WILD11 PROGRAM

Targeting the root causes of the climate and extinction crises

ABOUT THE PROGRAM

WILD11 organizers are committed to limiting the amount of paper and excess materials used at this congress, therefore our full program will only be available through our mobile app and website. Delegates who require a print program will have the option to purchase a very limited supply of our summary program for $5.00 USD at registration. The app will allow delegates to access all congress-related information such as the program, nearby dining & activities, special events, a list of all delegates, speakers, and sponsors, and ways to connect with one another. We highly recommend that delegates download the WILD11 app now, BEFORE heading to Jaipur. Take some time to get familiar with the layout! Learn more about using the app here >

Please note: this program is subject to change. 

HOW TO NAVIGATE THE PROGRAM

The WILD11 program is hosted through our mobile app provider, CrowdCompass. Delegates can peruse sessions by day, filter by congress track names, session tags, and search for specific keywords. Searching for sessions, speakers, or other content can be carried out these ways:

    1. Search the Program: click the “Search the Program” icon on the left side of the page to search the entire program for content like speaker names, session titles, organizations, events, and more. This is the easiest way to search for content.
    2. Search for content by day: click the “Program” icon, type in your desired search term, and navigate to the day of your choice to find the session or speaker you are looking for. Please note that searching for content via the “Program” icon requires you to search by individual day, not by the entire program.
    3. Search by speaker name: click the “Speaker” icon, and type in the name of the speaker you are looking for.

Click the Schedule tab below to learn how the congress is structured each day.

View the full program here >

The World Wilderness Congress is unique among global environmental events because it offers the public a chance to influence international conservation priorities. Congress delegates come from all sectors of society and all corners of the world to meet and decide upon actions that help define the wilderness movement for years to come.

Below you will find a few quick facts about what to expect at the 11th World Wilderness Congress (WILD11).

LOCATION 

 Jaipur, Rajasthan, India — Birla Convention Centre

NUMBER OF EXPECTED DELEGATES

1,500 or more from approximately 60 nations

PRE & POST TOURS

Nature, Cultural, and Conservation tours locally and throughout the region

REGISTRATION

Register today! Updated prices and details are available here.

View the full program here >

19 March — Official Opening

Plenary begins at 1200 noon, with sessions all afternoon followed by an evening welcome reception.

20-21 March — Global Gathering 

The Global Gathering is open to all delegates and sets the agenda of the Congress. Here, delegates will hear from and interact with some of conservation’s biggest thinkers as they present bold visions to advance the protection of wildlife and wild places. All plenary sessions will take place during the day, with a choice of events in evenings.

Plenaries are a combination of:

  • Keynote addresses on a specific subject and its outcomes, global, national, cultural. Only in extremely special cases are they longer than 15-20 minutes. Many, but not all, are followed by a Q&A session.
  • Panels on an array of examples/demonstrations on a specific topic that consist of 3-4 presentations of 10 minutes each, followed by Q&A.
  • There will be a close interchange between the best of the Symposium (concurrent sessions) and the Plenary Sessions.
  • Cultural moments, events, and themes.

23, 24, 25, 26 March — Convention of Delegates

On these days, delegates meet in both plenary and working sessions to share information, problem-solve, and build unity across cultural, and political boundaries.

23, 24, 25 March

Mornings — Plenary Sessions

Afternoons — Science and Stewardship Symposium (concurrent sessions), workshops, and more.

Evenings — choice of events, cultural, film festival, etc.

26 March

GENERAL ASSEMBLY — On the final day, delegates reconvene to adopt WILD11’s resolutions and set the global wilderness conservation agenda for the next 4-5 years.  

Morning and afternoon — All plenary sessions, final outcomes, resolution adoptions, closing celebrity speakers, closing cultural evening.

Other events at WILD11

19-26 March — Central Park (immediately adjacent to the Birla) Young Environmentalist Programme: thousands of school children and Congress delegates will participate in daily programmes centered around environmental education, films, displays, and workshops.

19-26 March — WILD11 Expo of commercial, NGO, governmental, artistic, educational, artisanal initiatives. Display areas and pavilions are available for rental in the Expo Centre on two floors inside the Birla Convention Centre. (These are available on a cost basis to non-commercial initiatives, NGOs and bona fide educational institutions.) Another specific aspect of the WILD11 Expo is the WILD Cities Tent, featuring numerous examples of cities and urban areas working to promote wildness values such as biodiversity, wildlife friendly habitat, natural water features, and natural quiet zones. This will be showcased in a very large traditional, colourful Rajasthani tent on the grounds of Birla immediately adjacent to the main conference centre. There will also be art installations, a film festival, and photography exhibitions in the main conference centre and elsewhere. All of this is open to the public as well as delegates. Rental details will be available on-line in November 2019.

22 March, Sunday — A WILD Day: Local tours, shopping, associated meetings.

If specific invitations are required for a delegate or invitee to use for visa, travel or other purposes, they can be requested from info@wild11.org. In the subject line please enter “Request for invitation.”  Include in the email your name, the gender with which you identify with, age, address, organization/community affiliation, passport number, and nationality.

Pre and Post-Congress

Numerous training, capacity-building, and peer-group meetings will be held in the several days before and after WILD11.

View the full program here >

Special Sessions are special offerings that are longer than the typical sessions and incorporate a mixture of presentations, discussions, workshops, and trainings.

WildSpeak India

WildSpeak at WILD11

The International League of Conservation Photographers (iLCP) will present WildSpeak India during WILD11, March 23-25, 2020; a three-day conservation photography symposium. WildSpeak India will focus on visual storytelling as a tool to inspire empathy and action for conservation, and it will feature individual and group presentations from some of the most renowned conservation photographers, filmmakers and experts in the world including live presentations, workshops, exhibits, film screenings and more.

Programming will include four major themes:

  1. India Through a Wild Lens – Presentations on the rich biodiversity, nature and wildlife of India with a special focus on threatened and endangered species;
  2. Ethics, Empathy, and the Environment – Presentations will highlight ethical issues facing wildlife photographers and filmmakers including balancing the need to make high quality, compelling images and negatively impacting their subjects. For example, drones can be used to get strong storytelling visuals but many do not know the stress it can put on an animal.
  3. Sustainability: Pros and Conservation – These sessions will look at myths and realities of widely-held views on “sustainable” solutions.
  4. Capacity-Building Workshops – These workshops, led by our Fellows and Affiliates, and leading experts based in India, will help to teach and inspire young Indian photographers and filmmakers to pursue careers in professional photography and filmmaking to support conservation.

RSVP here

 


 

Writers’ Sessions at WILD11

There will be three days of sessions by and about writing led by 18 speakers. The programs will be held Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday March 23, 24, 25, 2020 in the afternoon from 2:00 to 5:00 pm. There have been writer’s sessions at WILD8 (Alaska), WILD9 (Merida, Mexico) and WILD10 (Salamanca, Spain) with leaders from around the world. The writers’ sessions from this Congress will be focused on Asian writers. The sessions are organized by the Sanctuary Nature Foundation, the Fulcrum Group and the International League of Conservation Writers (ILCW).

In addition to the writing sessions, the 8th Wilderness Writing Award will be presented to an author (yet to be named) for a lifetime body of work. The award is sponsored by the WILD Foundation, Fulcrum Group, and the International League of Conservation Writers. More details will be posted as they are available.

RSVP here

 


 

Intergovernmental Wilderness and Wild & Scenic Rivers Seminar

The Pre-congress Intergovernmental Wilderness and Wild & Scenic River Seminar will take place March 16-18, 2020 in Ranthambhore National Park. The seminar is designed to bring protected area managers and stewardship partners together to discuss practical, science-based and field-tested approaches to steward wild places and protected areas. Topics covered include: wilderness and wild and scenic river protection principles and systems; an overview of allocation and stewardship guidance for IUCN Protected Area categories (particularly 1b); planning frameworks and techniques for managing visitor use in protected areas; development of wilderness and wild and scenic river management plans; and importance of collaborative citizen participation.

Learn more here >

View sessions sorted by track name >

Visions for the Wild

Big visions about how we co-exist with wilderness are needed to propel conservation forward into the future. Topics include Nature Needs Half, primary forests, World Heritage, the Global Deal for Nature, and the role of nature-based solutions for the survival of humanity.

Protecting and Restoring Wildlife & Wild Places

Defending the wild has never been as relevant as it is today in a world where critical wild nature shortages exacerbate the climate emergency and extinction crisis.  Protecting land, marine and freshwater, wildlife and wild nature, in conjunction with determined rewilding efforts can reduce these global threats and stabilize Earth’s life support systems.

Wilderness Inventory & Monitoring

Assessing what remains of wild life and wild nature is the foundation for next steps and realistic solutions. Scientists and practitioners will share experiences and best practice for mapping wild places, monitoring wildlife, connecting protected areas, and preserving the ecological integrity of large landscapes.

Wilderness Designation & Stewardship

How do we know what is wild and what we should prioritize for protection? Implementing the IUCN Category 1b Guidelines is fraught with challenges, especially in a changing climate and landscape. This section will offer clarifying insights and valuable suggestions dealing with the role of fire, natural processes, and wildlife crime.

Human Relationship with Wilderness

Humans are linked with nature – existentially, emotionally, spiritually, and economically. The better we understand our position in the web of life, the more we will effortlessly value and respect nature. WILD11 will interactively explore the multi-faceted dimensions of our relationship with nature.

Winning Hearts and Minds

Implementing scientific recommendations is only possible through political will. Learning how to influence and win hearts and minds is a critical component of successful conservation initiatives. Discover new insights from successful initiatives around the world that inspire new action for wild nature.

Food, Agriculture, and Fisheries

Sustainable lifestyles need sustainable agricultural systems. The integrity of Earth’s wild ecology depends upon radically new approaches to food production, starting with farms and fisheries. How we produce, what we consume, and when we implement these solutions are of extreme relevance to the preservation of a wild Earth.

Economics & Finance

Many assume that the market is the best tool for the efficient allocation of resources. But market failures remain frequent, occurring when the cost of product is not accurately reflected in its price. Discovering how to wield markets for the good of wild nature and humanity is crucial for the preservation of life on Earth. Experts  from banking, business, and the public sectors will consider these questions as they map out a path towards a regenerative future for nature.

Business & Conservation

Entrepreneurs from Asia, Europe and the USA showcase best practices for addressing the climate emergency, extinction crisis, and pollution.

Special Sessions

These are special offerings that are longer than the typical sessions and incorporate a mixture of presentations, discussions, workshops, and trainings.

FOR WILD11 PRESENTERS

WILD11 strives for maximum impact for our presenters and their important subjects and solutions. To assist this we created “Powerful Storytelling Hacks”, a custom manual to assist presenters and delegates in maximizing their message. Please read, and feel free to download!

NOTE ON INTERGENERATIONAL DIVERSITY:

Young leaders are a foundational programmatic element of the World Wilderness Congress, not a separate stream or add-on. We strive to include young conservation leaders on all panels and committees because doing so is right and practical. It will be the youth, after all, who will be responsible for achieving conservation’s present day ambitions; they will also be the ones who bear the consequences for today’s inaction.

For these reasons, you will not see any one panel or call-to-action pointing specifically at youth because youth are included in all leadership aspects of this international gathering and youth voices are built into every session.

We encourage all conservation leaders, regardless of age or experience, to submit their work and ideas to WILD11. We commit to including a diverse array of participants in each and every programmatic element of WILD11. Thank you for your initiative and commitment to a wild Earth.