「我想現在大家一定都同意，如果要避免人類、自然活動在各個領域的崩解，我們就必須馬上採取決定性行動，一刻耽擱不得，也不能再只是照章行事。｣世界自然保育聯盟（IUCN）總幹事瑪騰烈福（Julia Marton- Lefèvre）在4年一度的世界保育大會上如此表示。這場在西班牙巴塞隆納舉行的盛會，聚集了來自保育團體、政府、非政府組織、學術界、私營企業、婦女和在地組織的8,000位專家。
當世界正面對金融危機的糾纏時，在世界保育大會上，民間團體、環境學者、政府和企業界一直在定義一種與眾不同的前進模式。IUCN主席莫莎（Valli Moosa）說：「在前4 天，政府領導人和非營利組織社團均提出保護地球的呼籲，對於環保的重視已成為決策者的優先考量。｣
這為期10天的會議於5日開幕，即使在金融危機最艱困的時期，在這場合中也宣佈設立了多項大筆的保育投資基金──麥克阿瑟基金會（John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation）承諾提供5,000萬美元協助保育團體在氣候變遷下進行8個生物多樣性熱點的生物多樣性保育工作。
這8個熱點都棲息極高密度的生物種類，且其中有許多是當地特有物種，但都面臨極嚴重的威脅。這些熱點包括湄公河下游流域、東喜瑪拉雅山、位居亞洲與太平洋交界的美拉尼西亞（Melanesia）、非洲的馬達加斯加和艾伯丁裂谷（Albertine Rift）、加勒比海諸島、以及拉丁美洲的南／北安第斯山脈。
麥克阿瑟基金會主席斐頓（Jonathan Fanton）出席世界保育大會時表示：「氣候變遷問題的規模和迫切性，需要國際性保育團體更加努力面對。面對氣候變遷威脅下要成功達成保育目標，科學共享、行動協調和迅速回應的能力均是必備的條件，而這一切都需要更多的資金支援。｣
總金額達3,300萬美元的穆哈默德賓薩伊德物種保育基金（Mohamed bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund）也在9日的會議上宣佈。該基金是由阿布達比王儲穆哈默德賓薩伊德所成立。王儲表示，當基金在2009年1月開始運作時，「希望能對全世界物種保育做出真正的貢獻。」這個基金將著重在全球性課題，所有動植物種的保育均可適用，不會特別指定某些地區或物種。
另外，10日的會議上也公開一項新計畫：「拯救你的商標」（Save Your Logo），該計畫將鼓勵一些用瀕危生物作品牌標誌的企業投入更多棲地保育資金，希望能吸引私營企業參與，並建立大眾對於生物多樣性保育的支持。
在此計劃的初期試驗階段，全球環境基金（GEF）將投資500萬美元，與世界銀行、IUCN、比利時非政府組織「諾埃研究所」（Noe Institute）合作，以便從私營企業尋求針對保育的共同投資。
因應氣候變遷，會議上也宣佈了一項有關森林管理指導原則的協議：「森林與氣候變遷行動倡議」（Initiative on Forests and Climate Change）；該協議由一個250人組成的團體「森林對話」（Forests Dialogue）宣布，其組成成員包括政府、林業公司、商會、環保團體、社會團體、國際組織、林地地主、原住民和森林所在社區的代表。
「森林與氣候變遷行動倡議」提出具體的永續森林管理方針：遏止森林砍伐和惡化、積極支持數百萬仰賴森林維生的社區居民生計，該倡議認為這些方針必須列為全世界的最高優先任務。「森林對話」團體指出，「這是因為森林和林業產品特別有助於減少溫室氣體排放物、進行碳補集，進而減緩氣候變遷對人們所造成的傷害。｣
其他影響深遠的協議也在第一週會議中達成結論，包括一項公海治理的主要原則，以及另一項規範漁民團體和保育團體的新合作關係。
德意志銀行資深主管蘇克德夫（Pavan Sukhdev）指出，類似像「生態經濟學與生物多樣性」等為了保育生物多樣性的全面性而積極的經濟學方案，正陸續出爐，象徵著保育團體和企業界之間的合作正展現新力量。
IUCN副總幹事傑克遜（Bill Jackson）說：「我們正親眼目睹一個決定性的時刻：不同的願景相互整合的決定性一刻，在某些案例中也正逐步達成重要和影響久遠的共識。我們認清了新的事實，儘管大部分是負面的，但也看到了新的科學和解決方案。我認為我們正建立一種不同且更有效的方法來處理基本的保育問題。｣
世界保育代表大會已進入第二階段，IUCN成員在此階段會選出一位新主席和委員會成員，並對關係到IUCN未來4年主要工作方針的決議進行投票。
IUCN是全世界成立最久、組織最大的全球環境網路，總部設立於瑞士日內瓦附近的格蘭。IUCN是一個民主決策的機構，成員有1，000多個政府和非政府成員組織，以及來自160國家共11，000位的志工科學家和專家。
"Absolutely everyone now agrees that we can't postpone decisive action if we are to avoid major disruptions in all spheres of human and natural activities," said Julia Marton-Lefèvre, director general of the International Union for Conservation of Nature. "Business as usual is simply not an option."
Marton-Lefèvre was addressing more than 8,000 specialists from the conservation community, governments, nongovernmental organizations, academia, private sector, women and indigenous groups who have gathered in Barcelona for the IUCN's World Conservation Congress, held once every four years.
"In the last four days the call to protect the planet has been heard from both government leaders and the NGO community," says Valli Moosa, president of IUCN. "Environmental concerns are now at the top of the decision-makers priority list."
While the world is entangled in the turmoil of a financial crisis, at the World Conservation Congress civil society, environmentalists, governments and business have been defining a different way forward.
The 10 day conference opened Sunday and even during these difficult financial times, it has been the occasion of announcements of substantial investments in conservation funding.
The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation is committing $50 million to help conservation groups working in eight biodiversity hotspots preserve biodiversity in the face of climate change.
The eight places all have high concentrations of species, many of which are found nowhere else and all are under extreme threat. They include the Lower Mekong, Eastern Himalayas, and Melanesia in Asia and the Pacific; Madagascar and the Albertine Rift in Africa; and the Insular Caribbean and southern and northern Andes in Latin America.
"The scale and urgency of the climate change problem demands that the international conservation community step up its efforts," said MacArthur President Jonathan Fanton told conference participants in Barcelona. "It is clear that for conservation to succeed in the face of climate change there must be shared science, coordinated action, and the capacity for rapid response, backed up with increased financial resources."
The $33 million Mohamed bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund was announced Thursday. It was established by Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who "hopes to make a genuine contribution to species conservation worldwide" when the fund's operations commence by January 2009.
The focus of this fund will be global and eligibility for grants will extend to all plant and animal species conservation efforts, without discrimination on the basis of region or selected species.
A new project was announced today that will encourage businesses that have built their brands based on threatened species to invest more in the preservation of their natural habitats. The Save Your Logo campaign intends to attract private sector involvement and build broad public support to sustain biodiversity.
The Global Environment Facility will invest $5 million to launch the pilot phase of the project and will work with the World Bank and IUCN, and in cooperation with the Belgian NGO Noe Institute, to leverage conservation co-financing from the private sector.
An agreement on principles guiding forest management in view of climate change was announced by a group of 250 that includes representatives of governments, forestry companies, trade unions, environmental and social groups, international organizations, forest owners, indigenous peoples and forest-community groups.
The Forests Dialogue's Initiative on Forests and Climate Change specifies that sustainable forest management that reduces deforestation and degradation and that actively supports the livelihoods of millions of forest-dependent communities must now be one of the world's highest priorities. The group said in a statement, "This is because forests and forest products have the unique ability to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, capture carbon, and lessen peoples' vulnerability to climate change."
Other far-reaching agreements were concluded this week. Agreement on key principles on high-seas governance were achieved and new working relationships with fishermen's associations and conservation groups were established.
With initiatives such as The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity, which presents a "comprehensive and compelling economic case for the conservation of biodiversity," according to its author Pavan Sukhdev, a senior figure in Deutsche Bank, collaboration between the conservation and business worlds is taking on new strength.
"What we have seen is a defining moment in bringing different perspectives together and, in some cases, developing consensus that will have an important and long-lasting impact," says Bill Jackson, deputy director general of IUCN.
"We heard about new facts, mostly negative, and about new science and solutions. I think we are setting a different and much more productive way to deal with fundamental conservation issues," Jackson said.
The World Conservation Congress now enters its second phase, where IUCN's members will elect a new president and Council and vote on the resolutions which will guide IUCN's work for the coming four years.
Based in Gland, near Geneva, in Switzerland, the IUCN is the world's oldest and largest global environmental network. It is a democratic membership union with more than 1,000 government and NGO member organizations, and almost 11,000 volunteer scientists and experts in some 160 countries.
全文及圖片詳見：ENS
