First ever partnership agreement signed between CEC and Chinese partners

CEC Operations | 19-May-2014

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On March 19th, on behalf of CEC, Steering Committee member Hanying Li and IUCN China representative Dr. Chunquan Zhu signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with IUCN member the Beijing Forest Society (BFS) and the Beijing Forestry and Parks Department of International Cooperation (BFPIC). This marks the first framework collaboration between CEC and Chinese partners.

With China’s growing influence in the world—and the environmental challenges that accompany rapid economic development—comes new opportunities for the IUCN Commission on Education and Communication (CEC) to further disseminate knowledge via its network of experts.

Over the past two years, CEC initiated discussions in China and identified potential partners and collaboration areas. Of these potential partners, Beijing Forest Society (BFS) and Beijing Forestry and Parks Department of International Cooperation (BFPIC) jointly moved the fastest in setting up the framework for collaboration which lead to signing the MOU. This memorandum recognized the following three key areas that CEC could provide technical support to BFS and BFPIC's in the future:

1. To share best practices in nature education
2. To provide advice and technical guidance for the development of nature education centres.
3. To provide technical support for the training of Forest Guides

This document is the first step in the process of developing the above activities, which are planned to be designed and implemented in the next three years.

BFS and BFPIC are looking for experts to work with them on a short-term basis. Any CEC members who have rich experiences in the above areas, please feel free to contact Hanying Li.