Leadership: Around the World

MOU With the National Wildlife Federation

CWF was proud to enter a formal partnership agreement with our sister organization in the U.S. — the National Wildlife Federation — to respond to several cross-border issues, such as climate change, water conservation and the need for migratory corridors for our shared wildlife populations.

IUCN

In October, more than 8,000 of the world’s decision makers in sustainable development attended the International Union for the Conservation of Nature World Conservation Congress held in Barcelona, Spain. Participants gathered to debate and vote on resolutions for the world’s most pressing environmental and development issues. The IUCN includes representatives of governments, academia, the public sector, UN agencies and social organizations. CWF is also a voting member of IUCN, and some of our staff attended the Congress and voted on resolutions. The resolutions included conservation actions in the Arctic, the loss of bluefin tuna and leatherback turtle and the desperate need for international cooperation to protect the world’s oceans. CWF staff, along with Dr. Rick Mrazek, a professor at the University of Lethbridge and one of the producers of the Rivers to Oceans water awareness videos, presented these public service announcements in English, French and Spanish. Our organization also offered several workshops concerning the challenges facing Canada’s water supply.

UN Climate Change Convention

In December, CWF sent two representatives to the United Nations climate change convention in Poland. Over 11,000 participants from more than 190 countries were involved in discussions to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions, focusing on developing countries and new climate targets. CWF is cautiously optimistic that a new international agreement on climate change that includes the United States, China and India will be passed in Copenhagen in December 2009. CWF is working to encourage Canada to try to regain its lost credibility on climate change issues by also signing on to this agreement and participating in a meaningful way.