IUCN - The World Conversation Union

The Global Policy Unit provides oversight and guidance to sectoral policy work, especially on the development of position papers and statements and engagement strategies.

It coordinates IUCN's policy input on the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), with special focus on COP9 in Bonn, in May 2008. Position papers and technical input have been provided to all major CBD events since 1999.

It also advises and supports engagement on other intergovernmental processes with special interventions in 2008 at UNFCCC COP14, Ramsar COP10, CMS COP9, and thematic and regional intergovernmental processes.

The unit also coordinates IUCN's policy work in the context of the United Nations (UN). This work is carried out through the IUCN Permanent Mission to the UN in New York. It includes engagement in the UN discussions in New York on issues of relevance to IUCN.

The unit advises the Director General and the Global Management Team on management of internal policy processes and procedures and policy-related aspects of IUCN's governance system. It oversees the application of the internal procedures in relation to policy-related events.

IUCN's work on the Global Biodiversity Agenda supports the development of an international regime on access and benefit-sharing (ABS) and promotes coherence in the context of the Convention on Biological Diversity, the international trading system and the Intellectual Property Rights regime.