IUCN Congress:
WCD Findings turn Recommendations into Resolutions

AMMAN, JORDAN, 5 October - Every three years, IUCN - The World Conservation Union - brings together its members, currently standing at 900 governmental and non-governmental organisations, to guide the policies of the Union for the next triennium, and to elect its governing board.

WCD staff participated in sessions on IUCN's water programme, and held briefing sessions for interested parties on the work of WCD. With the prospect of the imminent release of the WCD final report, members agreed, unanimously, on a text that called for:

• the Council and Director General to take due note of the recommendations laid out in the Commission's report and to build follow-up activities into the current and future component programmes of the Union;
• all governments, IUCN members, and the Director General to bring the report to the attention of their respective constituencies, and to support regional, national, and local processes to consider the conclusions of the report at all levels;
• the Council to: (a) establish a Task Force, with membership comprising a balanced group, representative of stakeholders involved with dams, to review the report and advise the Union, its members, and partners, on ways of responding to the findings and recommendations of the World Commission on Dams; (b) mandate the Task Force to monitor the response to the Commission's recommendations by governments, non-governmental organisations, public international financial institutions, and the private sector; and (c) encourage the Task Force to develop processes and partnerships with relevant public, private, and civil society institutions to undertake its work.

This resolution of the Congress therefore requires IUCN to develop a follow-up response to the work of WCD. IUCN intends to consult extensively on how best to respond to the direction given by the members before presenting its plan at the WCD Forum meeting in February 2001.