The Ecology of Leadership

WILD9 is the next in a series of historic programs by The WILD Foundation to protect our planet’s wild-places and the people and animals that depend on them. The World Wilderness Congress (WWC), launched by The WILD foundation in 1977, is the longest running public environmental forum in the world.  Having convened 8 times on 5 continents, the World Wilderness Congress has achieved a remarkable list of practical conservation results, a few examples of which include:

• First concept of a “World Conservation Bank,” leading directly to the creation of the World Bank’s Global Environmental Facility (GEF), which  has since provided $12 billion for biodiversity and sustainability; 
• Prompting the first private sector wilderness area in Africa , and first wilderness designation in Latin America (northern Mexico);
• The first global inventory of wilderness and wild rivers;
• Wilderness included as a distinct classification of international protected areas under the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) framework; and,
• Establishing of the International League Conservation Photographers.

In 2009, for the first time ever, the WWC will convene in Latin America.  From 6-13 November, many of the world’s leading conservation experts, politicians, academics, corporations, artists, native peoples, students and many others will gather in Merida, Mexico to debate and act upon the most urgent environmental issues of our time.  WILD9 is open to the public.
“Hosting WILD9 in Mexico is significant because of the many new and evolving initiatives in Mexico and Latin America to protect wild-nature,” comments Vance Martin, President of The WILD Foundation.  “WILD9 is also the first bilingual World Wilderness Congress, which will broaden its reach and further our goals as an international organization.”

With Mexico’s President Felipe Calderón as the Honorary Host of WILD9, the schedule is already filled with leading names in conservation today.   Wilderness and Climate Change is a central theme – driving the message that protecting wild nature eliminates at least 1/3 of the carbon threat.   Other topics such as Freshwater, Fire, Transboundary Conservation and Connectivity, Large Landscape and Seascapes, and Human Communities in Transition will guide the trainings, plenary sessions, local excursions, working and poster sessions, cultural events and celebrations.    In one of many associated sessions, the world’s best conservation photographers will participate in the first RAVE (Rapid Assessment Visual Expedition) of Mexico’s unique Yucatan Peninsula.

WILD9 is a project of The WILD Foundation, Unidos para la Conservacion, and many collaborating organizations, institutions and government agencies from Latin America and around the world.

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