7 | Three questions to Luc Bas, Director of the IUCN European Regional Office
• Could you please describe your function ?
 The International Union for Conservation of Nature ( IUCN) is the world's oldest, largest and most diverse environmental network. Composed of both governments and civil society organisations, it is the global authority on the status of the natural world and the measures needed to safeguard it My position requires to wear two hats : On the one hand I’m the IUCN European Regional Officer (EURO) director, which means that our office coordinates the implementation of the regional program with IUCN member States and NGO’s. On the other hand I lead the IUCN Representative Office towards the EU institutions which makes me somehow the “Ambassador” for IUCN in Brussels.
• What makes it so attracting ? And challenging ?1. We’re in the middle of Brussels’ EU policy hub, a unique place to inform policy for nature and the environment. Leading IUCNs effort’s through the vast evidence base we provide is exciting. 2. Next to the vast knowledge IUCN produces we are blessed with an important and large network of members and experts that are involved in the European program and support informing decision-makers. 3. Important to emphasize is that IUCN is a hybrid organization with NGO and State members. This is a unique feature which gives us an important responsibility as a facilitator of the different stakeholders. No other environment organization has this mixed set up formally embedded in its statutes and decision-making process. All of the above offer opportunities but pose challenges at the same time. Because of this big network, IUCN can sometimes struggle to find a position that would satisfy every members’ needs. Depending on the issue, you’ll have more or less support and it’s sometimes hard to adopt a position that is pleasing everyone but we will always strive to speak out based on available evidence.
• What can the Belgian Biodiversity Platform do for IUCN ?
The Belgian Biodiversity Platform has an important role in mobilizing expertise at the national level and coordinate it and then feed into the IUCN knowledge network. Since years, the Platform has been helping to assure we have a good Belgian participation in the IUCN work (i.e. red list on ecosystems, list of protected areas). The Platform also expresses recommendations on how to move forward in nature protection and conservation. We also count on the Platform, as IUCN National Focal Point, to disseminate IUCN’s work also beyond the conservation community. Finally, I’d like to express IUCN’s appreciation for the work of the Belgian Biodiversity Platform and the role it plays in the absence of an IUCN national committee. We hope one day a formal Belgium National Committee will be established following the examples of France, UK, Netherlands, Spain, Italy, Denmark, Sweden, Finland and many more including a championing role for the Platform as the best representative group of the conservation community in Belgium. |
