One year countdown begins to IUCN World Protected and Conserved Areas Congress – EnviroNews

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Friday, September 4, 2026, marked one year until the IUCN World Protected and Conserved Areas Congress 2027 begins. Conservation and development leaders will gather in Panama to advance ambitious plans that position protected and conserved areas as a key solution to escalating global challenges facing biodiversity, the climate, health and the economy.

The IUCN World Protected and Conserved Areas Congress will take place between Saturday, September 4 and Friday September 10, 2027, in Panama City, Panama. Held once every decade, it is the leading global forum to inform, inspire and catalyse action and investment that strengthens protected and conserved areas for nature and people.

“The IUCN World Protected and Conserved Areas Congress, taking place exactly one year from now, comes at a critical moment for our planet and for our shared future. Protected and conserved areas are among our most powerful tools for safeguarding nature, tackling climate change, supporting livelihoods and building more peaceful, resilient and prosperous societies,” said Dr Grethel Aguilar, IUCN Director General.

“With 2030 fast approaching, we must use this moment to turn ambition into action and ensure that protected and conserved areas are not simply places we protect, but foundations for a more peaceful, sustainable and prosperous decade ahead,” added Aguilar.

“The planet is dying from a crisis of deforestation, pollution, species extinction, global warming, and biodiversity loss. But there is hope: our national parks and protected areas worldwide remain a bastion that protects our water sources, provides refuge for planetary biodiversity, and serves as a bulwark against climate change. At the 2027 IUCN Congress in Panama, we will celebrate that hope, celebrate life, and agree on immediate and concrete actions on the ground to guarantee the conservation and protection of our national parks and the life they harbour on planet Earth,” said Juan Carlos Navarro, Minister of the Environment of Panama, the host country of the global gathering on protected areas.

The IUCN World Protected and Conserved Areas Congress brings together governments, the private sector, civil society, Indigenous Peoples and local communities in coordinated action toward a shared vision: living in harmony with nature through effective, equitable and enduring area-based conservation. By scaling up proven approaches, strengthening rights based and inclusive stewardship, and expanding capacity where it is most needed, the Congress will accelerate conservation outcomes at a global scale, and set the agenda for the decade to come.

The event will focus on three themes:

1. Shaping a resilient and healthy future: nature at the heart of planetary and societal health and well-being. Addressing systemic uncertainty and growing planetary risks, this theme will highlight the role of protected and conserved areas in protecting biodiversity, tackling climate change, promoting human health, and strengthening economic resilience.
2. Scaling up effective and equitable conservation: securing gains and catalysing sustainable outcomes. This theme explore how protected and conserved area systems can deliver effective and equitable conservation outcomes at scale, moving beyond simply reporting geospatial areas.
3. Conserving together: rights, investment and capacity for all who steward nature. This theme focuses on the human dimension of protected and conserved areas – the rights, roles, governance and capacities of those upon whom the future of protected and conserved areas depends.

“This is a key moment for the conservation community to come together for nature. More importantly, it is a moment for nature. From Indigenous Peoples, rangers and local communities whose lives and cultures are deeply connected to protected and conserved areas, to scientists, practitioners, civil society, businesses and government decision-makers, every voice and every form of knowledge matters. This Congress is a unique opportunity to bring these perspectives together, bridge differences, share solutions and forge the partnerships needed to ensure protected and conserved areas deliver for both people and nature,” said Dr Madhu Rao, Chair of the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas. 

The outcomes of the Congress – including a High-Level Outcome Statement, the Panamá Action Plan, Recommendations, and Commitments – will shape conservation in the years to come. As the world takes stock of progress in implementing the Global Biodiversity Framework and Sustainable Development Goals in the run-up to 2030, this is a critical moment to build on examples of conservation success. 

Previous Congresses have shaped major milestones in global biodiversity policy and practice— the Durban World Parks Congress in 2003 laid the foundation for the Convention on Biological Diversity’s Programme of Work on Protected Areas, the Sydney World Parks Congress in 2014 debated development issues that informed the Kunming Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, and also saw the launch of the IUCN Green List of Protected and Conserved Areas and PANORAMA: Solutions for a Healthy Planet. In addition, many commitments were made to scale up achievement of global targets as part of the Promise of Sydney.