BARCELONA—October 9, 2008—International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, The International Institute for Sustainable Development, Leadership for Environment and Development, and WWF International – the World Wide Fund For Nature, will establish a consortium to coordinate next generation leadership training across the IUCN Secretariat, Membership, Commissions and beyond.

The memorandum of understanding provides a general framework and a guiding tool in identifying and carrying out specific collaborative projects and activities to accelerate efforts to train the next generation of sustainable development leaders.

The world is on the cusp of dramatic global change and we will need strong leadership to help us adapt and mitigate the effects of such things as climate change over the next 10 to 20 years, according to the International Institute for Sustainable Development.

"The goal of the consortium is to ensure sustainable development work being done today is continued into the future," says Heather Creech, IISD Director of the Knowledge Communications.

This will require a new generation of leaders prepared in fundamentally new ways to think and act in a way that matches the scale of the challenge. The consortium will focus on equipping young professionals with the knowledge, skills and values necessary to lead for success in an era of unprecedented challenges.

The joint initiative is being officially launched on Thursday, October 9, 2008, with the signing of the MOU by Julia Marton-Lefevre Director General of IUCN, Heather Creech, Director of Knowledge Communications IISD, Edward Kellow, Director of Training, and WWF Gordon Shepherd, Director of International Policy Thursday at the World Conservation Forum.

Where:

Supporting the Next Generation of Sustainable Development Leadership Workshop

Fourth IUCN World Conservation Congress; Barcelona, Spain

• When: Thursday, October 9, 2008
• Time: 14:30-16:00h
• Location: CCIB 127

Materials for the Media:

Paper on "Supporting the Next Generation of Sustainability Leadership".

Spokespersons:

• IISD Project Manager, Carolee Buckler, E-mail: cbuckler@iisd.ca, Phone: +1 (204) 962-0133
• Cathrine Mutambirwa, E-mail: Cathrine.Mutambirwa@iucn.org, Phone: +34 647775291