The final day of this incredible conference draws to a close. What was unfamiliar becomes routine. Already the daily commute from downtown Abu Dhabi to the conference centre 10 miles away is unremarkable – if the traffic is busy, we take the slightly longer route through the tunnel and along the eastern mangroves; less busy, then straight through the centre of town and past the huge modern mosque. 

The bizarre juxtaposition from the hot sun-scorched streets of the city to the cold air-conditioned airy halls of the conference centre is normalised. 

Likewise, what was utterly confusing at the start of the conference crystallised into some sort of clarity by the end. Gradually it became clear that there were three big things going on. 

1. The Members' Assembly

First is the main business of the World Congress – the Members’ Assembly. This is the equivalent to a Wildlife Trust annual general meeting but much wider in scope. There are reports on progress, the annual accounts and election of counsellors, committee chairs and dignitaries.  

How motions work 

In between World Congresses, the motions are formulated by groups of interested parties. At least 6 members must support it before it can be submitting, and it’s then put forward to a motions committee who decides whether it proceeds to a vote. 

Most motions are uncontroversial and are put to an electronic vote just before the Congress; others need more work and ‘contact groups’ work through the evenings and nights of the conference to get the text finalised before putting it to the Members’ Assembly to vote. In some cases, amendments are also put forward before a vote is taken. It’s quite a process! 

A motion to develop a unified global definition of 'peatland and peat'

We, The Wildlife Trusts, sponsored one of the less controversial motions – to establish an expert group to look again at an international framework to define peatlands. It was passed (hurray) and sounds a bit niche, but the implications are significant. 

Many definitions of peatland are based on their exploitation. In the UK, we sometimes use a definition of 50cm of peat as the key defining characteristic of peatland, but this was formulated for forest purposes (it is the depth of a forest plough), or sometimes 30cm. 30cm is considered to be the depth that can be comfortably ploughed into the sediments beneath the peat to create an arable soil. 

Definitions developed for commercial reasons are used for nature conservation policy, such as the implementation of the Habitats Directive. This makes little sense. In the UK, for example, much of our peatland has a shallow depth of peat either because the peatland formed recently, has been partly cut-away or is on the margins of deeper peat peatland areas.

The Habitats Directive, by way of an example, calls for our peatlands to be conserved but by dint of definition, many are not – so we plough up, plant trees, build windfarms, burn and drain at will. An IUCN-backed peatland definition framework will begin to tip the balance. 

That was just one of the 148 motions accepted for the World Congress. Others included the use of genetically modified organisms and synthetic biology for conservation, to phasing out fossil fuels, to an important motion to promote ecocide laws. 

2. Exchanging knowledge 

The second part of the Congress is all about knowledge exchange utilising workshops, panel talks, films, exhibitions, demonstrations and lamentably very few field trips. 

The number of talks was simply remarkable – a smorgasbord of topics with big topic talks held in plenary sessions in the main Halls – all five of them; collaboratoriums and the incredible exhibition hall that contained around 30 pavilions all of which put on their own mini-conferences for 20-30 people at a time. 

The pavilions focused on particular themes and geography – pavilions for the Americas, for indigenous people, for young people, for IUCN Arabia, IUCN Mongolia, IUCN Japan, for business and so on. IUCN even ran a virtual talk series on-line only and many talks were broadcast so that people could attend without getting across to Abu Dhabi. This is knowledge exchange at an extraordinary level; for me a bit frustrating as I wanted to go to at least 5 talks at any one time. 

3. Building trust and kinship 

The third part of the conference is probably the most important part and is not organised. It’s the conference that happens at coffee, in the food halls, in the corridors, in the Exhibition spaces, at dinner and around the hotel pool. 

This is the informal meeting and greeting that, in itself, is a form a knowledge exchange but is much deeper than that. 

It is about building trust and kinship across the global nature conservation community and about developing collaboration and partnership. 

This is where the individual actions of the many build together to create a greater whole – the murmuration of starlings veering off in a single direction. Just to give one example, the UK National Committee delegation of eNGOs and Government got together around a hotel pool in downtown Abu Dhabi one evening. The air was warm and the conversation rich. Together we are surely better. 

And so, it draws to a close. Imagine if Hugh Maurice – the Secretary of the Society for the Promotion of Nature Reserves (the predecessor of the Wildlife Trusts) – who helped found the IUCN at the Fountainebleau Conference in October 1948 and went on to become its first Vice-Chair – were here today. He would, I’m sure, be both amazed at the breadth of this great institution and be immensely proud that The Wildlife Trusts have returned to its heart.