Conservation Careers: Influencing global decisions for a better planet – Clement Metivier, Acting Head of International Advocacy

Next up in our conservation careers series we discover the ins and outs of International Advocacy, as told by Clement Metivier, head of the International Advocacy team here at WWF-UK. The team sits under the newly formed department of Conservation, Advocacy and Policy – a group of passionate people dedicated to creating change for our planet!??

Since joining WWF almost 5 years ago in the summer of 2019, Clement has influenced a breadth of conferences and meetings with international leaders to influence global decision making on environmental issues. Fun fact: Clement moved to the UK for this job but had never really thought about living here before that.

What does a typical day doing your job look like? ??

International advocacy is an exciting area that includes a wide range of tasks and stakeholders. My role at WWF-UK involves influencing international processes and decisions about biodiversity loss and climate change. This means directly engaging with governments, to push them to adopt stronger decisions globally, and hold them to account for the delivery of their promises made about environmental issues.?

My job is fast paced, challenging, but also incredibly rewarding at times. I get to formulate asks for governments based on the latest science and evidence, collaborate with WWF colleagues and non-government organisations from all over the world to agree on shared messages and joint tactics, and ultimately try to shape governments’ positions and policies about climate and biodiversity on the global stage.??

I have the privilege of influencing United Nations processes, such as the international negotiations on climate change and on biodiversity. This means that I attend international conferences and meetings, which is where important decisions are made, and where a global organisation like WWF can make a difference.??

Tell us about something you're currently working on.

Over the past couple of years, my main priority has been to better-integrate the issue of food in the global negotiations on climate change. The way we produce and consume food is responsible for around one-third of global greenhouse gas emissions, and agriculture is highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. With colleagues at WWF and many other civil society organisations across the world, I built strong relationships with more than 30 governments to ensure that the decisions they make about climate change support the transition towards healthy and sustainable food systems for all. Thanks to those efforts, we managed to put food “on the menu” at two major climate summits in Egypt in 2022 and in the United Arab Emirates last year. The landmark agreement adopted by all governments in Dubai last year mentions for the first time the importance of resilient food systems to adapt to the impacts of the climate crisis. This is an ask WWF developed and disseminated, so it was great to see governments taking it on board.?

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How did you get into advocacy, within the environmental sector??

It might be very cheesy to say, but I have always wanted to dedicate my career to making the world a better place. I started becoming interested in environmental issues at university, where I decided to pursue a degree in international affairs and environmental policy. Around 2015, I was involved in the massive effort that led to the adoption of the landmark Paris Agreement on climate change, as a youth activist and then working for the French government. This agreement really influenced my career, which has since then revolved around influencing decision-makers and policymakers about environmental issues.?

When I had the opportunity to join WWF-UK in 2019 to support the equivalent of the Paris Agreement, but for nature, I had to jump in! This new international agreement for nature was supposed to be finalised in 2020, but because of the pandemic, I had to work on shaping it for two additional years, until it was adopted in late 2022 under the name “Global Biodiversity Framework”. International advocacy is always unpredictable!?

If you could give one piece of advice to someone looking to apply for a similar role, what would you say???

Influencing international processes and decisions on climate and biodiversity is definitely a niche area! It requires interpersonal skills to build trust with governments, the capacity to listen to feedback and constantly adjust priorities, and some expertise to understand complex United Nations negotiations, which are for example full of acronyms (did you know that in my job, CBD means “Convention on Biological Diversity”, and a COP is a “Conference of the Parties” – basically a global conference where governments get together to strengthen action on a specific issue like climate change).?

What really helped me in following this career path was to volunteer in a great youth-led organisation called CliMates while I was at university. This allowed me to meet other young environmental activists with similar interests, get immersed in my first international meetings on climate change, and develop the skillset required to raise awareness about environmental issues, influence senior decision makers, and collaborate effectively with diverse groups and organisations from all around the world.???

Finally, what gives you hope in our mission to bring our world back to life???

I definitely feel anxious about the state of the planet, and am often outraged at governments for inadequately tackling climate change and biodiversity loss. That being said, I am also energised when I witness the groundswell of support for stronger action that benefits climate, nature, and people. Young people, smallholder farmers, Indigenous Peoples and local communities, environmental activists - there are many groups putting pressure on governments and corporations, already implementing transformative solutions, and demonstrating at their own scale that the world we need is within reach – we just need to all push in the same direction and use all levers, from local to global.???