visual feast, is a good way to describe the WILD 9 experience. It was not only was the largest gathering of conservation photographers in history, it was also the first time that visual communications played such a central role in an international conservation congress. The many plenaries, presentations, and artistic representations that took place during the 8 days of the congress made a huge impact in the overall message in terms of highlighting the relevance of photography and film-making as a vital tool for communicating conservation messages. 

The photographers and film-makers that attended WILD9 also participated in WILD Speak, the symposium we co-convened with our partners Wildscreen and Arkive.  WILD Speak featured over 40 photographic presentations of current conservation photography and film work, as well as 5 plenary sessions. We ran a successful and thought-provoking symposium that will hopefully lead to larger, more important discussions on the future of conservation communications.

A highlight of the congress was the presentation of the first ever League Award to recognize the contributions of iLCP Fellow James Balog to the understanding of climate change through photography.  Jim's work is a testament to the important role photography can play to reveal some of the most pressing environmental issues of our times.

But perhaps the most important outcome was the approval of Resolution # 41, which was drafted by WILD Speak participants and submitted to the 1500+ delegates that attended the 9th World Wilderness Congress. The resolution aims to encourage the philanthropic community to increase available funds to enable us to scale up conservation communications based on visual materials.

For us at iLCP the best part of the congress was to reconnect as a community. We really enjoyed visiting with our fellow photographers and friends. and we are grateful to all the partners and sponsors that made our presence at WILD 9 possible.  As always, we are especially grateful to the WILD Foundation for hosting this incredible event.

Our next big enterprise is our participation in the 15th Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Copenhagen,  Denmark.  We will be presenting the new tome in the CEMEX Conservation Book Series, The Wealth of Nature, Ecosystem Services, Biodiversity and Human Well-Being, and we will participate in a side event on Oceans Day with a multimedia presentation produced in partnership with California-based NGO Center for Oceans Solutions.   We couldn't be more excited to be a small part of this historical meeting.

Cristina Mittermeier
Executive Director, iLCP