FSC at the IUCN World Conservation Congress

From 9–15 October, the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) participated in the IUCN World Conservation Congress held in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. The event, held every 4 years, brings together governments, civil society, and other leading organizations from around the world to address pressing environmental and conservation challenges.  

As the conservation world focuses on moving to creating faster, inclusive and scalable actions, as well as continuing to raise ambition, FSC sent its largest delegation to an IUCN Congress, eight staff from across the secretariat, led by Anand Punja, Director of Stakeholder Relations and Marion Karmann, Senior Research Relations.   

The Congress also provided a positive opportunity to meet many IUCN members and to have conversations with a number of FSC members to explore collaboration opportunities to scale and improve FSC solutions.  

The delegation participated in many events across a very busy programme, with a focus on how FSC can improve the quality of its solutions, make these more interoperable with the growing number of solutions for forests and identify new areas of opportunity for FSC Solutions to be more relevant.  

A strong focus was on how FSC-certified areas and solutions can contribute to and enable the growing agenda on OECMs. The team also took the opportunity to highlight how FSC’s solutions generate impact that goes far beyond certified areas and value forest product value chains, particularly in the Nature-Based Solutions market, demonstrating the essential role that sustainable forest Stewardship plays in tackling climate change and biodiversity loss. FSC was formally represented on a few panels during the congress, as highlighted below: 

Indigenous leadership and restoration 

Minnie Degawan, Managing Director of the FSC Indigenous Foundation, joined the session Beyond Pilots: How do we sustain, mainstream, replicate and scale behaviour change for impact?, where she underscored the importance of Indigenous-led actions in conservation, calling for holistic approaches that unite culture, governance, and environment. “Nature is one, and we should act as one,” she said. 

At Restoring Our Future: Lessons and Innovations to Achieve Global Restoration Goals, she emphasized that restoration must be rooted in Indigenous values and cultural connection to land. “It’s about restoring balance in nature, not simply planting trees”. 

Data and biodiversity in the bioeconomy 

Meanwhile, Anand Punja, FSC Chief Engagement and Partnership Officer, took part in Sustainable Forestry in the Bioeconomy Transition: How to Achieve Ambitious Goals for Biodiversity?, stressing the need to bridge data and traditional knowledge to support sustainable forest management and new finance models.  

“We’re moving toward outcome-based data – connecting forest management practices to real-world impacts,” Anand explained, inviting stakeholders to engage in FSC’s ongoing standards revision process. 

In addition, throughout the Congress, FSC representatives engaged with a wide range of stakeholders, fostering dialogue and collaboration to expand and enhance FSC’s contribution to the global conservation agenda. 

FSC at the IUCN Members’ Assembly 

The final two days of the Congress (14–15 October) were dedicated to the IUCN Members’ Assembly, attended by Anand Punja and Marion Karmann. With most policy motions voted on in advance, the Assembly debated and adopted around 40 policy, statutory, and governance motions, as well as several urgent motions introduced under IUCN Statutes. 

Among them were several directly related to forests and forest stewardship, as well as two urgent motions relevant to FSC: one on wildfire management and another on protecting the Congo Basin landscape.  

FSC is now reviewing their implications for the FSC system and identifying ways to contribute to their implementation through certification solutions, engagement activities, and collaboration in multi-stakeholder and multilateral platforms.  

This work will also be aligned with the outcomes of motions adopted at the FSC General Assembly, ensuring a coherent approach to advancing global forest stewardship and conservation goals.