The next IUCN World Conservation Congress will be held from Thursday 9 to Wednesday 15 October 2025 in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, following the IUCN Council’s selection of the United Arab Emirates as the host country. The selection is based on a rigorous evaluation process of the Emirates’ candidature.
“We are pleased to announce that the United Arab Emirates will host the next IUCN World Conservation Congress, the largest international gathering of environmentalists,” says IUCN President Razan Al Mubarak. “The IUCN Congress provides a unique opportunity for the global community to collectively address the triple planetary crises of pollution, biodiversity loss and climate change threatening lives and livelihoods around the world. The Congress will also set the course towards achieving the goals set out in the Global Biodiversity Framework.”
Held every four years, the IUCN Congress is the world’s largest conservation event. It brings together leaders from government, civil society, Indigenous peoples’ organisations, business and academia to determine the world’s most pressing environmental and development challenges, and actions to address them.
IUCN has a long-standing collaboration with the United Arab Emirates, with seven IUCN Member organisations and the National Committee of the United Arab Emirates based there. The country is home to 50 scientific and policy experts who are members of IUCN Commissions.
Backing from a broad range of governmental authorities and civil society organisations to host a sustainable Congress in a versatile venue, the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Center (ADNEC), supported the selection of the United Arab Emirates.
The IUCN Congress will address ways to deliver the Global Biodiversity Framework, adopted by over 190 countries last December. The Framework comprises targets to scale up the conservation of ecosystems, species and genetic diversity.
The last IUCN World Conservation Congress, held in 2021 in Marseille, France, was attended by almost 6,000 people on site and over 3,500 participants online. Over 25,000 members of the general public also visited the Exhibition and the Espaces Generations Nature. IUCN’s more than 1,500 Members adopted 148 resolutions and recommendations, such as a call to protect 80% of the Amazon by 2025, to halt deep-sea mining across the oceans, and for the global community to adopt an ambitious One Health approach. The IUCN Climate Crisis Commission was also established.
This piece was prepared online by Panuruji Kenta, Publisher, SEVENSEAS Media