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Story | 20 May, 2019

La Antigua will host the Regional Conservation Forum

The Forum will include a Knowledge Day which will be open to the general public, with experience exchange panels, expert talks, audiovisual presentations, and posters about conservation and sustainable development experiences.

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Parque Nacional Tikal, Guatemala

Photo: UICN ORMACC/ Eric Ecker

La Antigua, Guatemala, May 16th 2019 (IUCN) – Representatives and experts of 113 environmental organisations and institutions from Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean will be brought together from May 27th-30th in La Antigua, Guatemala, to participate in the Regional Conservation Forum for Mesoamerica and the Caribbean that is organised by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.  

The Regional Forum, which will bring together some hundred delegates from more than 20 countries, constitutes a key platform for exchanging knowledge, ideas and solutions about sustainability; an opportunity to discuss and debate the most pressing problems of conservation.  

IUCN’s Regional Director for Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean, Dr Grethel Aguilar, underscores that “IUCN’s work in Guatemala and the rest of the region over the past three decades has been possible thanks to the concerted effort of government agencies, civil society organisations and cooperation entities, all banking on conservation and sustainable development. This Forum will constitute an act of celebration and recognition of joint achievements and results accomplished.”

The agenda

Activities will be held prior to the Forum on Monday 27th in the modality of technical workshops. On Tuesday 28th an Indigenous Invocation Ceremony will be celebrated early in the day, the official event inauguration and the opening of the Knowledge Day will take place subsequently. Some of the subjects that will be addressed this day are: Ecosystem based Adaptation, plastic pollution, sustainable landscapes, the Standard of the Green List of Protected and Conserved Areas, conservation and livelihoods, among others. “The future of conservation and human wellbeing” panel will also be held this day.     

On Wednesday 29th and Thursday 30th, the region’s Member organisations will discuss the IUCN four-year Programme for the 2021-2024 period, in preparation for the World Conservation Congress that will be held in Marseille, France in 2020, with  “Nature, our future” as its slogan. This programme’s draft is based on four main axes: healthy lands and water, healthy oceans, climate change mitigation and adaptation, and equitable governance of natural resources. IUCN governance issues will also be discussed.          

The Regional Forum’s venue will be the Spanish Cooperation Training Centre which has been facilitated by the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID) in Guatemala. Other institutions are contributing to make this event a success, including: the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources of Guatemala, the National Council of Science and Technology, the Guatemalan Tourism Institute, and the Embassy of France in Guatemala.   

For more information, please contact:

Nancy Arroyo, ORMACC Communications, tel: (506) 2283-8449, nancy.arroyo@iucn.org

Website here

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