• Editorial: Keith Wheeler, Deputy Chair of CEC
  
• Looking Back: 2005 Highlights
  
• Looking Ahead: Upcoming Events
  
• Feature: New Learning
  
• Update: CEC Governance
  
• Profile: Gillian Martin Mehers
  
• New Feature: News from CEC Members

Dear Colleagues, Friends,

Collaboration is the key to achieving our goals. The IUCN Commission on Education and Communication (CEC) is promoting collaboration through a variety of activities in 2006. We are actively revitalizing our existing networks and inviting new members to join, increasing our membership to as many as 1,000 in the near future. Invitations sent in June 2005, many at the suggestion of former steering committee members, have yielded several hundred applications for membership. An online registration system will be available this month, simplifying the application process.

We also are strengthening the CEC Steering Committee, seeking balanced representation, assigning regional responsibilities, and establishing new working groups. The working groups focus on three thematic areas:

• Developing and distributing practical courses for professionals via the World Conservation Learning Network (WCLN);
• Building capacities in the strategic use of communication, education, participation and awareness (CEPA) to help implement the environmental conventions;
• Supporting the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), 2005-2014.

The WCLN will be the major vehicle for opening up opportunities for collaboration. Now under development by this Commission, it was inspired by university leaders responding to a need for practical courses for professional development. This Internet-based network will link higher education institutions and conservation groups with on-the-job professionals, providing access to experience and expertise that can benefit everyone’s work on behalf of environmental sustainability. As a broker for best practices, the WCLN will promote practical short-courses for students and professionals in all parts of the world. A regional network of the WCLN is up and running in Mesoamerica.

Mechanisms such as the WCLN and others – even this newsletter – promote collaboration because they make it easier for CEC members to work together. They facilitate access to the expertise and experience that empower CEC members to take leadership roles in shaping conservation and development policy and practice. In this issue, “Looking Back: 2005 Highlights” summarizes the past year and “Looking Ahead: Upcoming Events” lists important events in 2006. An article on new learning invites ongoing dialogue and another on CEC governance brings us up to date. Finally, we introduce a new feature of this newsletter that invites members to contribute current news items.

Thank you in advance for your contributions to promoting collaboration in the coming year,

Keith Wheeler, Deputy Chair of CEC

Can Globalization Enhance Education for Sustainable Development?
Powerful information technology is one feature of globalization that is benefiting education, as in the example of the Internet-based World Conservation Learning Network (WCLN). Participants at the U NU/UNESCO International Conference in Japan in June 2005 identified opportunities to improve how people learn about sustainability. More >>

Setting Priorities for the Mesoamerican Conservation Learning Network
In August 2005, the first regional meeting of WCLN identified the top three priorities for professional capacity development in Mesoamerica . Participants from NGOs and higher education met in Mexico at the University of Guadalajara , a co-organizer with the WCLN and COMPLEXUS. The regional network will focus on water, biodiversity and participatory approaches to resource management. More >>

Online Course for Working with Water in Latin America
Several universities started working together in 2005 to adapt a global IUCN course in water management to the regional realities of Latin America . The course, “Flows”, is offered online by the Water and Nature Initiative (WANI). This Spanish-language adaptation is being developed by the University of Guadalajara ( Mexico ), the University for International Cooperation ( Costa Rica ) and the National University of Costa Rica. More >>

How to Apply the Ecosystem Approach
Professionals working in the management of terrestrial and marine protected areas are the target group of a collaborative project to build capacity for the Ecosystem Approach – a strategy for the integrated, equitable and sustainable management of land, water and living resources. Initiated by the WCLN, the project is being carried out by the University of International Cooperation (UCI) in Costa Rica with the assistance of the IUCN Commission on Ecosystem Management (CEM). More >>

Learning in Latin America for the Environmental Conventions
CEC's Environmental Citizenship Project in Latin America has met with success in its efforts to advance the conventions on biodiversity, climate change, ozone depletion and international waters. The project has produced manuals for CEC members and for teachers in primary education, and launched a website featuring a database with more than 1,500 educational resources. In its next phase, the project will be piloted in 97 schools in Latin America . It was jointly developed by the IUCN Office for South America and the United Nations Environment Programme to build a citizenship with the awareness, knowledge and positive attitudes necessary to support the conventions. More from the website of the IUCN Office for South America >>

CEC Members Help Strengthen IUCN's Position Papers for CBD COP8
For the upcoming eigth meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP8) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) which will be held in Curitiba, Brazil , 20-31 March 2006, IUCN is preparing Position Papers which include recommendations regarding the CBD's Global Initiative on Communication, Education and Public Awareness (CEPA).

Draft CEPA recommendations were circulated for comment to the 108 CEC members indicating CEPA as one of their areas of interest and work. Amongst others, we would especially like to thank the following CEC members for their substantive and thoughtful comments: Susana Calvo, Spain; Marta Andelman, Argentina; Peter Croal, Canada; Patricia Fernandez-Dávila, Peru; Wendy Goldstein, Australia; Dr Stephen Gough, UK; Frits Hesselink, the Netherlands; Chris Maas Geesteranus, the Netherlands; Diana Pound, UK; Michael Williams, Switzerland. CEC member contibutions such as these are invaluable in improving IUCN's input to these important intergovernmental processes.

20-31 March: Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) Conference
CEC is preparing for the Eighth Ordinary Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP 8) in March 2006. Of particular interest is Agenda Item 19, which will address the Global Initiative on Communication, Education and Public Awareness (CEPA) and how to best advance future work. Since the mid-1980s, IUCN has been closely engaged in the Convention’s CEPA work through the CEC. COP 8 is an important opportunity to promote further engagement and to profile initiatives such as the Environmental Citizenship Project in Latin America , the WCLN, and the creation of a CEPA Toolkit. For more information on CEC’s activities at COP 8, please contact Gillian Martin Mehers (Gillian.martinmehers@iucn.org). For general information about the CBD COP 8, visit the CBD website >>

1-3 May: Southern African Conference on Innovative Conservation Learning
This conference will focus on the contribution of professional conservation learning to sustainable development and the eradication of poverty in southern Africa, articulating demand and identifying the most promising approaches and opportunities. It will also consider the creation of a Southern African regional network of the WCLN. The meeting w ill take place in Stellenbosch , South Africa .For more information, please contact Ana Puyol (anapuyol@andinanet.net). More >>

27-30 September: Planet2025 Learning Conference
Experts from around the globe will examine how, at the start of the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development, both formal and informal learning initiatives are preparing humanity for the transition to sustainability. CEC is a partner and co-organizer of the conference, which will take place in Amsterdam , the Netherlands. For more information, please contact Frits Hesselink (Hesselink@hect.nl). More from the Conference website >>

A Guiding Vision of New Learning for Sustainable Development
The World Conservation Union (IUCN) needs to evolve into a true learning organization if sustainable approaches to natural resources management are going to be implemented on the ground, and around the world. A forthcoming paper by Keith Wheeler, CEC Deputy Chair; Frits Hesselink, Special Advisor and Former CEC Chair; and Corli Pretorius, Head of IUCN’s Global Communications Unit, defines an approach to managing “conservation knowledge and learning” that will help build the capacity of individuals and organizations to respond to increasingly complex challenges to sustainable development, and to meet the conservation challenges presented by the Millennium Development Goals.

In the paper, “New Learning for Sustainable Solutions: Redefining Capacity Development for the 21 st Century,” the authors call for efforts that “strive to tackle real-world issues, facilitate collaboration and knowledge-sharing, and integrate learning into workflows.” They welcome the movement away from fragmented and specialized knowledge that often has little to do with the capacity of stakeholders for effective action, saying that “the aim is to create ‘new knowledge’ – relevant, authoritative and accessible.”

The aim is to move beyond the “supply oriented” approach in which conservation experts supply their know-how to end-users who may or may not make use of it, to a “demand oriented” approach in which users articulate their knowledge needs, conduct needs analysis, participate in the learning process and actually use what they’ve learned to make change: “Demand-oriented capacity development is user-generated learning embedded in the work process.”

The approach is called New Learning for Sustainable Solutions, and it builds on traditional or classical approaches (which remain to have their value) to encompass a range of interventions such as on-the-job professional updating, communities of practice, interdisciplinary learning, exchange networks and distance learning. The Internet-based WCLN is among a number of CEC activities supporting this approach. The paper details the operational modalities of this partnership between the world of conservation and the world of higher education and training, and defines an important role: “The IUCN CEC has begun a transformation/strategic partnership process aimed at being the catalyst and support for the entire Union to become a learning organization. The WCLN is the vehicle for this transformation.”

CEC Governance Process Continues
Every four years, the reconstitution of the CEC membership brings new faces to the steering committee and kicks off a search to fill important positions. The aim is to have a full CEC Steering Committee in place by the end of 2006 that will remain until the next World Conservation Congress in late 2008.

A new structure will divide the steering committee’s work into three thematic areas: WCLN, CEPA and ESD. Each area will be headed by co-chairs and include a small management committee and a larger working group. The larger groups will include CEC members who have expressed an interest in the thematic area.

• The following co-chairs have been nominated: Brad Smith and Mike Moss for WCLN, Haroldo Castro and Susana Calvo for CEPA, and Hans van Ginkel and Cheryl Charles for ESD.

CEC is seeking regional chairs for Central Africa, Europe, Northern Asia, Oceania, Southern Africa and Southern Asia . Chairs must be active CEC members who are enthusiastic about mobilizing their regional membership and facilitating activities in their region.

• Several regional chairs have been appointed thus far: Brad Smith for North America, Juanita Castaño for South America, Sherif Kandil for North Africa/Middle East, and Edgar Gonzalez for Mesoamerica.

Special advisors will be appointed for Knowledge Management, Private Sector Partnerships, and Media and Communication. These advisors help the CEC through their networks, knowledge and experience in strategic areas. The title of special advisor to the CEC is also used for those individuals with whom CEC has a special relationship and who support the CEC and its activities within their spheres of influence.

• The following special advisors have been appointed: Andy Alm for Knowledge Management; Katherine Madden for Private Sector Partnerships; Frits Hesselink as Former Chair (Special Advisor to the Chair); Huguette Labelle, Monthip Tabucanon and Puri Canals as IUCN Councillors; and Yolanda Kakabadse as Former IUCN President.

Additional special advisors will be added in the coming months.

Denise Hamú and Keith Wheeler, Chair and Co-chair of the Commission, would like to thank those involved in the new governance structure for their energetic commitment to the future of the CEC. They also encourage CEC members to express interest in those positions yet to be filled, and to participate in the management committees for our three thematic areas of work .

Welcoming Gillian Martin Mehers, Conservation Learning Coordinator
Gillian Martin Mehers joined the team at IUCN Headquarters in January 2006 as Conservation Learning Coordinator. She is the former Director of Capacity Development for LEAD International (Leadership for Environment and Development), a position she held from 1998 to 2005. Gillian will continue to serve part-time as a Senior Advisor to LEAD, a London-based NGO, until September 2006.

Over the past 15 years, her work in the field of adult education and training for the sustainable development community has focused on capacity development design and delivery, and innovative experiential learning techniques. She has also worked on Training-of-Trainers programmes and the development of materials for trainers for LEAD and for the British Council, UNDP and Japan for Sustainability, among others. 

Gillian recently co-authored the publication “Achieving Environmental Objectives: The Role and Value of Communication, Education, Participation and Awareness (CEPA) in Conventions and Agreements in Europe ” (IUCN 2005). She also is co-author and editor of “Training Across Cultures: A Handbook for Trainers and Facilitators Working Around the World” (LEAD 2004) and author of the “Environmental Communication Planning Handbook,” published by the International Academy for the Environment (IAE 1996) and featuring case studies from Mediterranean countries.

A CEC member for nine years, and a steering committee member for two, Gillian will be stepping down from the committee to take up her new position in the Secretariat.

Email Gillian: gillian.martinmehers@iucn.org

All CEC members are invited to send brief items of interest for posting in “News from CEC Members” – a new feature of this newsletter. Submissions should be sent to cecnews@iucn.org.

Thank you for your participation.