Species experts’ meeting concludes with Declaration that saving species is integral to protecting nature
The 5th IUCN Species Survival Commission (SSC) Leaders’ Meeting concluded in Abu Dhabi with conservation experts and leaders issuing a powerful declaration affirming that “Saving Species Sustains Life”. This landmark gathering brought together more than 300 conservation leaders to address the urgently needed interconnected solutions to protect biodiversity, stabilise climate, and support human well-being.
The declaration issued by SSC members and partners conveys the critical role of species in ensuring clean water, food security, cultural connections, economic stability, and social justice. It calls on diverse sectors—including governments, businesses, Indigenous peoples and local communities, religious groups, and individuals—to prioritise species conservation within their actions, strategies, and giving, recognising that protecting animals, fungi, and plants is fundamental to sustaining life on earth.
As the declaration states:
- Saving Species Sustains Life.
- We know how to save species and we have proved that conservation works.
- SSC has doubled its actions since our 2019 Abu Dhabi Call for Global Species Conservation Action, even as threats continue to emerge and accelerate.
- The world has already committed to the Sustainable Development Goals, the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and the Paris Agreement.
- Saving species is fundamental to achieving these commitments.
The IUCN Species Survival Commission is the world’s largest volunteer conservation-science network with over 10,000 members globally. It is mandated by the Members of IUCN (national and subnational governments, NGOs, businesses, and Indigenous peoples’ organisations) to develop and apply the evidence base to conserve species. This unique body includes biologists, ecologists, wildlife managers, health and social scientists, educators, community representatives, economists and government officials.
SSC generates knowledge for the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, the world’s most comprehensive information source on the global conservation status of animal, fungi, and plant species. SSC experts have unique insight into the extent to which species are undergoing unprecedented and growing threats from unsustainable human activities, as reflected in the IUCN Red List.
