IUCN Resolutions and Recommendations

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.

Eighth IUCN World Conservation Congress, Abu Dhabi, 2025

The eighth IUCN World Conservation Congress in Abu Dhabi, October 2025, saw a number of motions related to marine and aquatic species adopted.  

Resolutions and Recommendations directly associated with marine species include: 

• WCC-2025-Res-016 Springs under threat: mobilising urgent action for neglected freshwater systems

• WCC-2025-Res-018 Advancing and tracking global river conservation to meet biodiversity and climate goals

• WCC-2025-Res-019 Activating sustainable management of inland fisheries

• WCC-2025-Res-020 Implementing an aquascape approach to conservation and management of fresh and saline water ecosystems

• WCC-2025-Res-021 For an international framework for the preservation of watershed heads and the strengthening of their resilience in a changing climate

• WCC-2025-Res-022 For a sustainable management of freshwater resources in atolls

• WCC-2025-Res-023 Prioritising wetlands conservation and restoration to tackle the dual climate and biodiversity crises

• WCC-2025-Res-024 Declaration on the urgent preservation of high mountain wetlands in Latin America and other regions of the world

• WCC-2025-Res-025 Recognizing India’s First Dugong Conservation Reserve

• WCC-2025-Res-026 Conservation of the environmental integrity of the San Matías Gulf in Argentina

• WCC-2025-Res-027 Establishment of a Marine Biodiversity Conservation Area in Macaronesia

• WCC-2025-Res-028 Strengthening the knowledge and protection of oceanic mesophotic ecosystems

• WCC-2025-Rec-029 Establishing an international governance for the management of Sargassum seaweed in the Caribbean basin

• WCC-2025-Res-030 Definition and principles of the regenerative Blue Economy

• WCC-2025-Res-031 Protecting the Gulf of California World Heritage Sites of Mexico from industrialisation for liquefied natural gas development

• WCC-2025-Res-032 Protecting seamounts and vulnerable marine ecosystems from destructive practices

• WCC-2025-Res-033 Port State measures regarding illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing

• WCC-2025-Res-034 Promotion of collaborative marine spatial planning and sensitivity maps for sustainable offshore wind energy development

• WCC-2025-Res-035 Protection of mesopelagic ecosystem integrity 

• WCC-2025-Res-036 Facilitating synergistic delivery of multilateral commitments on conserving coastal ecosystems

• WCC-2025-Res-037 Fourth global coral bleaching event: urgent action to reduce the risk of catastrophic loss of the world’s coral reefs

• WCC-2025-Res-054 Recognition of the rights of Antarctica

• WCC-2025-Res-055 Advancing an ethical human-ocean relationship

• WCC-2025-Res-057 Addressing wildlife trafficking and the management of seized or confiscated live wild animals

• WCC-2025-Res-058 Advancing actions to end plastic pollution to protect human health, biodiversity and the environment

• WCC-2025-Rec-061 For an ocean, heritage of humanity

• WCC-2025-Res-062 Strengthening the protection of Posidonia in the Mediterranean: legislation, monitoring and capacity building

• WCC-2025-Res-066 Living in harmony with rivers through the rights of nature and ecocentric law

• WCC-2025-Res-070 Calling for a United Nations Decade of Island Resilience

• WCC-2025-Res-111 Scaling collaborative action for threatened freshwater fishes through ex situ conservation

• WCC-2025-Res-113 Appeal for global prevention of propeller-inflicted deaths on endangered species

• WCC-2025-Res-114 Actions to avert the extinction of Rice’s whale (Balaenoptera ricei)

• WCC-2025-Rec-117 Conservation of the Critically Endangered scalloped hammerhead shark (Sphyrna lewini) and its look-alike species the smooth hammerhead shark (S. zygaena) and the great hammerhead (S. mokarran)

• WCC-2025-Res-128 Global conservation strategy for the high seas based on area-based management tools, including marine protected areas

• WCC-2025-Res-133 Recognition of the International Marine Protected Areas Congress as the global marine protected area community for effective marine biodiversity conservation

• WCC-2025-Res-134 Addressing the overexploitation of wild species 

• WCC-2025-Res-143 Protecting ecosystems and riverine communities from the impacts of hydropower in the Lower Congo and globally