IUCN, the International Union for Conservation of Nature

New biodiversity video asks, "Are we failing to communicate?"

22 October 2010 | News story

This video presents a new biodiversity message. It challenges communicators to talk about nature in terms that people want to listen to. The IUCN Commission on Education and Communication and the CBD Secretariat produced the video in partnership with CEC members in Wildscreen and Futerra.

As the video opens, the narrator intones, "We are living in the age of the sixth mass global extinction. Experts warn that in the next 30 years we'll lose one fifth of the entire species on the planet." Soon a road sign asks, "But is anybody listening?"

The video, titled "Love. Not Loss", proposes a new direction for biodiversity communication. It was created for screening at the CBD COP10 in Nagoya in October 2010. Citing research and showing communities engaged in learning, the video raises key points:

• The single most important factor behind taking action is our childhood experience. How can this wonder be harnessed to change our behaviour?
• In all parts of the world we are beginning to see that public awareness does lead to change, where people can see the benefits from making their own contribution.
• It’s NOT the depressing accounts of the wildlife we are losing that moves us, it’s awe and wonder, enhanced by understanding, that can inspire us to take action. It's love, not loss.

The video was produced by Jeremy Bristow for Wildscreen. IUCN CEC members contributing to the video include:

• Harriet Nimmo, CEC Special Advisor for Multi-media Communication and Chief Executive of Wildscreen; 
• Laurie Bennett, CEC member and Head of Strategy, Futerra Sustainability Communications;
• David Ainsworth, CEC Specialty Group Leader for CEPA and Information Officer, Secretariat for the Convention on Biological Diversity;
• Frits Hesselink, CEC Special Advisor and HECT Consultancy founder; and
• Keith Wheeler, CEC Chair.

Funding for this film came from the Government of the Netherlands, as part of its contribution to Communication, Education and Public Awareness (CEPA) activities under the Convention on Biological Diversity. 

View the video >>