Last year’s focus on Land Justice left many in attendance at the RCP Network Gathering with a heightened awareness of the need to put justice and equity at the center of their conservation work.
It has also sparked conversations about how to actually do the work of advancing land justice and equity while meeting their core mission work of conservation. For example, RCP Network members have been asking how we can more effectively amplify the voices and support the communities most impacted by injustice and climate change through our land conservation efforts, while others of you have been working with these impacted communities for years.
For the 2022 RCP Network Gathering, we would like you and your partners to have a chance to share your insights, projects, relationship-building stories, and lessons. Tell us who you are learning from and how you are together advancing Climate Justice and Resilience — for making land more accessible, more useful for nature and people, and more resilient to the impacts of climate change for the benefit of others.
We invite you to submit proposals and nominations for Gathering panels, webinars, and field trips in the weeks leading up to the Gathering. Please complete and submit a separate form for each webinar, panel, and field trip you wish us to consider.
We are offering three ways for you to participate – please review all options and apply to the program or programs where you think you or your partners can add the most value.
Recommend a Panelist for the 2022 RCP Network Gathering (November 17)
Two panels at the November 17th, 2022 Gathering will focus on Climate Justice and Resilience, through the eyes of those who have experienced climate injustice, addressed injustice, or focused resiliency efforts to the benefit of marginalized communities. Please note that panelists will need to commit to at least a couple of hours on November 17th and a few hours before the event for preparation and rehearsal.
- Panel 1 – What do Climate Justice and Resilience mean to me and my communities?
- Panel 2 – Forming conservation partnerships built on trust and shared Climate Justice or Resilience goals.
If you would like to participate as a panelist during the November 17th RCP Network Gathering, or know someone who would be a great addition, please fill out the form linked below. Please review the form requirements before you begin filling it out.
RCP Network Gathering Webinars (October 3 to November 10)
As part of this year’s Gathering, we would like to offer one to three pre-Gathering webinars held during the weeks leading up to the November 17 Gathering. These webinars will ideally highlight RCPs’ and RCP Network members’ activities in the areas of Land Justice, Climate Justice, and Climate Resilience. Themes may include:
- Putting healing before conservation: How are you working with marginalized groups to help them heal or recover from past or present harm and injustices?
- Expanding the conservation table: How did you get more — and different — people to the table, how did you offer your skills and capacity to others’ work, or how did you create a new table?
- Public health and conservation: How have you formed partnerships or developed programs that effectively linked public health and conservation, especially in support of marginalized communities – and how can this example scale-out?
- Food sovereignty and conservation: How have you partnered with others to advance conservation and food sovereignty?
- Broadening participation in conservation: How can we create opportunities for new voices and new ideas? How do we welcome people of all backgrounds to careers in conservation?
- Reducing exposure to climate change: What actions have communities taken to reduce their exposure to the impacts of climate change through conservation, restoration, and stewardship? Partnership examples/case studies and how can this example scale-out?
Click the link below to propose a webinar. Please review the form requirements before you begin filling it out.
Field Trips (Mid-September to December)
Occurring during the months leading up to the Gathering and through the end of 2022, these are opportunities for RCP Network members to organize and convene on-site walks and talks that explore one or more of the webinar themes (see above). Highstead and the RCP Network staff will help to promote the field trips but the entire event— logistics planning, promotion, costs, and execution–is the responsibility of the field trip lead.