Our Voice is Our Union
Together we are powering transformative conservation
In the lead-up to the IUCN World Conservation Congress 2025, we’ve gathered reflections from people across regions and sectors on what message they would share with the world’s most diverse gathering of conservation professionals.
These are stories of hope, urgency, and collaboration. These are Voices for Congress. Together, these voices are showing how shared purpose, resilience, and connection drive transformative conservation.
Whether you’re participating in person or online, let these voices accompany you. Watch all videos on our YouTube playlist.
Listen. Share. Follow and interact with us on our social media channels to add your own.
Dr. Grethel Aguilar is the Director General of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Born in Costa Rica, she brings over 30 years of experience in conservation and sustainable development, having worked extensively on developing and applying environmental law and policy in collaboration with governments and civil society. Dr. Aguilar is a passionate advocate for Indigenous rights, gender equality, and the integration of local knowledge into global environmental policy. She has held multiple leadership roles within IUCN and has worked extensively with governments, civil society, and international organisations to advance environmental justice.
IUCN President Razan Khalifa Al Mubarak is a global conservation and climate action leader, spearheading efforts to integrate nature into global climate strategies. Elected in September 2021, she made history as the second woman to lead the organization and the first president from West Asia.
Isack Bryson is a Carbon Tanzania field project manager in Yaeda Valley, Tanzania. The project supports cultural communities and eco-entrepreneurship to create more peaceful and harmonious livelihoods, protect nature and biodiversity, and mitigate climate change for the present as well as future generations for our one precious planet.
Gloria Amor Paredes is an environmental education and community development specialist. She is the co-founder of Salumayag Youth Collective for Forests, an Indigenous youth-and women-led initiative in Mindanao, Philippines that empowers upland Indigenous communities in the stewardship of their ancestral forests through regenerative practices and narratives.
Rudy Castorina is a Big Wave Enthusiast, Filmmaker, Ocean Advocate, Entrepreneur, and Founder of Ocean Media Lab. Born and raised in the suburbs of Paris, Rudy Castorina’s journey led him from the streets of France to the raw power of Peʻahi—also known as Jaws—in Hawai‘i, where he spent 22 winters windsurfing and surfing one of the world’s biggest and most iconic waves.