IUCN, the International Union for Conservation of Nature

Warm greetings to you all!

When Aroha kindly invited me to be the Deputy Chair of CEESP I wondered how best I could help facilitate the work of the members of this remarkable Commission. The answers I came up with are really a commitment to all of you. As Deputy Chair, I shall do my best to ensure that CEESP offers:

i) a safe space for its members. I like to think of CEESP meetings and events as carefully thought-out environments of mutual support in which people, who might otherwise feel threatened by sharing their knowledge and experience with others, can feel free to express themselves. At a time when critical voices are being silenced in many organisations, it is vitally important that CEESP remains a safe space for dissenting views and disobedient knowledge on conservation and development issues.

ii) an inclusive, horizontal network that links local and global knowledge with the help of multimedia tools and modern communication technology, - building bridges and respectful conversations between different traditions of knowledge to bring about positive change for people and the planet

iii) a critical watchdog function that allows members to document and openly denounce violence and abuses of power by governments, corporations, and non governmental organisations that undermine human rights and the rights of Mother Earth.

iv) a re-constructive agenda that moves beyond necessary critique to an active search for positive solutions to today’s environmental, economic and social crisis. In sum, an agenda for transformation in which CEESP members can think and act outside dominant conservation and development paradigms.

I am really looking forward to working with all of you over the next few years.

Dr. Michel Pimbert
CEESP Deputy Chair

Oxford, 28 May 2009