Meeting of the IUCN Community for Europe, North And Central Asia

The IUCN Interregional Committee for Europe, North and Central Asia (ICENCA) is an IUCN Member Committee recognised by IUCN Council and managed by a Steering Committee of nominated Member representatives. ICENCA was invited by long-standing IUCN Member, the Foundation for the Preservation of Wildlife and Cultural Assets (FPWC), to participate in their annual SunChild International Environmental Festival in October 2023 and to celebrate FPWC’s 20th anniversary at that time. The ICENCA Steering Committee accepted this kind invitation and intended to use this opportunity to bring IUCN Members from Europe, North and Central Asia together for informal meetings and training workshops to further the cause of nature conservation.

Real outcomes from a positive meeting!

The feedback from this first in-person meeting held by the IUCN Interregional Committee for Europe, North and Central Asia (ICENCA) has been overwhelmingly positive. It really was a good example of all that is good about IUCN and how valuable its convening power can be. The event attracted a wide range of participants which represented what was meant by the IUCN 'Community' (IUCN Members (State, Subnational and NGO), IUCN Commission members, IUCN Councillors elected from the Regions (5 out of 6 for the super-region), IUCN National Committees, IUCN Secretariat from Regional Offices and others who just wanted to know more about IUCN.

Read more about the outcomes in the meeting report. 

Download the meeting report 

Presentations 

Day 1 Monday October 16th 

Members’ meeting: Why and how did we get here? – Chris Mahon Co-Chair, ICENCA (Interregional Committee for Europe, North and Central Asia)

Introduction to IUCN and its structure - members perspective - Ann-Katrine Garn, Copenhagen Zoo and National Committee of Denmark 

Meeting objectives - Chris Mahon, Co-Chair, ICENCA 

Regional and Sub National Governments 

• Backround information on Subnational governemnts - Konstantinos Makris, IUCN European Regional Office
• Renata Gómez – Regions4
• Shreya Utkarsh – ICLEI European Secretariat
• International Action: Anna Espadalé Gelis - Government of Catalonia

Saving Species: Don’t panic, plan it!

• Katharina Herrmann, IUCN Conservation Planning Specialist Group Europe 
• Ann-Katrine Garn, IUCN Conservation Planning Specialist Group Europe 

Day 2 Tuesday October 17th 

IUCN Red Lists - Hans de Iongh, National Committee of the Netherlands

The role of the ZSL within the National Red List network and the results of ICENCA member survey - Sophie Ledger, Researcher, ZSL

IUCN - Green Lists - Maud Lelievre, French National Committee 

Youth and intergenerational engagement Union wide - Diana Garlystska, CEC Regional Vice Chair 

IUCN Commission on World Commission on Protected Areas 

• Scaling Ambition for Nature – Brent Mitchel, Vice Chair, WCPA
• WCPA Europe – Zoltan Kun, WCPA Europe

IUCN Commission on Education and Communication - Aleksei Zavarzin, CEC Regional Vice – Chair and Katalin Czippan, CEC co-chair 

Member Engagement and Introduction to the ENGAGE platform – Emma Handley, IUCN Secretariat

Contributions for Nature Platform – Sarah Over, IUCN Secretariat

National Committee and Focal Point Development (including information on ICENCA (Interregional Committee for Europe, North and Central Asia)) - Ann-Katrine Garn, National Committee of Denmark  and Divija Jata, Belgian National Focal Point 

Day 3 Wednesday October 18th

Resource Mobilisation - Diana Garlytska, CEC Regional Vice Chair 

Preparing for the European Regional Conservation Forum 2024 - Boris Erg, Director IUCN European Regional Office and 

IUCN Regional Conservation Forum 2024, Bruges Divija Jata, Belgian Focal Point

 

Acknowledgments 

Organisation Team 

This event was made possible by the dedicated efforts of a very hard working organisation team. With over a year of planning this team assembled every week to discuss and plan this IUCN community meeting in Yerevan. With special thanks and acknowledgment to the Armenian team from FPWC. We are very grateful to our hosts for their relentless generosity and kindness. 

A true representation of the Union. 

 

Members of the team: 

Alexsey Zavarzin, Commision on Education and Communication

Ann-Katrine Garn, Copenhagen Zoo, IUCN National Committee of Denmark

Anna Espadale Gelis, Government of Catalunya

Christopher Mahon, Interregional Committee Europe, North Central Asia 

Constantine Makris, IUCN Europeal Regional Office

Diana Garlytska, Commision on Education and Communication 

Divija Jata, IUCN Belgian Focal Point

Eva Martirosyan, Foundation for the Preservation of Wildlife and Cultural Assets

Ruben Khachatryan, Foundation for the Preservation of Wildlife and Cultural Assets 

Sona Kalantaryan, Foundation for the Preservation of Wildlife and Cultural Assets

 

Questions?
Please contact Divija Jata at d.jata@biodiversity.be