Today we take a look at some of the key outcomes of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s World Conservation Congress, a global gathering of governments, scientists, NGOs, and Indigenous Peoples that just wrapped up last weekend in Marseilles, France. The Congress is one of the largest global conservation summits in the world, bringing together numerous decisionmakers and stakeholders to help shape the global environmental and wildlife conservation agenda.

Joining us today is Mongabay staff writer Elizabeth Claire Alberts, who is based in Belgium and was thus able to attend the IUCN World Conservation Congress in person. Alberts tells us about her experiences on the ground and the significance of the fact that Indigenous peoples were admitted for the first time as full voting members of the Congress. She also discusses two of the most important resolutions that were approved at the Congress: one calling for the protection of 80% of the Amazon rainforest, and another in support of a moratorium on deep-sea mining.

We’re also joined today by Grantly Galland, a senior officer working on international fisheries for the Pew Charitable Trusts. Galland joins us to discuss the announcement of some new species extinction risk assessments announced by the IUCN during the World Conservation Congress. Four of the most commercially important tuna species had their statuses upgraded on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, but Galland tells us how these species-level assessments can obscure the real trouble some distinct tuna populations are facing.

Further reading/listening:

• ​​”‘Global Indigenous Agenda’ for land rights, conservation launched at IUCN congress” by Ashoka Mukpo (8 September 2021)

• ”Podcast: Two tunas and a tale of managed extinction” (23 April 2021)

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Featured Image: Yellowfin tuna. Photo by Martin Gil Gallo, licensed under CC BY-NC.

Follow Mike Gaworecki on Twitter: @mikeg2001

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