Spain and IUCN strengthen collaboration to promote biodiversity conservation as a driver of sustainable transformation

In a recent meeting held in Madrid, representatives from both institutions renewed their intention to work in a coordinated manner to promote nature conservation as a cornerstone for environmental, economic, and social transformation.

Participants included Hugo Morán, Secretary of State for the Environment, and María Jesús Rodríguez de Sancho, Director General for Biodiversity, Forests and Desertification, on behalf of MITECO. Representing IUCN were Grethel Aguilar, Director General; Boris Erg, Regional Director for Europe; and Maher Mahjoub, Director of the IUCN Centre for Mediterranean Cooperation.

During the meeting, IUCN presented its 20-year strategic vision, which will be adopted at the upcoming IUCN World Conservation Congress, taking place from 9 to 15 October in Abu Dhabi. This Congress is the world’s leading forum for sharing solutions, knowledge, and experiences in nature conservation.

In this context, IUCN formally invited Spain to take an active role in the Congress, emphasizing the importance of high-level representation to showcase its public policies as successful examples of biodiversity protection and climate action.

The two parties also discussed the possibility of exploring legal frameworks to grant IUCN a status that better reflects its nature as an international organization in Spain, aligned with its diversity, membership, and the impact of its work in the country.

The meeting also served to review the progress of the collaboration between MITECO and the IUCN Centre for Mediterranean Cooperation, which is being implemented through a joint work plan. In 2025, this plan will focus on priority areas such as restoration of terrestrial and marine ecosystems, mainstreaming biodiversity into agricultural practices, management of invasive alien species, and enhancing synergies among the three Rio Conventions — the Convention on Biological Diversity, the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, and the Convention to Combat Desertification — to improve their integration into national strategies and policies.

This meeting reinforces the strategic and long-standing alliance between IUCN and the Government of Spain, with the aim of advancing robust and coordinated environmental action to address today’s pressing biodiversity conservation challenges.