Terms and Conditions | IUCN World Conservation Congress

The IUCN Congress website, databases and the related interactive platform(s) such as the registration platform, mobile app, and the virtual platform, (hereafter referred to as “Congress Website”) is owned by IUCN, International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (hereafter referred to as “IUCN” or “we”). The Congress Website provides information about the IUCN World Conservation Congress. The Terms and Conditions apply to all persons visiting the Congress Website (hereafter referred to as “Visitor” or “Visitors” or “you”). The terms and conditions specified in section 7. Account Holder apply to all Visitors creating or logging in to their account (hereafter referred to as “User” or “Users”).

As of 04 Feb 2025

1. Changes to these Terms and Conditions

IUCN may update these Terms and Conditions from time to time, at any time without notice to you, by posting such changes on the Congress Website. IUCN encourages you to periodically review these Terms and Conditions to be informed of how IUCN is protecting your information. Your continued use of this account following the posting of changes to this Policy will mean you accept those changes.

2. Copyright and Use of Materials

Content on the Congress Website is owned by IUCN.
You agree to not alter or remove any copyright symbol or other identification concerning authorship of any of the material contained on or otherwise made available to you from this Congress Website.

3. Images

Images may not be reproduced in any form without the explicit written permission of IUCN. To obtain such permission, please contact:
social media (a) iucn.org
Note that any image that is credited with the term “CC BY” (“Creative Commons Image”) is licensed under creative commons terms and conditions. The details of the relevant licence conditions are available on the Creative Commons website accessible under https://creativecommons.org/

4. Textual content

Textual Content can only be partially reproduced in a summary format for all non-commercial purposes. You should provide attribution to the author and link back to the original source.

5. Videos

Videos may not be reproduced in any form without the explicit written permission of IUCN. To obtain such permission, please contact: social media (a) iucn.org
IUCN videos can be shared via the YouTube link.

6. Third Party content

To the extent that copyright subsists in a third party it remains with the original owner and written permission shall be required to reuse the material.

7. Account Holder

By creating an account (“Congress Account”) for or logging into the Congress Website with your IUCN credentials, you accept and consent that certain of your personal information are used to create your account. This personal information is processed in accordance with the Privacy Policy. Additional information, e.g. upload a photo, may be requested in order to perform some specific services such as registration or participant networking.
IUCN is committed to ensure that Users’ personal information is processed for the specified purpose(s) and is stored securely. By submitting information through this Congress Website, Users consent that such information is collected and processed by IUCN in accordance with the Privacy Policy.

Services available for Account Holders

By logging into your account, you will have access to the various services (“Services”) offered by the Congress Website, such as but not limited to:

Submission of proposals for the Forum
Signing up as volunteer for reviewing the Forum Session proposals
Registration for the Congress
Reservation of excursions and accommodation
Managing of accepted sessions (organisers of accepted sessions only)
Participant networking
Members Assembly hybrid platform
Accessing the Congress Virtual Platform
Exercising rights as a Member such as but not limited to submission and discussion of motion, accreditation, discussion of the IUCN Draft Programme, nomination of candidates, submission of statutory reforms.

The respective Services may only be available during certain period of times. Some of the Services are provided by third parties and the Congress Website includes links to such third-party online systems. These systems are not under the control of IUCN, and therefore, whilst we check the links for suitability and initial availability, we cannot guarantee the availability of such sites, as they may change over time.

Collection of Personal Information

IUCN collects the following personal information (“Account Data”) in order to create your Congress Account on the Congress Website or upon first login with an existing IUCN username (items with * are mandatory fields):

Title
First name*
Last name*
Preferred email address*
Country of residence*
Gender
Organisation
Category of organisation
Date of birth
Additional email address
Photo
Job title
Country of Nationality
Level of Education
Phone number
Social media details
Website
Language preference
IUCN Role(s) (if applicable)
IUCN Member ID (if applicable)
Role(s) in Member organisation (if applicable)

IUCN will not and cannot create an account for Users without the provision of the mandatory information.

Use of Personal Information

IUCN uses the Account Data in order to allow Users to access the various platforms by IUCN.
IUCN may use the Account Data to contact Users about Congress-related information and announcements that IUCN thinks may be of interest to them and to request User participation in surveys or other activities related to IUCN or Congress activities or other projects with which IUCN is involved.

Congress Account Statement of User’s Rights and Responsibilities

By accessing or using the Congress Account, you agree to this Statement of User’s Rights and Responsibilities:

Users will not use any false personal information or create an account for anyone other than themselves without permission.
Users will keep their contact information accurate and up to date.
Users will not upload viruses, corrupted data, other malicious code or other harmful, disruptive or destructive files.
Users will not do anything that could disable, overburden, or impair the proper working of this Congress Website, such as a denial-of-service attack.
Users will not use this Congress Website to do anything unlawful, misleading, malicious, or discriminatory.
Users will not use IUCN copyrights, or any confusingly similar trademarks, without IUCN written permission
(to be obtained via email to logo (at) iucn.org).
Users will not solicit login information or access an account belonging to another user.
Users will not share their password, let anyone else access their account, or do anything else that might jeopardize the security of their account.
Users will not transfer their account to anyone.
Users will not collect other Users’ content or information, or otherwise access this Congress Website, using automated means (such as harvesting bots, robots, spiders, or scrapers).
When relevant, Users will identify their affiliation with a third party/commercial entity and their area of interest.
Users will not post any confidential or proprietary information.
Users are solely responsible for use of the Congress Website and use it at their own risk.
Users will not post materials that are unlawful, libellous, defamatory, obscene, pornographic, indecent, lewd, suggestive, harassing, threatening, invasive of privacy or publicity rights, abusive, fraudulent or otherwise objectionable.
User will not post materials that would constitute, encourage or provide instructions for a criminal offense, violate the rights of any party or otherwise create liability or violate any local, state, national or international law.
Users will not post materials that may infringe any patent, trademark, trade secret, copyright or other intellectual or proprietary right of any party or that impersonate any person or entity or otherwise misrepresent your affiliation with a person or entity.
User will not post materials that, in the sole judgment of IUCN, are objectionable or which restricts or inhibits any other person from using or enjoying the Interactive Areas or the Congress Website, or which may expose IUCN or its Users to any harm or liability of any type.
User represents and warrants that:
1. they own and control all of the rights to Congress Materials posted or otherwise have the right to post such materials to the Congress Website and are willing to assign ownership to IUCN.
2. they shall not violate the privacy and/or publicity and/or proprietary rights of IUCN and any third party.
3. the materials are accurate and not misleading; and
4. use and posting of any material supplied do not violate the Terms and Conditions and will not violate any rights of or cause injury to any person or entity.
5. the use of the Congress Website shall comply with IUCN’s Anti-harassment Policy, including bullying and sexual harassment, for IUCN events, which forms an integral part of these Terms and Conditions
6. the use of the Congress Website shall comply with the IUCN’s Sustainability Policy.
Users will not facilitate or encourage any violations of this Statement.
IUCN is not liable for any statements, representations or material posted by the User. Although IUCN has no obligation to screen, edit or monitor any of the materials, IUCN reserves the right, and has absolute discretion, to remove, screen or edit any materials posted or stored on the Congress Website at any time and for any reason without notice.
You acknowledge and agree that any material or content or other information regarding Congress (“Congress material”) provided by you to IUCN are non-confidential and shall become IUCN’s sole property. IUCN shall own exclusive rights, including all intellectual property rights, and shall be entitled to the unrestricted use and dissemination of these Congress Material for any lawful purpose, without compensation to you. You hereby waive all moral rights to any such Congress Material, and you hereby warrant that any such Congress Material are original created by you or that you have the right to submit such Congress Material. You agree there shall be no recourse against IUCN for any alleged or actual infringement or misappropriation of any proprietary right in the Congress Material.
IUCN reserves the right to suspend or disable an account as appropriate or even to stop providing all or part of the Congress Website if we believe that a User is violating the Statement of User’s Rights and Responsibilities and/or spirit of this Statement or otherwise creating possible legal exposure for IUCN.
IUCN will then notify the User by email directly or the next time the User attempts to access his/her account. If any portion of this Statement of User’s Rights and Responsibilities is found to be unenforceable, the remaining portion will remain in full force and effect.
IUCN’s failure to enforce any of this Statement of User’s Rights and Responsibilities will not be considered a waiver. Nothing in this Statement shall prevent IUCN from complying with the law. This Statement makes up the entire agreement between the parties regarding the Congress Account and supersedes any prior agreements.

Minors

IUCN only allows Users who are 18 years of age and older, to create an account. If you are younger than 18 and wish to create an IUCN individual account in order to access the Services (such as registering to the Congress, among others), please download the parental consent form and have your parents or legal guardian fill it out, sign it and send it to congress (at) iucn.org for processing.
Children under the age of 18 who wish to participate in the Congress as part of a school class or a group, for example, need to contact the registration office directly for processing such requests (email address to be provided once the registration system will be open). Parental consent will have to be provided for such group requests.

Mobile Application License

Use License
If you access the Platform via a mobile application, then we grant you a revocable, non-exclusive, non-transferable, limited right to install and use the mobile application on wireless electronic devices owned or controlled by you, and to access and use the mobile application on such devices strictly in accordance with the terms and conditions of this mobile application license contained in these Terms of Use. You shall not: (1) except as permitted by applicable law, decompile, reverse engineer, disassemble, attempt to derive the source code of, or decrypt the application; (2) make any modification, adaptation, improvement, enhancement, translation, or derivative work from the application; (3) violate any applicable laws, rules, or regulations in connection with your access or use of the application; (4) remove, alter, or obscure any proprietary notice (including any notice of copyright or trademark) posted by us or the licensors of the application; (5) use the application for any revenue generating endeavor, commercial enterprise, or other purpose for which it is not designed or intended; (6) make the application available over a network or other environment permitting access or use by multiple devices or Users at the same time; (7) use the application for creating a product, service, or software that is, directly or indirectly, competitive with or in any way a substitute for the application; (8) use the application to send automated queries to any website or to send any unsolicited commercial e-mail; or (9) use any proprietary information or any of our interfaces or our other intellectual property in the design, development, manufacture, licensing, or distribution of any applications, accessories, or devices for use with the application.

Apple and Android Devices
The following terms apply when you use a mobile application obtained from either the Apple Store or Google Play (each an “App Distributor”) to access the Platform: (1) the license granted to you for our mobile application is limited to a non-transferable license to use the application on a device that utilizes the Apple iOS or Android operating systems, as applicable, and in accordance with the usage rules set forth in the applicable App Distributor’s terms of service; (2) we are responsible for providing any maintenance and support services with respect to the mobile application as specified in the terms and conditions of this mobile application license contained in these Terms of Use or as otherwise required under applicable law, and you acknowledge that each App Distributor has no obligation whatsoever to furnish any maintenance and support services with respect to the mobile application; (3) in the event of any failure of the mobile application to conform to any applicable warranty, you may notify the applicable App Distributor, and the App Distributor, in accordance with its terms and policies, may refund the purchase price, if any, paid for the mobile application, and to the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, the App Distributor will have no other warranty obligation whatsoever with respect to the mobile application; (4) you represent and warrant that (i) you are not located in a country that is subject to a U.S. government embargo, or that has been designated by the U.S. government as a “terrorist supporting” country and (ii) you are not listed on any U.S. government list of prohibited or restricted parties; (5) you must comply with applicable third-party terms of agreement when using the mobile application, e.g., if you have a VoIP application, then you must not be in violation of their wireless data service agreement when using the mobile application; and (6) you acknowledge and agree that the App Distributors are third-party beneficiaries of the terms and conditions in this mobile application license contained in these Terms of Use, and that each App Distributor will have the right (and will be deemed to have accepted the right) to enforce the terms and conditions in this mobile application license contained in these Terms of Use against you as a third-party beneficiary thereof.

8. Privacy Policy

The applicable Privacy Policy is available here.

9. Use of Cookies

Cookies are small text files that are placed by your browser on your device to store certain information.
The Congress Website uses the following cookies:

Strictly necessary cookies
These are cookies that are required for the operation of the website. They include, for example, cookies that enable you to log into secure areas of the website. For the Congress Website, this includes only the Functional cookies.

Functional cookies
Using the information that is stored and returned, a website can recognize that you have previously accessed and visited it using the browser on your end device. We use this information to arrange and display the website optimally in accordance with your preferences. Within this process, only the cookie itself is identified on your device. Personal data is only stored following your express consent or where this is absolutely necessary to enable use of the service provided by us and accessed by you. For the Congress Website, the functional cookies are also strictly necessary cookies and are always active.

Non-essential cookies
These include Performance, Tracking and Video cookies. You have the option to opt out of these cookies and can update your preferences at any time via this link https://iucncongress2025.org/#editCookieSettings. All cookie information is subject to change by the service providers.

Performance cookies
Performance cookies collect aggregated information about how our website is used. The purpose of this is to improve its attractiveness, content and functionality. These cookies help us to determine whether, how often and for how long particular sub-pages of the website are accessed and which content Users are particularly interested in. Search terms, country, region and (where applicable) the city from which the website is accessed are also recorded, as is the proportion of mobile devices that are used to access the website. We use this information to compile statistical reports that help us tailor the content of the website to your needs and optimize our offer. The Congress Website uses Google Tag Manager and you can view their privacy policy here https://policies.google.com/privacy.

Tracking cookies
Marketing cookies come from external advertising companies ("third-party cookies") and are used to collect information about the websites visited by the User. The purpose of this is to create and display target group-oriented content and advertising for the User. The Congress Website uses Google’s reCAPTCHA and you can view its privacy policy here https://developers.google.com/assistant/console/policies/privacy-policy…
Video cookies
The website integrates components of YouTube. When you view a video on the Congress website, YouTube and Google gain knowledge of what specific sub-page of the website was visited by you. If you are also logged in your YouTube account, this information is collected by YouTube and Google and assigned to your respective YouTube account as well. Further information about YouTube privacy policy may be obtained here: https://www.youtube.com/yt/about/policies/#community-guidelines.
The cookies policy will be updated regularly.

10. Disclaimer

The Congress Website provides information free of charge for the benefit of the public. We monitor the quality of the information available on the Congress Website and update the information regularly.
We do not guarantee, and accept no liability whatsoever arising from or connected to, the accuracy, reliability, currency or completeness of any material included on the Congress Website or on any linked external sites.
We recommend that Users exercise their own skill and care with respect to their use of the Congress Website and that Users carefully evaluate the accuracy, currency, completeness and relevance of the material on the Website for their purposes.
The material on the Congress Website may include views or recommendations of third parties which do not necessarily reflect the views of IUCN or indicate its commitment to a particular course of action.

11. Indemnification

You agree to defend, indemnify and hold IUCN harmless from and against any claims, losses, liabilities and/or damages made or sustained by third parties arising out of or related to your conduct, your use or inability to use the account, your breach or alleged breach of these Terms and Conditions or of the terms of the Creative Commons Licence, or your violation of any other rights.

12. Governing Law, Disputes

Any dispute, controversy or claim arising under or pursuant to these Terms and Conditions shall be settled by mutual agreement between IUCN and the User.
If IUCN and the User are unable to reach agreement amicably, the dispute, controversy or claim shall be submitted to the competent courts of Lausanne, Switzerland. The applicable law shall be Swiss law.

13. Electronic Communications, Transactions, and Signatures

Visiting the Congress Website, sending us emails, and completing online forms constitute electronic communications. You consent to receive electronic communications, and you agree that all agreements, notices, disclosures, and other communications we provide to you electronically, via email and on the Platform, satisfy any legal requirement that such communication be in writing. YOU HEREBY AGREE TO THE USE OF ELECTRONIC SIGNATURES, CONTRACTS, ORDERS, AND OTHER RECORDS, AND TO ELECTRONIC DELIVERY OF NOTICES, POLICIES, AND RECORDS OF TRANSACTIONS INITIATED OR COMPLETED BY US OR VIA THE CONGRESS WEBSITE. To the extent permitted by law, you hereby waive any rights or requirements under any statutes, regulations, rules, ordinances, or other laws in any jurisdiction which require an original signature or delivery or retention of non-electronic records, or to payments or the granting of credits by any means other than electronic means.

14. Contact Information

If you have any questions about any of these Terms and Conditions, please contact us at:
IUCN, International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources
Rue Mauverney 28
CH - 1196 Gland
Phone: +41 22 999 00 00
Fax: +41 22 999 00 02
Congress (at) iucn.org