Whooping Crane by Ryan Hagerty

Nature Canada is proud to be one of the supporting partners of the World Conservation Congress hosted every four years by BirdLife International. BirdLife is the largest civil society organization of its kind dedicated to bird and biodiversity conservation on the planet. With partners in over 110 countries on every continent and a membership in excess of 5 million individuals, BirdLife is shaping the global agenda on species and habitat conservation with a particular focus on engaging with people. The Important Bird Areas program is helping target conservation activities at over 10,000 sites and in recent years, its Preventing Extinctions program is successfully pairing donors with conservation practioners at key sites for the world’s most endangered species. Nature Canada, together with its BirdLife Co-partner, Bird Studies Canada, coordinate the Important Bird Areas program in Canada and have over the last decade, brought conservation to the ground at over 200 sites through an active national stewardship program. We expect as many as 500 representatives from over 100 countries to join in the five day celebratory event and delegates will have an opportunity to share their experiences and chart new directions for bird conservation worldwide. BirdLife’s Rare Bird Club Co-Presidents, Margaret Atwood and Graeme Gibson, along with Her Imperial Highness, Princess Takamado, will join the event and welcome Congress delegates to Canada. One of the key outputs from the Congress will be the launch of the State of Worlds Birds which will highlight the successes and challenges of conserving the world’s nearly 10,000 bird species. Robert Bateman will provide an original painting of a Whooping Crane for the conservation auction in recognition of a truly successful effort by Canadian scientists to bring back from the brink of extinction, one of Canada’s most enigmatic and threatened species. We are proud to have received significant support from the donor community in Canada including outstanding sponsorship from Environment Canada, Gosling Foundation, TD Friends of the Environment, Parks Canada, Rio Tinto, and our friends in the conservation world, Ducks Unlimited Canada and the Nature Conservancy of Canada.