Our participation in the IUCN World Conservation Congress 2025

We are pleased to share that in this significant year for us, as new members of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), we have had the privilege of participating in the IUCN World Conservation Congress 2025held in Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates) from October 9 to 15.

An honor and a new stage

As announced in our article "From local to global: La Mano del Mono celebrates joining IUCN".This year marked a historic moment for us: our formal accession to IUCN.
Joining the IUCN means actively participating in the definition of global conservation agendas, contributing from Mexico and Latin America the experience of community-based nature tourism, and assuming concrete responsibilities.
And in that sense, attending the World Conservation Congress in the same year of our incorporation represented a double challenge and a great opportunity: on the one hand, we reaffirmed our commitment to global conservation; on the other, we were inserted into an international forum where the strategic plans that will guide IUCN's action for the coming years are debated and voted upon.

What is Congress and why is it key for us?

The IUCN World Conservation Congress is held every four years and brings together experts, leaders, decision makers, civil society organizations, governments and businesses from around the world to define the direction of nature conservation.
More than 1,400 IUCN member organizations eligible to deliberate and vote at the Members' Assembly participated in the Abu Dhabi 2025 edition.
The Congress program comprised three main components: the Forum (knowledge, innovation and solutions sessions), the Exhibition (showcase of actors, innovations and knowledge), and the Members' Assembly (decision-making body where motions are debated, policies are voted on and the plan for the Union is drawn up).
For us, as an entity dedicated to creating innovative solutions for regenerative tourism in Mexico and Latin America, the Congress represents a space to connect the local with the global, to bring the voice of the communities, of biodiverse tourism, of territorial regeneration, and to assume that conservation is not alien to responsible tourism but is a strategic axis.

What was our objective at the Congress?

Our main objective was clear and aligned with our mission: assume our role as a member of IUCN by actively participating in the Assembly of Memberswith the right to speak and vote, to contribute to the adoption of global strategic conservation plans.
This meant:

• Be present at sessions of the Members' Assembly, where IUCN member organizations debate motions and vote on decisions that will set the conservation agenda for the coming years.
• To provide the perspective of community-based nature tourism in Mexico and Latin America, showing that tourism can be a strategic ally of biodiversity, communities and territory.
• Incorporate into our organizational strategy the guidelines emanating from the Congress, to ensure that our regeneration, tourism and conservation actions are aligned with IUCN international standards.
• To make La Mano del Mono visible as an actor committed to global conservation, which opens doors for alliances, learning, networking and new opportunities for impact.

Relevant results of the Congress and their relevance for La Mano del Mono

Some of the results of the Congress that are of particular relevance to us were:

• Adoption of a new 20-year Strategic Vision for IUCN, as well as a new work program for 2026-2029.
• Approval of a multitude of motions (e.g., 148 in the 2025 edition) that shape the conservation agenda for the next decade.
• Reinforced focus on integration of local and indigenous communities, nature-based solutions, equity and scale of action ("scale up", "scale deep") to ensure that local practices gain global relevance.
• Increased appreciation of new member organizations and their role in the Union: in this edition, IUCN welcomed more than 100 new members.

All of these elements are highly relevant to La Mano del Mono, as:

• They reinforce the need to articulate our regenerative tourism interventions with global conservation standards.
• They enable us to position our approach as tourism that preserves and not only visiting tourists.
• They open a window to participate in IUCN's international networks, thematic commissions, working groups and strategic alliances.
• They provide us with academic, institutional and communicational legitimacy to communicate to our audiences that we are aligned with science, policy and global action.

What we will bring back to Mexico and Latin America

Our involvement is not limited to the event in Abu Dhabi: what is really important is to to bring back to the local terrain the lessons, contacts and commitments that emerged. In this sense, from La Mano del Mono we commit ourselves to:

• Integrate the IUCN guidelines resulting from the Congress into our local community and nature tourism strategies.
• Share with our communities, partners and members of our ecosystem how this global space opens doors for funding, collaboration, visibility and innovation.
• Develop communication materials that highlight that we are an active part of IUCN and that our work transcends the local level.
• Promote the articulation between tourism, conservation and communities as a replicable model in Mexico and Latin America, showing how regenerative tourism can be inserted in the international agenda of positive nature.

Invitation to our audience

To all our community, local guides, cooperatives, allies, conscious tourists and the general public: we invite you to join us in this new stage. Being a member of IUCN and having participated in its World Conservation Congress commits us more than ever. We invite you to share this story and to follow us on this path towards a tourism that truly contributes to conservation.

We want to emphasize together that the local matters, but is enhanced when connected to the global. And that community-based nature tourism, done well, is not only a sustainable option, but a transformative strategy.