By IUCN CEM member on 17 August 2018.
The IUCN Commission on Ecosystem Management, South Asia (IUCN CEM-SA) on 14 August 2018, conducted a meeting of members in Divecha Centre for Climate Change at Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru. The venue of the meeting was particularly chosen to encourage exchange of views from CEM members in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala. The three states of India comprises a large majority of the South Indian peninsula – a region rich in biodiversity and population that depend directly on nature through agriculture, forestry and fishing. South Indian Peninsula is home to several eco-sensitive zones such as Bandipur National Park and Tiger reserve in Karnataka as well as Pulicat Bird Sanctuary in Tamil Nadu. Several of the world biodiversity hot-spots are also located in Southern India and Sri Lanka making the peninsula an ecologically important region.
Members gathered at the meeting had the opportunity to interact with Global Deputy Chair of CEM and Focal Point of CEM-SA Madhav Karki, PhD as well as Regional Chair Shalini Dhyani, PhD. To make the evening even more exciting, the panel of experts attending the meeting shared various techniques through which their work is helping conservation of nature in India and Nepal. Other commission members present in Bengaluru meet were Basavaraju Manu, PhD; Kolla Sreedevi, PhD; Deepu Sivadas, PhD; Xavier Bennedict; and Amartya Deb. Discussed below are key components of the session:
Three Presentations Addressing the Panel of Experts at Bengaluru
Dr Madhav Karki opened the session with an overview of the Commission on Ecosystem Management. Highlighting the key concerns of nature conservation, Dr Karki encouraged greater focus on marine, coastal and deep sea ecosystems in South Asia. The pertinence of the theme is undoubtedly paramount given South Asian countries together account for about 20500 km of coastline and more than 1121700 square nautical miles of exclusive economic zones (EEZs) that go out to meet three prominent international waters: Bay of Bengal, Arabian Sea and The Indian Ocean. However, Dr Karki did not discount from the human aspect that has continuously transformed the natural landscapes; often offering its ingenuity to make ecosystems sustainable.
This was followed by a presentation by Dr Shalini Dhyani. Dr Dhyani’s presentation provided further detail into the organisational structure of CEM South Asia. The regional chair also outlined some of the major challenges of South Asia region as poverty, climate change, unsustainable urban development, water scarcity, degrading marine and coastal ecosystems, non-sustainable agriculture and threats to transboundary key biodiversity areas (KBAs). Dr Dhyani urged a main endeavour of CEM to be knowledge transfer which must not be limited to academia but extend to students, youth, women, and policy makers, among other socio-economic groups. Dr Dhyani led up to a closure with a call for publications towards the 2020 – World Conservation Congress to be held in France.
The meeting ended with a presentation by our Social Media and Support Amartya Deb. Amartya presented a detailed overview of the performance of the social media and support team suggesting strategy for outreach. As managing editor of Harnessing Nature, he committed to — in his own words, “assisting [CEM] researchers reach-out with their work complying highest international standard.” The presentation highlighted various possibilities for both young professionals as well as experienced experts to contribute in the activities of CEM. Deb also highlighted the potential of various social media platforms as tools for rapid and effective knowledge transfer between different countries.
See our Twitter handle for more on this event: @IucnCEMSAsia
Two Posters Explaining CEM and CEM-SA
IUCN CEM-SA compiled two posters for quick over view of the commission – both globally and in South Asia. The posters cover regions of engagement, key achievements of CEM and brief overview of the network. Posters were presented in the members meeting at Bengaluru. They are subsequently planned to be presented in upcoming conferences.
Way forward to a collaborative future of CEM-SA
To summarise, the meeting was highly optimistic showing great potential for collaboration between CEM experts. CEM South Asia particularly looks forward to deepen its engagement with Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Maldives. Given that a strong focus for CEM-SA is to build capacity on seascapes – experts from the three nations along with India and Nepal are certain to play an important role. A transnational collaboration through real-time and virtual tools will indeed boost knowledge transfer between scientists, decision makers and communities in South Asian countries as well as facilitate a better understanding of nature that come without borders.
This article is composed from inputs by various members of IUCN Commission on Ecosystem Management (CEM). CEM is one of the six commissions that unite 10,000 volunteer experts from a range of disciplines. Together we assess the state of the world’s natural resources and provide the Union with sound know-how and policy advice on conservation issues. Read more about us here.