Indu Madhavan's IUCN World Conservation Congress 2025 Reflection

By Indu Madhavan

My Tryst with 007 at IUCN WCC 2025

When the registration and visa were granted for the IUCN WCC 2025 in Abu Dhabi, I had no idea what to expect! My colleagues Lu and Praveena filled me in on the World Conservation Congress, and I studied the website to figure out how my days would be - of course, with long days on my feet and packing clothes fit for the weather and venue. But the excitement was around the aim of our journey to Abu Dhabi - our Motion 007 on a Soil Security Law! After all, Soil is like the James Bond of Natural Resources because it is a nexus solution to safeguard other natural resources, such as air and water. The motion called for the IUCN Director General to formulate a global law to holistically govern soils across the world, to work with relevant Commissions to advance national and regional laws to the same end and for soil considerations to be embedded across all sectors, not limited to agriculture, but also including infrastructure, mining, etc.

As IUCN Members and co-sponsors of the Motion, our key role in the days leading up to the Members’ Assembly Elections was to drum up awareness and greater understanding of the motion, by talking to other voting members, elucidating the crucial role Soil plays in combatting several of the existential challenges such as Food Security, Water Security, Climate change and Biodiversity. Unfortunately, Soil is grossly underestimated and thereby the Soil Security is overlooked as a focus area in the conservation agenda. Having observed Isha’s work over 25 years, right from “Project Green Hands” days through to “Rally for Rivers” and “Cauvery Calling” and now working with the Banas Save Soil FPO in the past few years, we understand how imperative and at the same time formidable it is to ensure the initiatives are truly impactful at implementation stage. Action is needed NOW and it lies largely in the hands of the farmers – The trick is to come up with the right recommendations, package of practices, and incentives that will bring the smallholder farmers together and also support them through the initial periods of transformation into Sustainable Soil Management practices. The farmers are very intelligent, walking and feeling the soil with their own hands and feet. They know what their soil needs, but are also compelled to make a good living. While an immense body of knowledge has been developed by Soil Scientists across the globe, it is time the Governments and Multilateral Organizations come up with innovative Financing models and incentive schemes to ensure persistent implementation of practices that will ensure Soil Security which in turn will lead to Food Security, Water Security and combat desertification building Biodiversity.

This subject has been very close to me and I really looked forward to exploring and learning what others across the world are doing!

The first part of Congress was the Forum & Exhibition, which ran in parallel over four days, full of panel discussions covering various aspects of conservation as well as stalls and booths hosted by various countries or organizations featuring their work. We decided to ‘divide and conquer,’ thereby covering different interests, networking opportunities, and sharing notes. And, of course, speaking to as many people as possible to grow the network of ‘Friends of Soil Security Law - Motion 007’ at the same time. I learnt a lot about Climate Finance across the globe with a special focus on Blended Finance especially supporting Sustainable Agriculture and farmers with small holdings - what works and what doesn’t.  Another very interesting story was about a Tech platform to monitor Land Health to address the challenge of Biodiversity Loss due to Unsustainable Agriculture.

Catching up with the newly re-elected IUCN President Razan Al Mubarak.

Meeting Musonda Mumba, Secretary General of the RAMSAR Wetlands Convention, and Hostess of the 2025 World Conservation Congress.

The last and most important segment of the Congress was the Members’ Assembly, where aspects of IUCN governance for the next 4 years were discussed and voted on! The Council elections and motions (such as 007!) were coming up for vote now; We met several candidates who were contesting and keenly listened to their mandates and plans. We cast our vote on behalf of Isha Outreach, the member organization we represented. I participated in select sessions, while Praveena and Lu were completely focussed on the proceedings. 

Contact Groups were held during Congress for Members to reach consensus on the version of the draft Motion that would be presented at the Plenary for voting. The discussions over the Contact Group calls saw many counter views and objections to the wording of our Motion 007, especially the term “Legal”! For me it was very interesting to meet with a few key persons behind the motion: Dr. Irene Heuser (who has been at this for the past 37 years!!!), Julie from Irene’s team and Achinthi and Madison from the Center for Environmental Legal Studies. Their legal expertise, and their passion for Soil Security were incredible, and us, the Save Soil team waltzing with the motion 007 as Co-sponsors was not only natural, but also truly inspiring to experience first hand! The Contact Group discussions saw some committed members, and we tried to convince them on the need for ‘Legal’ and binding instruments to bring about accountability.

Indu, Praveena and Dr. Irene Heuser (IUCN SoilSAL Specialist Working Group Chair), at the Opening Reception held by the Congress host country, UAE.

The 007 Ladies all meet during a short window in their busy schedules to discuss a strategy to get Motion 007 adopted!

It was the second to last day of the Congress and we saw that the version of Motion 007 that had been submitted on our behalf did not reflect the right amendments! After Achinthi voiced a Point of Order and two emails were written to the Resolutions Committee to clarify the intended amendments, the suspense still continued to the last day and the last few hours. Finally, the Motion 007 and 2 amendments proposed from the Contact Group discussions were tabled, and we had a few key persons speak in support of the Motion Achinthi’s team and Praveena recommended that the members vote to retain the original text, as without the word “legal,” the motion was reduced to asking for a non-binding instrument that is not likely to bring about the change that is urgently needed for even the immediate future generations. The two Chambers of Members disagreed on both Amendments, therefore, a quick flip of the coin, and there was only the 3rd option, the Original Text, that Members could choose to adopt or reject!!! This was a sudden  moment of excitement for all of us, as it was exactly our intention for the Motion to be voted on in all its strength, with its original demands for legal and enforceable policies to be implemented in the countries. We knew that this meant the motion itself was still up in the air! But, at this point we were happy that the version being voted for was the one we wanted. At about 5:00 pm, the voting opened for the current batch of Motions, and members had about 2 hours to vote. They’d publish the results later in the evening, we were told. Our hearts pounding in our ears, we went through the closing ceremony and bid good byes to the friends we made. The 007 agents took funny and happy pictures with Julie in her Motion 007 Tee Shirt!

Praveena’s intervention on behalf of the original version of the Motion. Photo by Anastasia Rodopoulou, Earth Negotiations Bulletin / IISD.

Justice Michael J. Wilson (Retd), speaking for the importance of soil and urging Members to vote for the original version of the Motion. Photo by Anastasia Rodopoulou, Earth Negotiations Bulletin / IISD.

Achinthi and her students from the Center for Environmental Legal Studies, Pace University. Photo by Anastasia Rodopoulou, Earth Negotiations Bulletin / IISD.

Praveena Sridhar, Julie Itey (IUCN SoilSAL Specialist Working Group), Lu Yu, Indu Madhavan, at the closing of the Congress, October 16, 2025, Abu Dhabi.

The next day was for sight seeing and we went to the iconic Grand Mosque, the one ‘not to be missed attraction’ of Abu Dhabi, of course every now and then checking if the results are out! A few hours still left before we left for the airport, we got back in the car around noon ready to drop off Praveena & Lu to the Louvre. Suddenly we heard Praveena scream!!!! Dinesh who was driving the car was startled as all of us were! The Motion GOT PASSED!!!! The whole back seat was screaming now ( Praveena, Lu & Me). Dinesh & Renu understood the explosion of emotion and shared our moment of excitement and happiness equally and in their own style – our fever and anxiety over the past few days got passed on to them as well! This moment is one I will truly never forget in life!

“Now we have to get to work” – that was Lu in her inimitable style. I laughed, wanting to bring her back to her usual enthusiastic-and-excited-silly self, nudged her “Abhi to party shuru hui hai!”

The James Bond 007 Ladies celebrate the closing of the Member’s Assembly with a nod to our Motion’s namesake and of course, Julie’s ingenious T-shirt!

To me this whole experience was incredible, learning so much about what’s happening across the world, how global policy matters are taken up and how change at the macro-level is initiated and offered for roll out. In the process, the new friendships made, relationships & bonds built, the existing ones strengthened, another new country visited, and culture explored, last but not the least - thanks to our lovely host family, Dinesh, Renu and Yashas - the Chutney and Holige relished!

I cannot but love my Dearest Agent 007- Soil!

Indu, at the ready to capture the best parts of Congress.