What is the Regional Conservation Forum?
The Regional Conservation Forum (RCF) serves as the leading platform for knowledge and partnerships in the region and looks to evaluate conservation progress, revise priority objectives, and propose future action steps, bringing together key stakeholders and experts within the region every four-years. In 2024, IUCN held nine RCFs at regions around the world. These included Mexico, Central America & the Caribbean, Africa, Asia, West Africa, Oceania, Europe, North and Central Asia, Canada, South America, and the US.
In addition to its importance convening national conservation experts to discuss regional goals, the RCF marks a milestone in preparation for the IUCN World Conservation Congress, which will be held October 9-15, 2025, in Abu Dhabi. During the RCF, IUCN Members begin their Motions preparations, gain insight for IUCN elections, discuss their participation rights for the Congress, and collaborate to adopt key priorities. As the Motions submission process closed January 15, 2025, review and processing of submitted Motions for the IUCN Congress 2025 now begins.
The 8th quadrennial IUCN RCF for the United States took place August 20-21, 2024 at Conservation International’s chapter in Arlington, VA under the theme Acting Together to Drive Conservation Impact.
US RCF Participation By the Numbers:
- 100 in-person participants
- 30 virtual participants
- 80 member organizations and agencies
- 7 IUCN Commissions
- 17% classified as Youth
Outcomes of the 2024 US RCF included:
- Presentation of IUCN tools and initiatives, including Act30, Contributions for Nature, IUCN Engage, Unite for Nature, and Crossroads Blog
- Exhibitions at the Member Showcase, which included sessions from the IUCN Youth Advisory Committee, among others
- Review and stakeholder input for IUCN’s Draft 20-Year Strategic Vision and Draft 4-Year Programme of Work
- Trial of Thematic Working Groups to collaborate, inform, and propose motions ahead of the IUCN Congress 2025
So what was addressed at the RCF?
Discussions at the US RCF considered several global challenges including, but not limited to, terrestrial and marine conservation, AI and innovation, youth and Indigenous peoples.
Stakeholders argued the importance of fisheries inclusion in agriculture and food security conversations; increased integration of the priorities of key stakeholders including Indigenous peoples’ and youth; and the role of environmental law to prevent nature crime and provide an avenue for the rights of nature, among other important topics.
The US National Committee (USNC) also held its Annual Meeting, under the theme, IUCN Members Have Heart, directly following the US RCF which helped to capture points made during the previous two days of the RCF. This proved to be beneficial in helping shape the forthcoming strategy planning for the USNC and leading up to the IUCN World Conservation Congress in October.
What is the impact of the RCF?
Priority topics provide insight into some of the subjects likely to be discussed at the World Conservation Congress. IUCN Resolutions and Member’s Assembly discussions have driven international environmental perspectives and supplemented policy groundwork, including the World Heritage Convention, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, and the Convention on Biological Diversity, impacting a global scale of conservation strategy.
