Climate meets conservation: What COP30 and the IUCN Congress mean for India and Northeast

With COP30 in Belém, Brazil drawing to a close, and the dust almost settled on IUCN World Conservation Congress 2025 held in Abu Dhabi, the deeper association climate and biodiversity share, has been reiterated once more. Whether through hard negotiations on adaptation and climate finance at COP30, or member-driven motions and conservation commitments at WCC, the message is unmistakably clear - we cannot secure the climate without protecting nature, and we cannot protect nature without tackling climate change.

Ironically, set against the backdrop of the Amazon rainforest that has seen alarming levels of deforestation in recent years, COP30 deliberated around the urgencies of climate change and development realities. On the other hand, WCC spoke of saving the natural world in Abu Dhabi - a city built on the oil and gas economy. Yet, both platforms delivered important outcomes.

While COP30 produced a major breakthrough with its commitment to mobilise nearly USD 1.3 trillion annually by 2035 for developing countries, it failed to prioritise the adoption of a time-bound fossil fuel phase

The COP also advanced discussions on tropical forests, Indigenous Peoples, oceans, and biodiversity, and put significant emphasis on the promotion and propagation of nature-based solutions (NbS) and ecosystem restoration, highlighting them as core tools of climate action. With multiple decisions taken and action plans adopted, many are already calling COP30 the first true implementation COP.

So a lot of grounds were covered during COP30 as far as nature conservation is concerned, complementing WCC 2025 agenda. To further accelerate implementation of the Paris Agreement, COP30 negotiated for tripling the adaptation finance from $40 Billion to $120 Billion that aligns closely with IUCN’s call for nature-positive investment aimed at reversing nature loss by 2030 eventually achieving full recovery by 2050.

The launch of the Tropical Forests Forever Facility (TFFF) in Belém further reflects growing global acceptance that forest-rich regions and Indigenous communities deserve direct, predictable compensation for safeguarding the planet’s lungs. This could potentially unlock new streams of finance for community-protected forests in the Northeast — a region repeatedly flagged as one of the most climate-vulnerable landscapes in the country. In the Northeast, biological richness coexists with deep ecological fragility: floods, erosion, landslides, declining yields, and shrinking livelihood opportunities.

In many ways, the outcomes of COP30 and WCC resonate with the lived realities of the Northeast. From Nagaland’s community conservation traditions to Meghalaya’s sacred groves and Gumpa forests of Sikkim; from the Apatani plateau’s unique paddy–fish farming system to Assam’s age-old dong water management; and from phumdis – the floating mats in Loktak Lake of Manipur to tuikhur – water harvesting system of Mizoram — the region embodies the kind of traditional ecological practices that the world is now racing to revive.

WCC also took effective measures towards mobilising global support for biodiversity conservation, affirmed Indigenous stewardship, and recognised wild animals as vital climate allies for building climate resilience and ecosystem health besides passing a motion supporting a just phase-out of fossil fuels.

Of course, both events had their hits and misses leaving room for improvement and to be taken up, in all likelihood, during COP31. Resonating this UN Secretary-General António Guterres noted that COP30 was able to ‘deliver progress’ despite the gap between current action and what science demands. While UN Climate Change Executive Secretary Simon Stiell expressed satisfaction over the ‘impressive scorecard of real-world climate actions’ this Belém deliberation has been able to deliver with a word of caution ofcourse that ‘denial, division, and geopolitics’ continues to be a cause of concern.

Similarly, WCC 2025 adopted a 20-year strategic vision for 2045 and a four-year (2026-2029) implementation plan - Nature 2030: One nature, one future. For India, it opens up unprecedented opportunities as well as a real test of resolve for countries like India given its developmental need and growth aspirations.

At COP, India stood firm against inequitable carbon border measures, while demanding predictable and concessional finance rather than repackaged loans or ambiguous pledges. At WCC, it showcased genuine commitment to institutional readiness and inclusive action through exemplary initiatives like the National Red List System (2025–2030) to assess the extinction risk of 11,000 species, and Marine Reserve for Dugong Conservation setting a new benchmark in marine biodiversity conservation.

Despite the gaps that remain, COP30 and IUCN WCC 2025 together signal meaningful progress. More importantly, they show an unmistakable trend: the climate and biodiversity agendas are converging, each complementing and strengthening the other.

For India or for that matter the Northeast, it calls for genuine commitment, innovation and action to put climate and nature agenda at the centre of our development policies and priorities, and to move from conversations to concrete implementation. Only then can we build a sustainable country and a society that truly honours both people and planet.

Dr Pranab J Patar is an award-winning environment sustainability and climate action expert, he’s currently working as Senior Vice President with a Noida based management consulting firm – Vision EIS