
We were given space around the Educational Pavilion to showcase environmental education games, of which we've already developed a whole portfolio: on tiger conservation, marine mammal conservation, protected areas, and more. We saw how interested specialists from around the world were in our experience in environmental education and were convinced that we operate at a very high level, in line with global trends. This was confirmed by global leaders in environmental education.
The forum concluded with an evening "protected islands" reception, also held in the pavilion of the Commission on Environmental Education and Communications. It was a vibrant, warm, and informal event, attended by over a hundred like-minded environmental educators and protected area workers. We thanked everyone who actively participated in our work—our team and the partners with whom we collaborated at this Congress. Colleagues from the new "Nature for All" and "Nature-Based Education" programs—important programs for engaging youth in environmental conservation and educational programs—joined us in celebrating the completion of the Congress's extensive work. Our educational programs and the Friends of Protected Islands Movement align with the work of the Education Commission, and we agreed to collaborate and replicate each other's experiences.
Our participation in the Congress in Abu Dhabi demonstrated enormous interest in the Russian Federation and its experience in developing protected areas and preserving biodiversity. I am proud of the coordinated, creative, and astonishingly efficient work of our team. We were able to effectively and vividly present some of Russia's rich experience. It's no coincidence that after our events, we heard, "It was a sensation, it was fantastic, it was incredibly interesting," from people from various countries – from China to Canada, from America to Australia, from South Africa to Botswana, and even our close neighbors – Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan. This truly was a truly worthy and beautiful endeavor. Our international program is gaining significant momentum and is beginning to make a name for itself internationally. Its participants are eager to continue working, generating new approaches and creative work in environmental education, and helping develop protected areas.
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