The IUCN World Conservation Congress 2025, Abu Dhabi, 9-15 October, was a landmark moment for nature. Over 10,000 participants from 189 countries came together across more than 1,000 events, sessions, and exhibits, sharing bold ideas, groundbreaking commitments, and inspiring innovations that will shape conservation for decades to come.
Council
The Members Assembly elected IUCN’s leadership for the next four years. H.E. Razan Al Mubarak will serve a second term as IUCN President, alongside newly elected leaders across IUCN’s Commissions and Council.
Each region is represented by elected Regional Councillors, bringing together a rich tapestry of experience, expertise, and environmental leadership to guide IUCN’s policy direction and governance. We congratulate the elected Regional Councillors for Eastern Europe and Central Asia:
 Ruben Khachatryan, Armenia |  Diana Garlytska, Ukraine |  John Smaranda, Romania |
At the core of IUCN’s scientific work are its seven expert Commissions, global networks of volunteers whose knowledge shapes conservation policy worldwide. At the IUCN Congress, Members elected and renewed Commission leadership. Several Regional Vice-Chair positions remain open, offering opportunities for greater engagement of the regional experts in the coming term.
Armenia has joined IUCN as a State Member, marking an important step in strengthening regional engagement. In parallel, the IUCN Council has formally recognised the establishment of the National Committee of IUCN Members in Albania, the second such committee in the region, which aims to enhance collaboration, coordination and engagement among IUCN Members at the national level. In addition, the Europe, North and Central Asia Interregional Committee (ICENCA), the only officially recognised Interregional Committee of IUCN Members, has been active in the region since 2022, further supporting cooperation across countries and sub-regions.
Motions
Motions are the mechanism by which IUCN Members influence third parties and guide the policy and Programme of IUCN. As the only international conservation forum that brings governments, civil society and indigenous peoples’ organisations to the same table, the IUCN Members’ Assembly carries a powerful mandate. Members vote to approve motions, and once adopted, they become Resolutions and Recommendations, and therefore the body of IUCN’s general policy.
IUCN Congress 2025 saw the adoption of 144 Motions, including one that recognises ecocide as a crime, another that approve the IUCN policy on synthetic biology in relation to nature conservation, two that mandate policy development on, respectively, geoengineering to tackle climate change and on the use of artificial intelligence in conservation, and several that elevate Indigenous stewardship of nature and the central role of Indigenous leadership, knowledge and languages.
Among the Motions particularly relevant for the region are the following:
Resolutions are expected to be implemented through a One Programme approach, involving IUCN Members, the Secretariat and Commissions working together. Some actions are carried out through existing projects, while many require additional funding and partnerships. Progress is reviewed every year. IUCN Members are responsible for taking action on the resolutions they support, contributing to progress reports, and supporting implementation by others. Members, Commissions and the Secretariat report on activities undertaken, results achieved, and challenges faced. The Secretariat compiles these inputs into annual progress reports that show how each resolution is advancing.
Regional Members meeting in Abu Dhabi
IUCN Members have voted to adopt a new 20-year Strategic Vision and four-year Programme to guide the Union’s work in the lead up to 2030.
Participation from Eastern Europe and Central Asia at the IUCN Congress was strong, with 37 member organisations represented across 15 countries, equivalent to 79% of the region’s membership. This level of engagement underlines the region’s active role in shaping the global conservation agenda.
To explore how IUCN’s newly adopted 20-year Strategic Vision and four-year Programme can be translated into action, Members from Eastern Europe and Central Asia came together to exchange perspectives, align on regional priorities, and share how their ongoing and planned initiatives will contribute across the region.
We also took the opportunity to reflect on the quadrennium from Marseille to Abu Dhabi, a period for IUCN ECARO marked by strengthened partnerships, increased recognition and deeper regional engagement. Over these years, we expanded our presence across the region and advanced the implementation of the Nature 2030 Programme.
Through this exchange, Members collectively identified and prioritised Programme outputs requiring the most urgent attention in the region, spanning both the Delivering Conservation at Scale component and the Eight Transformational Outputs of the Programme.
| Priority Programme Outputs to deliver just and equitable conservation at scale | Priority Programme Outputs to deliver the Eight Global Transformations for nature and people |
- Protected and conserved areas
- Assessing the status of biodiversity
- Preventing nature crime
- Fostering culture and youth engagement
- Nature-based Education
| - Scaling up Nature-based Solutions
- Establishing biodiversity metrics for a nature-positive transition
- Fostering sustainable food and agricultural systems
- Ensuring freshwater security and stewardship
- Re-aligning economic and financial systems
|
Together for Nature Pavilion
The Together for Nature – IDEA Campaign & IUCN ENCA (Europe, North and Central Asia) Pavilion served as a vibrant hub, bringing together IUCN Members, experts, governments, youth, the private sector and partners from across Europe, Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia. Through a curated programme of discussions, exchanges and networking events, the Pavilion highlighted regional biodiversity priorities, climate resilience and sustainable development, as well as conservation knowledge, tools and standards that link global frameworks with regional action and cross-border cooperation.
Over the course of the Congress week, the Pavilion hosted 22 sessions with more than 70 speakers from civil society, government, science, business and youth networks. Covering all five Congress themes and a wide range of geographies and ecosystems, discussions spanned biodiversity and climate resilience, ethics and technology, mental health and careers in conservation, reflecting the many dimensions of working together for nature.
Beyond the formal programme, the Pavilion became a welcoming meeting place for networking, partnership building and reconnecting with colleagues and friends, including a dedicated evening gathering of IUCN Members from Eastern Europe and Central Asia.
We are grateful to all who joined us and helped make this collective effort possible, with particular appreciation to our co-hosts, IDEA Campaign, an IUCN Member from Azerbaijan.
