School of Management Te Kura Whakahaere

Apply now

Māori Business Senior Lecturer re-elected Global Chair

Māori Business lecturer Aroha Mead re-elected Global Chair
Re-elected Chair of CEESP Aroha Mead, pictured with Richard Cellarius (USA) appointed Deputy Chair

Māori Business Senior Lecturer Aroha Te Pareake Mead from the School of Management has been re-elected by the World Conservation Congress to a second term as global Chair of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Commission on Environmental, Economic and Social Policy (CEESP).

The IUCN Commission on Environmental, Economic and Social Policy is a global inter-disciplinary network of over 1400 voluntary professionals whose mission is to act as a source of advice on the environmental, economic, social and cultural factors that affect natural resources and biological diversity.

The Commission also provides guidance and support towards effective policies and practices in environmental conservation and sustainable development.

Aroha says that she looks forward to the next four years as Chair of CEESP to deliver on the priorities set for the Commission.

They include:

  1. Development and promotion of a conservation ethic that supports diverse knowledge systems and values, delivers rights-based and equitable conservation with improved governance of natural resources and tangible livelihoods benefits, and links biological diversity with the cultural dimensions of nature conservation with a focus on the rights of indigenous peoples and local communities.
  2. Increased use of rights-based approaches to natural resources management and governance that promotes social and cultural equity, indigenous people‘s self-determination, community governance, sustainable livelihoods and human security.
  3. Nature-based solutions to global challenges -- such as climate change, conversion of forests and farmland to monocrops, including biofuels projects, food insecurity, poverty, inequitable economic and social development -- are underpinned by economic policies that reinforce sustainability, social equity and environmental integrity.
  4. Enhanced capacity of civil society, governments and the private sector to ensure corporate social and environmental accountability and reduce the negative impact of industries on climate, bio-cultural diversity and food security.

(Source: Vic News)