Dear NRDC Activist,

In just a few days, my NRDC colleagues and I are traveling to Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates for the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) World Conservation Congress 2025 (we certainly didn’t conserve enough breath for that title though).

Decisions made here will shape international policy to protect biodiversity, the climate, and human health for decades to come.

NRDC is sponsoring multiple motions critical for addressing the biodiversity and climate crises that world leaders will be voting on during the conference, including:

• A package of measures that includes protecting the Gulf of California World Heritage site, 700 square miles of vital wildlife habitat along the coast of Mexico, from dangerous oil and gas development.
• Measures in this package include ending industrial-scale power generation from forest biomass, protecting wild species from unsustainable exploitation and global trade, and stopping the extinction of the critically endangered Rice’s whale in the Gulf of Mexico.
• A new and urgent notion recommitting all IUCN members to work together on protecting the planet’s climate, ecosystems, and people.

Sign our petition to urge U.S. delegates to support global conservation efforts like protecting the Gulf of California from the oil and gas industry.

The U.S. delegation already skipped a key first vote on the Gulf of California and other motions. But the final package is coming — and they still have a chance to do the right thing.

Supporting this final package will help protect blue and fin whales, whale sharks, leatherback sea turtles, and near-extinct vaquitas that call the Gulf of California waters home, along with thousands of wildlife species around the world suffering from global trade, habitat loss, pollution and other factors.

Add your name to our petition for global wildlife survival.

Too often, the U.S. has stepped back from global climate and biodiversity conservation agreements. That failure has weakened international cooperation and put nature and people at greater risk. But this moment is a chance to change course.

Add your signature urging U.S. delegates to reaffirm their commitment to working with countries across the globe to protect the world’s wildlife, nature, and the human right to a healthy and sustainable planet.

Protecting ecosystems also protects the climate. And right now, both are facing existential threats that can only be stopped through global cooperation. The United States must be part of the solution — especially now, at the World Conservation Congress.

When NRDC votes in the Members’ Assembly and as our NRDC delegation participates in the other events of the Congress in Abu Dhabi a few days from now, we will feel emboldened knowing that we have thousands of NRDC supporters like you standing behind us. Thank you for adding your name.

Sincerely,

Shelley Vinyard
Director, Global Nature, International, NRDC