Rights of Nature at the 2025 IUCN World Conservation Congress

Rights of Nature is fundamentally about transforming the legal relationship between humans and nature from ownership to kinship, from exploitation to stewardship.

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The IUCN World Conservation Congress includes five key motions with converging elements. Visit the GARN website to learn more about these Motions.

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Each Rights of Nature motion builds momentum for a global shift: from seeing ecosystems as resources to recognizing them as living communities with their own rights. At the Congress, these motions will be debated, amended, and voted on by IUCN’s government and NGO members; decisions that carry weight across international environmental law and practice.

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Motion 054: Operationalizing the Rights of Nature through their implementation in territories

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Motion 055: Recognition of the Rights of Antarctica

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Motion 056: Advancing an ethical human-ocean relationship

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Motion 067: Living in harmony with rivers through the Rights of Nature and ecocentric law

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Motion 070: Integrating science, rights-based approaches and harmonious coexistence with strategies for ecological recovery

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