Born Free to attend IUCN World Conservation Congress
Our Policy team will be supporting motions to improve wildlife conservation and welfare standards at the global Congress.
(c) Amanda Harwood
Every four years, the global nature conservation community converges at the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN)’s World Conservation Congress. The Congress provides a rare opportunity for governments, wildlife protection organisations, conservation scientists, Indigenous Peoples, businesses and civil society to discuss and agree a shared agenda for protecting life on Earth.
This year, the Congress will take place from 9 to 15 October in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
Founded in 1948, the IUCN has become the largest global nature conservation community and is widely considered an authority on the status of the natural world and the measures needed to safeguard it.
Its mission is to “influence, encourage and assist societies throughout the world to conserve nature and to ensure that any use of natural resources is equitable and ecologically sustainable“. While it isn’t officially a law-making entity, the positions it takes and the information it generates wield significant influence over multilateral biodiversity forums and national governments, and can lead to legislative and policy change.
Born Free became an IUCN member in 2016 in order to advocate for wildlife protection and compassionate conservation within the wider conservation community. We will be present at the Congress, where we will be pushing for the adoption of some key motions that will guide the direction of the IUCN over the coming years.
What is the World Conservation Congress?
The World Conservation Congress is expected to attract more than 10,000 in-person delegates from over 160 countries. Perhaps ten times that number will participate online.
The Congress is composed of three core elements:
- A Forum (9–12 October) where delegates present research, host thematic sessions, workshops, dialogues and networking events.
- An Exhibition (9–13 October), open to participants and the general public, where organisations display innovations, projects, technologies and outreach materials.
- The Members’ Assembly (13–15 October), at which IUCN member organisations, including Born Free, debate and vote on motions, amendments, and policies that guide the IUCN’s direction and global conservation priorities.
The outcome of the Members’ Assembly can influence international conservation priorities, national policies, and the allocation of funding for nature conservation, for years to come.
Born Free’s role and ambitions
Over the months leading up to the Congress, Born Free has been involved in submitting and co-sponsoring key motions for consideration at the Congress.
(c) Aaron Gekoski / Born Free
Some have already been voted on in advance and will be adopted as IUCN Resolutions at the Members’ Assembly. These include measures to introduce welfare standards for wild animals used in tourism, mobilise the role of wild animals in ecosystems as a climate solution, update IUCN’s policy on the sustainable use of wild living resources, and actions to avert the extinction of Rice’s whale (a critically endangered species of baleen whale endemic to the Gulf of Mexico).
Other motions will be debated and their fate determined at the Members’ Assembly in Abu Dhabi. These include our motion on ‘longevity conservation’ calling for the recognition of the importance of older, wiser animals within populations who are often regarded as ‘redundant’ and are targeted for removal by hunters or wildlife managers.
They also include motions we co-sponsored on recognising the crime of ecocide and addressing the trade in wild animals as pets. And, we’re also supporting ‘new and urgent’ motion concerning the decline of multilateralism, and the killing of wolves in Switzerland.
Born Free will also be hosting and engaging in forum sessions on wildlife trade, longevity conservation, human-wildlife coexistence, and species recovery strategies.
Our goal is to ensure that decisions made at the Congress reflect the need to protect and recover wildlife populations, while ensuring the welfare of individual animals.
Why the 2025 Congress is especially vital
The world has less than five years to meet the key goals and targets agreed under the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and the Sustainable Development Goals.
The World Conservation Congress offers a rare opportunity to raise ambition among conservation colleagues, mobilise finance, share innovation, and align partners around nature-positive solutions to the problems we face.
The Congress also emphasises equity, innovation, and transformative change. Key themes include scaling resilient conservation, reducing climate risk, equitable benefit sharing, nature-positive economies, and progressive leadership.
At a time of crisis for nature and wildlife, the Congress acts as a bridge between science, policy and public awareness, and a chance to bring our message to conservation practitioners, policy-makers, business leaders and young people.
We aim to make the most of this rare opportunity.
To find out more, visit https://iucncongress2025.org/ and keep checking our news page for the latest updates from the conference.