 |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
World Conservation Union (IUCN) Builds Collaboration, Leadership
A decades-long advocate of an interdisciplinary approach to conservation and sustainability research, the World Conservation Union (IUCN) is bringing this experience as well as high hopes for increased collaboration and new leadership to the Conservation & Sustainability Fellowship Program.
One of the program’s three sustainability institutes, IUCN is the world’s largest conservation network. The organization’s mission is to influence, encourage, and assist societies throughout the world to conserve the integrity and diversity of nature and to ensure that any use of natural resources is equitable and ecologically sustainable.
“It’s always a challenge to bring the next generation of leaders into the field, and we are very happy to use the fellowship program to help identify people with great potential for becoming conservation leaders in the future,” said Jeff McNeely, chief scientist of IUCN who is also responsible for the organization’s engagement with the Alcoa Foundation fellowship program. “The fellows we are selecting from non-governmental organizations have already shown they have the skills to acquire leadership positions. Through this program, we’re giving them another opportunity to bring visibility to their research, receive mentoring, gain exposure with their peers in the field, and start collaborating with IUCN.”
According to McNeely, the program is proving the advantage of interdisciplinary work over working in silos. It shows that collaboration between various sectors builds relationships that result in better outcomes in terms of improved conservation and enhanced sustainability.
Collaboration is underway. Following a May 2006 meeting between the fellowship program’s five academic partners and three sustainability institutes, IUCN started active collaboration with the London School of Economics and Political Science on payment for ecosystem services, the University of Michigan on energy, and Tsinghua University on agriculture.
“Sustainability is such a broad challenge that it’s hard to expect any single intervention to change the world,” said McNeely. “We believe that every little bit helps, and the research our fellows are carrying out is relevant to their work and to ours, helping us expand our overall network within the wider conservation and sustainability field.”
McNeely added that already the program has built stronger relationships between IUCN and Alcoa.
“I hope that the program’s research will also be influential in helping Alcoa and the wider business world better understand their impacts and how what we’re doing can contribute to delivering better outcomes for all stakeholders.”
Here is more information about IUCN, and its role in Alcoa Foundation's Conservation & Sustainability Fellowship Program.
 go
return to summary
|
|
|
|
|
|
