Common Ground Dialogues come to life at IUCN World Conservation Congress

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The 2026-2029 Programme approval added weight to the FAS community’s growing acknowledgement that IUCN must play a central role in driving the transformation of global food and agricultural systems. At the same time, within IUCN, there is growing commitment to engage deeply with food and agricultural system actors as essential partners in achieving nature-positive outcomes.

The participation of indigenous peoples and farmers’ representatives — as primary stewards of nature and powerful change-makers — was particularly significant. It was also notable that more Ministries of Agriculture and other ministries beyond the environment engaged, marking a crucial first step toward stronger policy coherence between agricultural and environmental agendas. Engagement from leading international organisations in the food and agriculture space, such as FAO (with whom a formal collaboration framework is under development), further underscores the increasing intention of the FAS and conservation communities to collaborate toward common goals.

IUCN is actively expanding its partnerships and aims to formally bring more FAS actors on board — as Members or Commission experts — recognising that the FAS mandate cannot be achieved without their close involvement.

Partnerships
 

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The IUCN Congress provided an exciting opportunity to create, strengthen, and formalise key collaborations.

A major highlight was the celebration of 20 years of the France–IUCN partnership, which has been transformational in shifting IUCN’s focus towards food and agricultural systems (FAS). Through this partnership, France shared its vision and pioneering belief in the importance of IUCN’s engagement in this field, providing financial and strategic resources that helped IUCN lay the foundations for formally integrating FAS as a critical area within its mandate.

The work supported through this collaboration has been vast and diverse. IUCN has produced knowledge and tools, from sector-specific adaptations of IUCN flagship initiatives such as the Nature-based Solutions (NBS), the Red List, the Green List, and OECMs, to entirely new work, including the creation of a Land Health Monitoring Framework. Capacity-building, communication, and advocacy efforts have been scaled up to increase understanding of the biodiversity–food–climate nexus. The partnership has also enabled Dialogues and co-design processes, creating spaces for farmers, policymakers, researchers, and civil society to develop locally relevant, scalable solutions. Much of this work has been piloted on the ground in countries across Asia, Africa, and the Americas, including India, Rwanda, Viet Nam, and Guatemala.

Support from France has been both financial, through project funding, and strategic, with the provision of an expert secondee — a role that will also be renewed, ensuring continued momentum for this vital collaboration.

In Abu Dhabi, another celebration was the growing cooperation between IUCN and the Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty. This partnership recognises the deep connection between ecosystem conservation and restoration, the production of nutritious food for all and improved income generation opportunities, reinforcing shared efforts toward SDG 1 (No Poverty) and SDG 2 (Zero Hunger). Together, Pascale Bonzom and Orsi Nyárai (IUCN Food and Agricultural Systems), Cristiane Derani (Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina) and João Paulo de Faria Santos (Ministry of Social Development and Assistance of Brazil) discussed the planned collaboration on policy and knowledge sharing, to advance sustainable agriculture, biodiversity restoration, and resilient livelihoods for communities most affected by hunger, poverty and environmental degradation. This is a step forward in turning cooperation into impact for both people and nature.

For a complete account of all the proceedings and decisions at the 2025 IUCN World Conservation Congress, see the Earth Negotiations Bulletin.

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