The global face of Connectivity Conservation. As members of the World Commission on Protected Areas, Gondwana Link Chair Virginia Young and CEO Keith Bradby have attended a day long workshop at the Botanic Gardens in Canberra, to review a proposed set of international standards for Areas of Connectivity Conservation. Along with our colleagues from the Great Eastern Ranges and New Zealand’s Reconnecting Northland program we presented our experience over a combined 33 years, outlining the fundamental science basis for our programs and the importance of nimble structures that support local leadership. Eamon Nathan from Reconnecting Northland did a wonderful job addressing a major weakness of the current Draft Standards – the minimal regard given to the importance of traditional owner viewpoints and management roles. The workshop was part of a series of global consultations on the standards, which once revised are expected to be accepted as official standards of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

While in Canberra we also held a joint meeting of our Australian and New Zealand programs, swapping notes on a number of topics and developing some joint project proposals.