EDITORIAL
Dear CIC Members and Friends, Hunting renders a service to society. It is our job to promote this fact; to make the public understand that hunting adds value to both biodiversity and wildlife conservation. This vision is a core theme that we will look to focus on during my tenure as the newly appointed President of the CIC. We are all aware of the immense pressure that hunting and sustainable use is under at the moment. As we addressed during the General Assembly, a large part of this is due to the alienation from nature that has sadly seeped into large parts of society. At the same time, we are seeing many environmental conventions and institutions pushing for “nature-based solutions” to our global problems. This means that we are looking to protect and restore natural areas in ways that also provide solutions to our societal challenges. By providing services to society, while supporting countless livelihoods, hunting is a nature-based solution that is critical to our current way of life. Hunters manage and protect habitats, aid in the fight against poaching, and contribute directly to the restoration of wildlife populations.
While many of us already know these things to be a fact, unfortunately this is not the case for the majority of the public. How can we address this? A key factor will be to shine a spotlight on the rural areas that benefit from hunting activities, while at the same time making alliances with other organisations working in this field so that we can learn from and support one another. And with that in mind, I warmly welcome you to this special edition of the CIC Magazine. This magazine focuses on the activities that took place during the 67th General Assembly in Budapest, and of course the One with Nature - World of Hunting and Nature exhibition. The theme for the General Assembly - Rural Voices, Global Responsibilities - was one that serves as an excellent starting point for this new chapter for the CIC. I hope you will enjoy and gain some insight from our coverage of all the exciting events that took place in Budapest during September and October. I wish all of you a wonderful 2022 next year, and a warm Christmas with your families.
Philippe Harmer President of the CIC 5
