At the end of 2016, Dr Simon Stuart completed his tenure as Chair of the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) Species Survival Commission after 8 years in the position, and more than 30 years with the IUCN. In January this year, Simon joined Synchronicity Earth as our Director of Strategic Conservation. We [...]
A brief Q & A with Alison Sudol, aka Queenie Goldstein. Alison Sudol plays Queenie Goldstein in the latest JK Rowling offering, Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them, which opened in the UK on November 18th. In the midst of the whirlwind lead up to the film’s release, Alison took time out to answer [...]
The IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) World Conservation Congress, held every 4 years, took place in Hawaii in early September. As IUCN Patrons of Nature, this is the second congress Jessica and Adam Sweidan have attended - the first was in Jeju, South Korea in 2012. A lot can change in four years… [...]
In 2012, I attended the IUCN’s World Conservation Congress (WCC) in Jeju, South Korea. I had been in my job at Synchronicity Earth for just over a year and was also in the throes of writing up my PhD thesis, looking at conservation networks and mountain gorilla conservation. My head was full to the [...]
The World Conservation Congress (in Hawaii) came hot on the heels of the World Congress of Herpetology (in China). Having just corrected 7 hours of jet lag East, I piled on another 11 hours of jet lag West, leaving me wondering whether the ensuing discussions about protecting our world would fly clean over my nodding head. [...]
A longstanding challenge within the world of species conservation is that a vast proportion of the money, time and research is focused on “charismatic” species. This is so pronounced, that even the giraffe, a classically unique and interesting species, has suffered from lack of attention – scientists have only recently discovered that there may in [...]
We are delighted to say that Dr Simon Stuart, Chair of the IUCN Species Survival Commission, will be joining Synchronicity Earth in January, 2017. His current role with the IUCN will end in September. Read more about Simon's new role at Synchronicity Earth and the huge benefits this will bring to our work: Dr [...]
Synchronicity Earth’s Founding Trustee, Adam Sweidan, and I attended the recent International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Species Survival Commission (SSC) Leaders meeting in Abu Dhabi. The IUCN SSC is a network organisation with a few core paid staff. However, the majority of its 140 Specialist Groups and committees are made up of [...]
I think I was asked to participate in this session because I am reasonably young (at heart at least) and possibly because I seem to be displaying an interest in doing things differently. I was asked to discuss the kinds of commitments and actions needed to involve young people in the IUCN and conservation [...]