“Sustainable Interpreters”
at the IUCN World Conservation Congress in Barcelona
AIIC Leads By Example
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The interpreters working at the IUCN World Conservation Congress will be participating in a SUSTAINABLE Congress, an aspect that has been kept in focus at every stage of the project.
When Danielle GREE, the member for Spain of the consultant interpreters network CALLIOPE, submitted her quote for the provision of simultaneous interpretation services at the event, she offered not only top quality interpreters (the IUCN itself specified all the interpreters should be members of AIIC, the International Association of Conference Interpreters), she also stressed that her quote itself constituted a positive contribution to holding a sustainable congress.
Of the 36-strong interpretation team earmarked for the Congress Danielle offered a maximum number of local interpreters, minimizing travel requirements and the team’s carbon footprint. Only nine of the 36 selfemployed professionals live outside Catalunya and Danielle specifically chose colleagues from Madrid and Toulouse so they could travel to Barcelona by train, avoiding air travel and cutting CO2 emissions. A passenger flying from Madrid to Barcelona emits 70 kg of CO2, while for AVE (high speed rail) passengers that figure is cut to only 14 kg.
Another significant contribution to sustainability is a userfriendly “virtual hard disk”, a secure-entry briefcase created by CALLIOPE on its website and allowing each interpreter access via a password. The system contains congress documentation as well as interpreters’ assignments and the agenda for congress sessions. It means interpreters can access information before and during the Congress and download all documents onto their laptops, avoiding the need to print reams of documentation, saving paper and ultimately trees.
When registering for the Congress many of the interpreters opted to contribute, directly or through the organisation, to the IUCN Carbon Offset Fund and many will be travelling to the event daily by bicycle, underscoring their commitment to the environment. And interpreters coming from outside Catalunya will be travelling light, a practice common in the profession where “hand luggage only” is the norm. Last but not least, the interpretation team will be scrupulously applying IUCN guidelines recommending purchasing local products, which includes savouring delicacies like “turron”, a traditional local sweet, as well as “pan con tomate” and those renowned Catalan fine wines!
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