Abstract
This article provides evidence and a rationale based on adaptive governance studies for why creating meaningful youth engagement should be understood in terms of intergenerational dialogue, collaboration, learning, and substantive decision-making in global environmental governance. We have centered our discussion on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), as the largest global conservation organization. Through an organizational ethnography approach, we have demonstrated how generational concerns within the IUCN have been framed in terms of participation, and then present the IUCN Intergenerational Partnership for Sustainability (IPS) as a case study of a grassroots movement that is focused on transforming the IUCN towards being a fully intergenerational global governance system for nature conservation. We have described the development of intergenerational thinking and action within the IUCN, and discussed intergenerational governance as being essential for addressing nature conservation challenges faced by local communities in times of increasing global uncertainty. We conclude by providing recommendations for enhancing intergenerational dialogue and building intergenerational governance structures within global conservation organizations.
Highlights
Global Environmental Governance and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)Global environmental governance organizations are currently vexed by increasingly rapid environmental change and conservation issues that are confounded by large-scale, protracted conflict and humanitarian crises such as war and the global refugee crisis [1,2]
We present the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Intergenerational Partnership for Sustainability (IPS: https://intergenerationalpartnership.wordpress. com) as a case study of a grassroots movement that is focused on transforming the IUCN towards being a fully intergenerational global governance system for nature conservation, and demonstrate how generational concerns within the IUCN have been framed in terms of participation
Our autoethnography revealed that the IPS has been most successful in facilitating dialogue across generations, an essential aspect of the work being conducted by the conservation and sustainability communities
Summary
Global Environmental Governance and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Leadership within nature conservation organizations is struggling to respond to such complex challenges and new forms of support are required towards developing long-term strategic planning and on-the-ground action [3] Connected to this is a significant policy and planning gap within conservation literature and practice regarding the role of intergenerational collaboration in global governance processes [4,5]. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the largest global conservation organization (by number of members), has made efforts to focus on young and future generations, motivated especially by the former South African President Nelson Mandela’s address to the 2003 IUCN World Parks Congress in Durban, which challenged conservationists to engage more meaningfully with young people. We conclude by providing recommendations for enhancing intergenerational dialogue and building intergenerational governance structures within global conservation organizations
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