From the ground up: reflections from IUCN World Conservation Congress 2025

How the IUCN Congress put nature at the centre of climate action 

From the outset, the Congress prioritised the themes of Scaling Up Resilient Conservation Action and Reducing Climate Overshoot Risks. By framing biodiversity loss and climate change not as separate issues but as one interconnected planetary crisis, the agenda set a clear tone. This reframing paved the way for discussions on locally led, nature-based adaptation, lifting it from the margins to a foundational strategy in resilience planning. A recurring message echoed throughout: nature's role in adaptation is not a luxury add-on. Rather, healthy ecosystems are central to building community resilience. 

In recognition of the need to move towards implementation, IUCN renamed its Climate Crisis Commission to the Climate Action Commission (Motion 121), signalling a shift to more proactive, solutions-driven work. Correspondingly, a series of motions were approved that link biodiversity’s role in promoting climate resilience, including, but not limited to:  

These motions represent a significant advance in linking the two interconnected crises and mark a shift in both the global political environment and development agendas and the tangible actions on the ground.  

Where communities lead: Nature-based CBA in practice 

Across the Congress, a wide range of nature-based approaches were discussed as pathways to increase climate resilience. Among these, two approaches stood out: Community-based Adaptation (CBA) and Nature-based Solutions (NbS). Both are proven methods, central to turning global commitments into real, lived resilience. Given IUCN’s long-standing work across the climate-nature-people nexus, diving deeper into how these approaches complement each other helps illuminate where the most promising opportunities and the most pressing gaps now lie. 

The beating heart of these discussions came on the final day of the conference exhibition, in the CBAScale+ project event, Nature’s Role in Community-based Adaptation. The fruitful discussions drew several lessons about the opportunities and barriers to delivering high-quality Nature-based CBA.  

One of the most striking take-home messages was that NbS can be cost-effective when woven into community-level adaptation. As Alec Crawford of the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) put it, investing in nature alongside people is “a no-brainer”. Not only can ecosystems provide a wide array of services responding to multiple societal challenges (climate change, human health, water and food security, etc.), but these interventions often yield returns that rival or exceed engineered solutions, providing clear livelihood opportunities for communities. This advantage is particularly clear in areas with a high nature dependency for livelihoods. Speakers emphasised the value of NbS within the CBA framework. The cost-effectiveness of NbS, which leverages local knowledge, labour and materials rather than costly external inputs, is highly desirable. Economic efficiency is a sought-after criterion for locally-led adaptation strategies, with relatively few opportunities for mobilising capital towards solutions. However, the effectiveness of NbS depends on healthy, functioning ecosystems, and speakers highlighted that enhancing community stewardship values and behaviours is a vital part of building local capacities as a result.