Dubbed ‘Nature’s Olympics,’ the World Conservation Congress 2012 concluded on Friday on the island of Jeju South Korea, with the Assembly approving resolutions on a wide range of issues including scaling back offshore drilling in Guyana, French Guiana and Suriname; action to recover Atlantic bluefin tuna stocks and avert extinctions of rare dolphin species; shutting down illegal bear farms; and providing better payment channels for ecosystem services in poor countries.
The Congress has put nature back at the centre of the stage in the quest to use it to solve a growing list of economic and social issues, as economic difficulties continue to dominate international debate,
“The Congress, which has become known in Korea as ‘Nature’s Olympics,’ has brought home gold for conservation,” says Julia Marton-Lefèvre, IUCN Director General; “It has demonstrated how