The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) on Wednesday elected Wildlife Trust of India’s (WTI) founder Vivek Menon as the new chair of the Species Survival Commission (SSC), making him the first Asian to hold the post.
The announcement came on the last day of the World Congress of IUCN at Abu Dhabi, UAE.
The SSC is one of the six expert commissions under the global body that advises the IUCN secretariat on matters concerning biodiversity and species conservation. The commission and its specialist groups play a key role in preparing the IUCN’s red list of threatened species.
Following his election, Menon said that as the first chair from Asia, it will be his focus to ensure leadership from the Global South is included in the SSC and it drives policy in the region. “My focus will also be on scaling up recovery for threatened species, leveraging technology and data-driven tools to make science speak to policy and ensuring every effort we undertake has measurable, lasting conservation impact,” he told The Indian Express.
On tackling the rising threats to survival of biodiversity due to anthropogenic impacts, Menon said the SSC’s strength lies in mobilising global expertise, adding that conservation must move as fast as the anthropogenic forces that threaten it.
