Celebrating Latin American and Caribbean commitments to Green List success
From IUCN
Peru, Mexico and Colombia achieve Green List success, and are recognised with awards; new countries, including Costa Rica, Chile, and Jamaica, commit to use the Standard to improve the performance of their protected and conserved areas; and new partners, led by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation’s Andes-Amazon Initiative, align programmes and resources to the Green List. All at CAPLAC III.
The awards formally celebrated new Green List sites, Expert Evaluators, and gave recognition for new Green List commitments. This included Green List accreditation to protected areas which had reached the Green List standards and recognition for the expert evaluators who objectively and credibly provided evaluation of the candidate sites in the region.
For the the Green List evaluators, IUCN provided certificates to recognise several evaluators from Peru, Colombia and Mexico.
“the work of a Green List evaluator is immensely rewarding, but a great responsibility. We are thankful that the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas and the assurance provider, Assurance Services International (ASI), ensure that the process is comprehensive and transparent. As an expert group we are looking forward to working with more candidate areas in 2020 and beyond,” noted Mr Jeff Pradel, the chair of the Peruvian expert assessment group (EAGL).
For the Green List sites achieving the Green List accredited status:
First were the sites from Mexico – two laureates were protected areas recognized for their conservation results: Parque Nacional Zona Marina Espiritu Santo and Reserva de La Biosfera Isla San Pedro Mártir.
Secondly, two sites from the host country, Peru: Parque Nacional Cordillera Azul and the Amarakaeri Communal Reserve.
Finally, new commitments from agencies and organisations were received – principally from Chile, with a new programme to include the IUCN Green List Standard into the overall system-wide monitoring programme, and to seek new candidates for 2020, and then from Costa Rica. In Costa Rica, a private conservation area, the Monteverde Cloudforest Biological Reserve, is the pioneer site for the country.
The awards night
The main Green List award ceremony of 2019 took place in the evening of Wednesday 16thNovember as a key event of CAPLAC III. The event provided a showpiece for participating agencies, site managers, expert evaluators, and their supporters.
Presented by IUCN’s Melinka Nájera and James Hardcastle, the event opened with their presentation on the IUCN Green List and its progress in the region. They helped the audience to understand of the Standard, how it is applied, and how protected and conserved areas can use the Green List to work towards achieving success for people and nature.
Colombia’s Julia Miranda Londono, Director of the Colombian Protected Areas Agency (Parques Nacionales de Colombia) showcased a video of the Colombian candidate sites, including the pioneer sites for the region. These pioneer sites have already been ‘Green Listed’ for Colombian efforts since 2014: Parque Natural Nacional Tatama, Parque Natural Nacional Isla Gorgona and Santuario de Fauna y Flora Galeras.
Mexico’s Roberto Aviña Carlín, Commissioner for the Mexican Protected Areas Service (CONANP), gave a speech in which he reiterated Mexico’s commitment to an effective system of protected and conserved areas. He applauded the efforts to date, and committed 25 new areas to join the programme in 2020. He also recognized the work underway in the Selva Maya region, appreciating and including candidates in southern Mexico.
Peru’s Pedro Gamboa, Director of the Peruvian Protected Areas Service (SERNANP), then applauded the efforts underway in Peru to meet international standards by way of the IUCN Green List. He again committed to continue the work in Peru to resource and implement the best possible responses to the climate and biodiversity crises we face.
From this point, Kathy MacKinnon led the presentation of the main awards – the newly Green listed sites for the region.
To close the meeting, Avecita Chichón, from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation’s Andes-Amazon Initiative, announced a collaboration programme for the IUCN Green List in the Amazon region, allowing for new sites to use the Standard and programme to help improve their performance and achieve recognition.
