Download - Sierra Club

August 22, 2013
The Honorable Dianne Feinstein
331 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Dear Senator Feinstein:
Last year the Sierra Club joined with many others to support a bid to host the 2016 World Conservation
Congress in the United States with the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature), the world’s
oldest and largest global environmental network representing more than 160 countries. This body, which is
essentially the “UN for the environment,” has never met in the U.S.A.
Here are the main reasons we ask you to sign on to a Dear Colleague letter to Secretary Kerry. The Sierra
Club has been a member of IUCN since 1956 and has worked alongside the IUCN on a variety of issues.
IUCN strongly supports the findings of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in their
Special Report on Renewable Energy Sources and Climate Change Mitigation, which states that nearly 80%
of our energy needs – including rising demand in developing countries – can be met by 2050 through
renewable energy sources. We advocate that governments make the transition to renewable resources a
priority. By hosting the 2016 IUCN World Conservation Congress, we will be putting an international
spotlight on the work done nationally to address this issue.
Moreover, it is in these Islands where the baseline data about greenhouse gases are sampled on the remotest,
high slopes. Honolulu is an ideal location, as the 50th state is a microcosm for biocultural conservation
globally and has excellent meeting facilities.
The United States can take a greater leadership role globally, and the IUCN meeting would offer an
opportunity for the United States to highlight renewed commitments to environmental quality in the very
year the National Park Service celebrates its centennial. By engaging with a broad variety of national and
international groups on our own turf, we are sending a message that we are serious about the conservation
work that we do and plan.
We recognize the State Department's initial consideration has raised concerns surrounding the budget and
financial burden of such an event. However, the State of Hawaii in concert with the private sector intends on
shouldering the bulk of the costs.
The Sierra Club urges that you help support this bid to host the 2016 World Conservation Congress in the
United States by signing the attached Dear Colleague letter to Secretary Kerry.
Thank you,
Michael Brune
Executive Director
Sierra Club