074 - Partnerships and further development of a Global Ecosystem Typology
074 - Partnerships and further development of a Global Ecosystem Typology
RECALLING Resolution 4.020 Quantitative thresholds for categories and criteria of threatened ecosystems (Barcelona, 2008) that requested “the Director General, in consultation with IUCN’s Commissions and Members, to initiate a consultation process for the development, implementation and monitoring of a global standard for the assessment of ecosystem status, applicable at local, regional and global levels…”;
ALSO RECALLING Resolution 5.055 Consolidation of the IUCN Red List of Ecosystems (Jeju, 2012), which urged “CEM and the Secretariat to assess the status of the world’s terrestrial, freshwater and marine ecosystems in order to be able to report on progress towards achieving Aichi Target 5…”;
APPLAUDING the progress made towards a global Red List of terrestrial ecosystems with national Red Lists of Ecosystems completed in more than 25 countries;
ACKNOWLEDGING the scientific advances in developing comprehensive and practical Global Ecosystem Typology (GET) and the importance for comprehensive data on the status of the world’s ecosystems to monitor and assess changes in that status;
RECOGNISING the importance of the GET that has been developed through extensive expert consultation to further the aims of the IUCN One Programme Charter, as reflected in the proposed IUCN Programme 2021–2024; and
ACKNOWLEDGING the urgent need to undertake, and/or complete, cross-compatible national-scale assessments of ecosystems using the IUCN Red List of Ecosystems criteria;
1. TAKES NOTE of the ongoing work to develop a GET;
2. ENCOURAGES Council to:
a. promote and support Members, including indigenous peoples, local communities, and public actors, Commissions, and public and private partnerships, in applying the GET to support global, regional and national efforts to assess and manage risks to ecosystems;
b. support adaptation to national and regional levels of the IUCN criteria and categories for Red Lists of Ecosystems, as well as continued development of national Red Lists of Ecosystems to enhance implementation of action for conservation and sustainable use of ecosystems and their biological diversity;
c. support application of Red List of Ecosystems criteria to assess risk of collapse in the world’s thematic priority ecosystems; and
d. as part of the IUCN Annual Report, report on progress on development of the Red List of Ecosystems database, integration of the Red List of Ecosystems approach, as well as in IUCN position and policy products for UN Sustainable Development Goals and Biodiversity Targets; and
3. CALLS ON the Commission on Ecosystem Management (CEM) and the Commission on Education and Communication (CEC) to lead:
a. continued mapping of the distribution of the GET related to terrestrial, freshwater and oceanic environments;
b. identification of contributions of the world’s major ecosystem types to a diverse suite of services and/or benefits contributing to human health and well-being; and
c. development of innovative educational material, including print and web-based publications, other web-based resources, telephone applications, etc., that provide access to ecosystem information.
