The event will bring together leaders and organizations that work with biodiversity conservation in Brazil and around the world to debate the impacts of species extinction and climate change, as well as strategies and opportunities for restoration.

The degradation of terrestrial and marine ecosystems compromises the well-being of 3.2 billion people worldwide, according to the United Nations. To join efforts and prepare the sectors in Brazil for the Decade on Ecosystem Restoration 2021-2030, the Integrated Conservation Summit will gather more than 70 institutions, leaders and experts in a five-days virtual event, from November 30 to December 4. It is jointly organized by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Grupo Cataratas, the Brazilian Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZAB) and Instituto Conhecer para Conservar (ICC).

“The Summit 2021-2030 was born as a community proposal, where everyone think together and seek solutions to reverse the ecosystems degradation. If until a year ago we talked about conservation, recent events, like the fires in Brazil’s Pantanal wetland, show us that if we don't act fast and look for ways to recover nature, we will hardly be able to leave a good legacy for future generations. We need to act, and quickly”, says Fernando Sousa, Executive Institutional and Sustainability Director at Grupo Cataratas and Director at Instituto Conhecer para Conservar (ICC).

More than 70 speakers from Brazil and worldwide will meet in 15 round tables resulting in more than 20 hours of exclusive content on the challenges and opportunities for biodiversity and the conservation of ecosystems. The Summit will be totally virtual and broadcasted in Portuguese by the website Academia da Conservação.

Among the names already confirmed are the marine biologist Sylvia Earle; the Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity, Elizabeth Mrema; the Deputy Director of the UN Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC), Corli Pretorius; the CEO of Zoos Victoria in Australia, Jenny Gray; the Director of the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute's Center for Conservation and Sustainability, Francisco Dallmeier; the IUCN Species Survival Commission Director of Strategic Partnerships, Kira Mileham; researcher Braulio Dias, economist Sérgio Besserman, photographer Sebastião Salgado and journalists Sônia Bridi and Cristina Serra.

Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (2021-2030)

The United Nations General Assembly declared the period 2021-2030 as the “Decade on Ecosystem Restoration”. It aims at increasing efforts to restore degraded ecosystems by creating efficient measures to tackle climatic, food and water crisis and the loss of biodiversity.

The UNEP Representative in Brazil, Denise Hamú, recalls that “when we talk about restoration, many people think about forests. They are indeed threatened and are vital for the planet and for human being. But other ecosystems, such as wetlands, grasslands, savannas (such as the Brazilian Cerrado) and corals, are also collapsing; and they are essential for the maintenance of ecosystem services, which are the basis of our survival as species and society”.

“Restoring ecosystems is not a new idea, but we are at a critical moment to act. Although the Decade is led by the UN, we call on people and organizations from different sectors to be part of this global movement. It comes to channel local and global solutions and efforts, strengthen partnerships, boost actions (new and already underway) and intensify the exchange of knowledge and good practices in favor of our environment”, says Hamú.

The importance of Zoos and Aquariums

The last report on the human impact on nature, published by the UN, shows that almost 1 million species and plants are at risk of extinction. Within this context, zoos and aquariums play an important role in sensitizing society to the importance of biodiversity conservation, through the development of environmental education researches and actions.

Visit academiadaconservacao.com.br to join the free online event Conservação Integrada Summit 2021-2030, November 30th to December 4th, 2020