EAZA21+

EAZA21+ helps us explore the opportunities that come with the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework in which modern zoos and aquariums and organisations like EAZA have an important role to play.

 

EAZA21+ is an internal campaign for EAZA Members, launched on 21 September 2021 for two years. It is helping us discover the opportunities that come with the new Kunming-Montreal Biodiversity Framework in which modern zoos and aquariums and organisations like EAZA have an important role to play.

What is it about?

In 2021, EAZA Members confirmed their high ambitions by adopting EAZA’s new vision statement: “Progressive zoos and aquariums saving species together with you.”

This ambition integrates the EAZA community in the global puzzle of biodiversity conservation. This puzzle is already difficult to navigate – and now its pieces are changing, with the post-2020 biodiversity framework. This new framework will be adopted at the CBD (Convention on Biological Diversity) summit in Kunming in May 2022, as a last-minute push to stop the decline of biodiversity and to restore harmony between people and nature by 2050.

Previous strategies to stop biodiversity loss have failed to reach their global targets. The post-2020 plan promises to be different: it addresses not only the biological problem but also its social and economic causes and aspects. It also aligns all other relevant actions so that they support the common goal: the global conventions (CBD, CITES, CMS) and regional initiatives such as EU’s tools for environmental protection (EU Biodiversity Strategy, Natura 2000, LIFE funds). These are different international biodiversity frameworks, in which key stakeholders such as the IUCN have been working on the implementation.

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If this post-2020 plan is to succeed, everyone will need to contribute: all citizens and all sectors of the economy and society, and this includes modern zoos and aquariums as well as NGOs like EAZA. In this campaign, we want to define the role of our community in the new big global puzzle.

What does this mean for you?

From all the pieces of the post-2020 puzzle, we have picked three that are the most relevant to the work of EAZA and its Members: 

  • Conservation education. EAZA Members receive more than 140 million visits every year. What is our role in empowering the public to appreciate biodiversity and to make their lifestyles more sustainable? Which best practices can we build on to strengthen this role further?
  • Species conservation. How can we match our potential in this field with the goals of the framework, with species action plans and with available funding sources?
  • Wildlife trade. What is our role in ensuring that wildlife is only traded and used legally, sustainably and ethically?

The campaign will give us the opportunity and space to explore these topics together and discuss some principal questions:

  • What are the post-2020 objectives, globally and for Europe, in each of the three areas? Which of these objectives are relevant for us?
  • What are our strengths and responsibilities in these topics, as individual Members and as EAZA?
  • What are we already doing, what more can we do? How can we learn from each other?

At the end of the campaign, you – the staff in EAZA Membership – should have many practical ideas for implementation in the coming years and decades, so that you can profit from the opportunities of the global and European frameworks and goals. This will allow the EAZA community to make the biggest possible contribution to the ultimate goal of “saving species together”.

What will the campaign look like?

Unlike the previous campaigns, EAZA21+ doesn’t focus on a public-facing element. It is internal and its activities will take place among and for EAZA Members, with external experts joining the dialogue.

The main activities will be webinars and workshops, virtual and face-to-face. They will be relevant to many colleagues, whether you are in charge of zoo and aquarium management, conservation, collection planning, education, research, communications, PR, marketing or other areas!

At the end of the campaign, the outcomes of all these meetings and discussions will be captured in toolkits and tutorials that you will be able to use in your daily work for conservation.

To download your two-page guide to EAZA21+, click on the available versions: English, German or Italian

Why EAZA21+?

The name was chosen because the campaign:

  • begins in 2021,
  • follows 20 years of EAZA conservation campaigns,
  • will give EAZA Members tools for addressing the challenges of the 21st century.
 
 
 

Stories: EAZA and Partnerships for Wildlife Conservation

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The global theme for the World Wildlife Day on 3 March 2023 is "Partnerships for Wildlife Conservation". Since partnerships are central to the work of EAZA and our Members, and to the EAZA21+ campaign, we are showcasing their variety in this mini-series.

Episode #3: Project consortia with external funding (20 February)
Conservation is supported by many funding opportunities, and teaming up with the right partners is the first step to success. This story showcases several consortia in which EAZA Members won grants from the EU LIFE programme. Was there a secret to their success? Find out here:

WWD Ep3 Consortia

Episode #2: Two decades of EAZA Conservation Campaigns (8 February)
Since 2000, fifteen EAZA Conservation Campaigns have raised more than 5.6 million Euro, supported more than 140 conservation projects, and inspired millions of zoo and aquarium visitors. At the same time, they have forged various partnerships that last well beyond the duration of each campaign. Read more in the story below!

Episode 2 Two decades of EAZA Campaigns

Episode #1: Conservation with(out) borders (31 January)
We begin with our flagship example of partnerships: the EEPs – EAZA Ex Situ Programmes. For over three decades, they have been the framework in which EAZA Members work together to maintain healthy populations of healthy individuals. And why with(out) borders? Find out here!

WWD23 EAZA Ep1 v1.2

 

 
 
 

Calendar

  

21 September 2021 

Launch, with keynote talk by Jon Paul Rodríguez, Chair of IUCN Species Survival Commission 

November – December 2021 

Member survey to refine the campaign actions

January 2022 – September 2023 

Actual campaign actions for Members 

  • Online workshops (webinars)

  • In-person workshopsduring:  

  • EAZA Directors’ Days 2022 and 2023 

  • EAZA Annual Conferences 2022 and 2023 

  • EAZA Conservation Forum 2022 

October – December 2023 

Evaluation, production of tutorials and toolkits for Members 

April 2024 

Report for EAZA Directors’ Days 

  

 
 
 

Participants


The following EAZA Member institutions have formally signed up to EAZA21+. If your institution isn't among them yet, you will find the declaration in the next section below! 

 

 
 
 

Join the campaign!


Sign up as an individual participant

Do you work at an EAZA Member organisation? Would you like to receive campaign updates, invitations to webinars and workshops, and links to useful resources straight into your mailbox? Please fill in this short personal registration form!

Sign up your organisation

If you represent an EAZA Member organisation, then please:

  1. Download the institutional declaration - as a Word document or or pdf and fill it in
  2. Have it signed by your CEO/Director
  3. Send it to us. Clicking on this link will open a pre-filled email. All you will have to do is attach the signed declaration (as a scan, photo or electronic document).

EAZA21+ is open to all EAZA Members and Candidates, in all membership categories.

 
 
 

Toolkits

In EAZA’s vision statement, “Progressive Zoos and Aquariums Saving Species Together with YouTogether with you refers not only to being a community and joining forces with our diverse audiences and partners, but also to working in alignment with international conservation strategies and policies 

For many years, EAZA and its Members have already been aligning their work with WAZA strategies and IUCN policies (One Plan Approach, Ex situ Guidelines)Today, modern zoos and aquariums also have a role to play in the new plans for nature: the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030 and the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) – and in national strategies that contribute to them. From 2021 to 2023, EAZA21+ was our internal campaign aiming to explore these big new frameworks and increase our confidence and competence for engaging with them on local, national and international levels 

The campaign has ended but the journey continuesboth for individual EAZA Member zoos and aquariums and for EAZA as an organisation. What you will find here is a set of post-campaign resources that you can use to enhance your knowledge, draw inspiration for your institution’s strategies and get guidance for making a stronger impact in biodiversity conservation. 

 
 
 

Team

Core team

  • Eric Bairrão Ruivo, Beauval, campaign co-chair
  • Bengt Holst, Copenhagen, campaign co-chair
  • Simon Bruslund, Marlow
  • Kirsten Pullen, Wild Planet Trust / Paignton
  • Danny de Man, EAZA Executive Office
  • Merel Zimmermann, EAZA Executive Office
  • Alice Albertini and Tomasz Rusek, EAZA Executive Office, your main contacts, eaza21plus@eaza.net

The concept is being developed in collaboration with:

  • Brice Lefaux, Mulhouse
  • Carl Traeholt, Copenhagen
  • Friederike von Houwald, Bern
  • Ivan Rehák, Prague
  • Koen Brouwer, Maguari
  • Kristin Leus, Copenhagen / EAZA Executive Office
  • Lizzie Seymour, RZSS
  • Marjo Priha, Helsinki
  • Radosław Ratajszczak, Wrocław
  • Sarah Thomas, Auckland
  • Susie Offord-Woolley, ZSL
  • Tiit Maran, Tallinn
  • Tomislav Krizmanić, Zagreb
  • Volker Homes, VdZ

Big thanks to everyone who is dedicating their time to this project!


Credits