Finland to Host IUCN Regional Conservation Forum in Helsinki in December
The IUCN Regional Conservation Forum for Europe, North and Central Asia will be organised in Helsinki 14–16 December 2015. The Forum will gather IUCN member organizations and Commission members from Finland. IUCN President Zhang Xinsheng from China and the new Danish Director-General Inger Andersen will also participate. The Patron of the IUCN Regional Conservation Forum, Finland’s former President Tarja Halonen will attend the opening ceremonies of the Forum.
The Regional Conservation Forum will pave the way for the IUCN Global Programme 2017–2020. The most important function is, however, to make preparations for the IUCN World Conservation Congress to be held in September 2016 in Hawaii. The Forum will also offer European viewpoints to the next Global Programme, draw draft resolutions for the World Conservation Congress and seek to find European candidates for IUCN Council. IUCN members will have the possibility to learn from each other, to network and exchange views and information.
Similar Regional Conservation Fora have been arranged in different parts of the world in 2015. The Fora and the participatory process leading to them will result in a proposal for IUCN Global Programme 2017–2020. The Forum is arranged every four years, and now, for the first time, in a Nordic country.
A total of 150–200 participants from IUCN member organizations will be expected to attend the Forum, representing governments, government agencies and non-governmental organizations as well as Commission members from Finland. Finnish representatives of the nature conservation community will be invited to attend the more open part of the programme on Monday, 14 December. The Forum will be held in the Great Hall of the University of Helsinki and the Suomenlinna Fortress Island, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, just off the coast from downtown Helsinki.
Ms Marina von Weissenberg is one of IUCN’s Vice-Presidents during the period 2014–2017. A Ministerial Adviser at the Ministry of the Environment, she is the first Finn on IUCN Council.
The IUCN National Committee of Finland includes the IUCN members: the Finnish Association for Nature Conservation (one of IUCN’s founding members in 1948), the Finnish Society for Nature and Environment (Natur och Miljö), WWF Finland, BirdLife Finland, Finnish Wildlife Agency, and the Finnish government represented by the Ministry of the Environment. Also the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, the Finnish Environment Institute and Metsähallitus Parks & Wildlife Finland are represented in the National Committee.