IUCN JOINS ALCOA FOUNDATIONIN LAUNCHING FELLOWSHIP PROGRAMME

20 fellowships offered for conservation andsustainability research Gland, Switzerland, 11 October 2005 (IUCN) - TheWorld Conservation Union (IUCN) has been chosen asone of three leading Sustainability Institutes forthe newly launched Alcoa Foundation’s Conservationand Sustainability Fellowship Programme. TheFellowship Programme is designed to provide anon-degree opportunity for qualified mid-careersustainable development practitioners from NGOs toconduct intensive applied research in the field ofconservation and sustainability.

In cooperation with the International Institute forEducation (IIE), IUCN will assist in reviewing andselecting three to five practitioner fellows peryear, for the five years of the program, to conductresearch in the following areas:
1. The linkages of the cultural and spiritualvalues of indigenous peoples and protected area objectives;
2. Biodiversity conservation or sustainable use ofbiological resources;
3. The implications for conservation of major demographic trends, including ageing, urbanization and population movements;
4. The implications for biodiversity ofalternative new forms of energy;
5. Corporate biodiversity management and reporting systems (including indicators) and the potential for synergy between corporate social responsibility(CSR) investment in social development and conservation outcomes.

Experts from the IUCN will be assigned as mentors for the fellows working on these research projects and will also participate in various worldwide networking events. Academic partners such as the London School of Economics or the University of São Paolo will host the fellows.

“The Alcoa Foundation’s Conservation and Sustainability Fellowship Program offers a great opportunity for people with good ideas to take some time to think through their ideas, nurture them to a stage where they can be implemented , and then put them into practice. IUCN is looking forward to support the fellows in their work and hopes that they will be able to bring new knowledge into the conservation field and stimulate others to conserve,” said Jeffrey A. McNeely, IUCN Chief Scientist at the launch of the fellowship programme.

The Alcoa Foundation will support each fellow with a substantial annual stipend plus funding for a yearly meeting of the fellows.

Alcoa is the world’s leading producer of primary aluminium, fabricated alumina. Alcoa Foundation actively invests in sources of positive community change as well as supporting national and international organizations to promote Areas of Excellence. By bringing together academic, NGO and business communities, the Fellowship Program will be a “new model of effective private philanthropic action to address urgent problems of global concern”.

Individuals interested in further information about the fellowship programme are asked to contact:
Institute of International Education
1400 K Street, NW, Suite 650
Washington, D.C. 20005
affellows@iie.org, Fax: +202-326-7642

For more information contact:

Carolin Wahnbaeck, Media Relations Officer, Tel. +41 22 999 0127; Fax: +41 22 999 0020; carolin.wahnbaeck@iucn.org; Web: http://iucn.org

Jeffrey A. McNeely, IUCN Chief Scientist, Tel. +41 22 999 0284; Fax: +41 22 999 0020; jam@iucn.org; Web: http://iucn.org