September 22, 2016 — “How Fishing Interests Infiltrated Conservation’s Biggest Event” by Nick Grube is a good example of how one of Civil Beat’s smiling imps makes nice to Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council staff who are quite happy and open to questions. Then he does a hatchet job full of insinuations and half-truths.
Shame on us, we never learn, but then again if we’d remained imperious and silent, we’d still get knifed between the ribs.
Applying and then being granted membership of the International Union for Conservation of Nature can hardly be called infiltration. The Council isn’t some form of clandestine organization bent on world domination. Implying that fishing interests have no place at IUCN is extremely narrow-minded. The majority of IUCN members recognize the importance of good management of resources, which is the Council’s function.
The IUCN 2017-2020 program has three pillars:
- Valuing and conserving nature;
- Promoting and supporting effective and equitable governance of natural resources; and
- Deploying nature-based solutions to address societal challenges including climate change, food security and economic and social development.