Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, 15 October 2025 (IUCN) – The IUCN World Conservation Congress concluded today in Abu Dhabi, UAE, setting the vision for nature conservation for the next 20 years.
Held for the first time in the UAE, the Congress took place under the generous patronage of the President of the United Arab Emirates, His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
The IUCN Congress 2025 brought together over 10,000 participants, both in person and online, and featured the first-ever Global Summit of Indigenous Peoples and Nature. The Congress convened government decision-makers, civil society representatives, indigenous organizations, academia, and business leaders for more than 1,000 events aimed at shaping the conservation and sustainable development agenda for the coming decades.
Members approved the 20-year Strategic Vision and a new program for the next four-year cycle. Her Excellency Razan Khalifa Al Mubarak will serve a second term as President of the Union alongside newly elected members of the IUCN Commissions and Council.
She stated: “Our task is not easy, but it is essential: bridging the gaps between science and policy, between climate and biodiversity, between people and the planet itself. To remind the world that nature is not just a victim of our excesses, but a powerful ally in our survival… Let us leave Abu Dhabi confident that what unites us is far greater than what divides us: our shared belief in the resilience of life itself.”
Speaking at the closing ceremony, IUCN Director General Dr. Grethel Aguilar said: “This Congress demonstrates the power of collaboration, teamwork, and commitment… From Abu Dhabi, we send a clear and united message. We are a Union determined to reverse the trend. Let us leave this Congress with renewed hope and determination: to defend life, act for nature, and build a future where people and the planet thrive together.”
With only five years remaining to achieve the 2030 targets outlined in the Global Biodiversity Framework, the Paris Agreement, and the Sustainable Development Goals, the Abu Dhabi Congress urged the global community to increase ambition and intensify collective efforts to implement transformative, collaborative solutions that benefit both people and nature. Participants emphasized the need to leverage current momentum to strengthen synergies among multilateral environmental agreements and to ensure bold, coordinated action toward a net-zero, resilient, and nature-positive future at COP30 in Belém and beyond.
Among the 148 resolutions adopted by IUCN Members at the Assembly were the first policy on synthetic biology in relation to nature conservation, a motion recognizing ecocide as a crime, and measures to strengthen governance and inclusion.
The Members’ Assembly is the Union’s supreme decision-making body, bringing together IUCN Members to debate and set environmental policies, approve the IUCN Program, and elect the Council and President of the Union.
Final resolutions and recommendations from the IUCN Congress 2025 are available here. Voting results are available here.
Several high-impact announcements and commitments were made to strengthen global conservation efforts. The Abu Dhabi Call to Action urges the global community, under IUCN leadership, to accelerate urgent and practical actions in five key areas: reaffirm nature as the foundation of well-being, strengthen multilateralism, ensure justice and inclusion, advance knowledge and innovation, and increase resources for nature and climate action. It lays out a collective vision for transformative change, uniting governments, communities, and sectors to achieve a just, resilient, and nature-positive future for people and the planet.
During the Congress, IUCN welcomed over 100 new Members into the Union, including six states: Armenia, Tajikistan, the Marshall Islands, Gabon, Tuvalu, and Zimbabwe.
Several global and Union-wide initiatives were announced, including the selection of the Republic of Panama to host the next IUCN World Congress on Protected and Conserved Areas in September 2027, the first global forum to shape the agenda for protected and conserved areas.
The IUCN Congress 2025 was certified in accordance with ISO 20121:2024, recognizing its commitment to ensuring all aspects of the Congress adhered to rigorous sustainability standards.
Key scientific announcements included the latest update of the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species™, revealing increasing threats to Arctic seals due to climate change. Another assessment identified nearly 100 additional wild bee species in Europe as threatened. IUCN also released the 4th World Heritage Outlook report, showing that climate change threatens 43% of natural World Heritage sites.
Source: uicn
