Partnerships: IUCN

A history of synergy for forest conservation

The mission of IUCN - The World Conservation Union - 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.

To achieve this goal, it relies on the participation of members from some 140 countries, including 77 States, 114 government agencies, and 800-plus NGOs.

IUCN and WWF are long-standing partners, and share the following 'Forests for Life' vision:

"The world will have more extensive, more diverse and higher-quality forest landscapes which will meet human needs and aspirations fairly, while conserving biological diversity and fulfilling the ecosystem functions necessary for all life on Earth."

This vision is translated into a joint strategy that covers the following 5 objectives:

• Establish a network of ecologically representative, socially beneficial and effectively managed forest protected areas;
• Achieve environmentally appropriate, socially beneficial and economically viable management of forests outside protected areas;
• Develop and implement environmentally appropriate and socially beneficial programmes to restore deforested and degraded forest landscapes;
• Protect forests from pollution and global warming by reducing polluting emissions and managing forests for resilience to climate change; and
• Ensure that political and commercial decisions taken in other sectors safeguard forest resources and result in a fair distribution of associated costs and benefits.

Two major pieces of the forest conservation puzzle
The partnership works because the two organizations have complementary constituencies. WWF mobilizes public opinion in support of its lobbying and advocacy work, and works with the private sector. IUCN's wide and varied membership, including governments, gives it direct influence in shaping national policies. Its Expert Commissions provide scientific leadership and credibility.

Since IUCN and WWF have credibility with different partners, together the two organizations can forge links and engage with a wide range of stakeholders including industry, government and NGOs.

Sharing lessons and broadening the debate on forest conservation
Both also have extensive field programmes and engage in global policy analysis and outreach. This allows for effective sharing of lessons learned and experience, and in joint lobbying for favourable forest conservation policies.

Through the collaboration, WWF and IUCN have also managed to broaden the international forest debate - from a narrow focus on deforestation to including issues of forest quality, and expanding the focus from the tropics to include forests worldwide.

Working together to rehabilitate forests
Working with a range of other partners, WWF and IUCN are also promoting an approach called "Forest Landscape Restoration" (FLR). This is an all-encompassing approach that goes far beyond just planting trees. It aims to get the right activities in the right places in order to conserve biodiversity while ensuring that forest goods and services benefit people.
» Read more about FLR

…and in Africa
WWF and IUCN also collaborate in the context of wider partnerships such as the Congo Basin Forest Partnership (CBFP). Launched in 2002, this effort brings together governments, NGOs and the private sector in an initiative to improve the coordination of conservation and sustainable development programmes and policies in the Congo Basin.

Both IUCN and WWF have been actively engaged in the implementation of the CBFP and have committed to supporting the Partnership’s activities through their work in the sub-region.

Helping build conservation tools
The collaboration between both organizations takes other forms too. For example, IUCN's World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA) has developed a 'framework' for protected area assessment which has been used by the World Bank/WWF Alliance for Forest Conservation and Sustainable Use (also known as 'the Alliance').

The Alliance has developed a simple site-level tracking tool, based on the WCPA framework, to facilitate reporting on management effectiveness of protected areas within WWF and World Bank projects.