Today's Edition
ISIDORA CIRIC (ABU DHABI)
The 2025 IUCN World Conservation Congress opened in Abu Dhabi on Thursday with urgent calls to turn environmental pledges into results, as leaders and delegates from more than 140 countries gathered for the union’s first-ever meeting in the Gulf region.
Hosted under the theme “Powering Transformative Conservation”, the Congress comes at a moment of rising planetary stress and faltering commitments. With just five years left to deliver on the Paris Agreement, the Sustainable Development Goals and the Global Biodiversity Framework, speakers pressed the international community to replace caution with courage and focus on unity, urgency, and ambition.
President Surangel Whipps Jr. of Palau opened his remarks by warning that the world stands at “a critical juncture” halfway to the 2030 agenda, with shrinking resources and wavering commitments.
He described the UAE’s “commitment to sustainability, innovation and partnership” as a model for others, adding that its support had helped make possible the “Unlocking Blue Pacific Prosperity” initiative announced at COP28, which aims to raise $500 million for Pacific-led ocean conservation by 2030.
Drawing on Palau’s traditional practice of the “bul”, a wise pause that lets nature recover, he called for balance between people and planet and pressed for a moratorium on deep-sea mining, which he said risks biodiversity loss, carbon disruption, and damage to fisheries.
“The decisions that we make here will shape our future. So let's draw inspiration from the UAE leadership, from the Pacific's wisdom, and from the courage of communities around the world,” the President of Palau added.
Echoing this, Her Royal Highness Princess Lalla Hasnaa of Morocco saluted the UAE’s commitment to advancing the global environmental agenda, and said its hosting of the Congress reflected “the spirit of international cooperation, which is so greatly needed”.
She added that the invitation extended by President His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan to King Mohammed VI of Morocco demonstrated “the friendship and the spirit of companionship” that unites the two nations.
Discussing the mechanisms for change, Princess Lalla stressed that biodiversity protection depends on education and mobilisation grounded in local knowledge — because communities closest to ecosystems often hold the craft that keeps use within limits.
Technology, she added, could support this work, but only if guided by the youth and used with responsibility and purpose.
“AI can help us better understand ecosystems, anticipate risks, and design solutions that were previously out of reach,” Princess Laila said.
“But it's you, the youth, who will ensure these tools are used ethically, inclusively and in the service of nature and humanity. With the strength of the future generations, especially in Africa, we can build a future where humanity and nature thrive as one,” she added.
Welcoming delegates, Dr. Amna bint Abdullah Al Dahak, Minister of Climate Change and Environment, said the presence of so many countries showed that protecting the planet is “a human responsibility before anything else”.
Citing the legacy of the UAE’s Founding Father, the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, she said the UAE sees people and nature as partners and has moved quickly to translate that view into policy and investment — both at home and abroad.
She pointed to a national network of 49 protected areas that now covers a quarter of the country; programmes to restore habitats and conserve threatened species; efforts to cut pollution and clean up oceans; and initiatives to secure water resources, including the Mohamed Bin Zayed Water Initiative and the UAE Alliance for Climate Action.
Razan Khalifa Al Mubarak, IUCN President and Special Envoy of the Minister of Foreign Affairs for Nature, expressed gratitude to His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed for his “personal commitment to nature and its guardians”.
Al Mubarak described the Congress as a decisive moment for IUCN’s 1,400 member organisations and its global community of 18,000 experts, calling on them to rise to the scale of the challenges ahead.
“We understand how deeply our lives are dependent on nature. Yet, we continue to act as if we are not part of nature. This Congress is our opportunity to turn understanding into unity and unity into action,” she said.
Reflecting on the gap between international pledges and real-world outcomes, Al Mubarak challenged delegates to consider whether the pace and scale of global action were moving fast enough.
“Are we restoring ecosystems at the scale that nature demands? Are finance and technology reaching the people on the front lines? Our answers must not only be honest, but they have to be ambitious, because the next four years will determine whether these promises become reality.”
Quoting the late Dr. Jane Goodall, Al Mubarak urged “clarity over complacency” and “cooperation over division”.
“Let this Congress light the path to 2030, and beyond. Let it be the moment the world's union for nature rose to meet the challenges of its time together with urgency and resolve,” she added.
The speeches were followed by a high-level panel moderated by IUCN Director-General Dr. Grethel Aguilar.
Over the coming days, the Congress will continue with a series of summits on youth, business, philanthropy, Indigenous leadership and oceans, alongside the Members’ Assembly, where more than 40 motions will be debated and voted on.
