The International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) World Conservation Congress (WCC), ‘Planet at the Crossroads,’ opened on 1 September in Honolulu, Hawai’i, the US. The WCC will focus on the challenge of attaining the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) over the next 15 years. Over 6,000 participants from around the world are expected to attend the WCC, making it the largest gathering of environmental policymakers since the Paris Agreement on Climate Change and agreement on the SDGs.

The WCC is IUCN’s highest decision-making body and meets every four years to bring together leaders from government, the public sector, non-government organizations (NGOs), business, UN agencies and indigenous and grassroots organizations to discuss and decide on solutions to global environment and development challenges.

Among other objectives, the World Conservation Congress will launch the Hawai’i commitments: globally transformative and innovative conservation initiatives to meet the critical challenges and opportunities of our time…