IUCN Resolution Highlights Wild Animals as Key Climate Solution

Wildlife’s pivotal role in climate mitigation is gaining recognition as the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) advances efforts to integrate the ecological contributions of wild animals into climate policies. This initiative reflects a growing awareness of how animals contribute to carbon sequestration and ecosystem resilience.

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By Silvia Mantilla

It’s fascinating how the presence of elephants in the Congo Basin can enhance forest carbon storage by approximately 7%. This intriguing fact highlights a broader realization: wild animals play a crucial role in carbon dynamics. Not only elephants, but sea otters, for instance, can boost carbon absorption in kelp ecosystems by as much as 12 times, while various birds and monkeys augment a tropical forest’s carbon capture capability fourfold.

These incredible natural processes prompt the question: why hasn’t this been more widely recognized? The impact of animals on ecosystems, through their movements, feeding habits, and waste management, extends beyond carbon storage. They contribute to forest health, erosion prevention, and the thriving of oceanic phytoplankton, essential for atmospheric oxygen.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) affirms that biodiversity loss hampers ecosystem services and resilience to climate change. Recent studies have documented the substantial carbon storage facilitated by tigers through the regulation of herbivore populations, and the unique role of penguins in cloud formation over Antarctica through their guano.

As research quantifies these ecological roles, policymakers are beginning to appreciate the climate benefits of wildlife conservation. In the face of stagnating global mitigation efforts, maximizing natural allies becomes increasingly vital.

Policy Momentum Is Building

Governments are increasingly recognizing the link between thriving wildlife and effective climate strategies. At COP16, the Convention on Biological Diversity underscored the significance of conserving animal populations for climate mitigation and adaptation. This perspective calls for prioritizing species integral to the carbon cycle.

Previous initiatives, such as the International Whaling Commission’s 2016 acknowledgment of cetaceans’ ecosystem contributions and the Convention on Migratory Species’ 2021 appeal to incorporate migratory species into climate strategies, have laid the groundwork for current developments.

On October 10, 2025, the IUCN adopted a landmark resolution at the World Conservation Congress to emphasize wild animals’ role in ecosystems as a climate solution. This aligns with Article 5 of the Paris Agreement, advocating for the recognition of wildlife in climate mitigation within the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

The resolution urges IUCN members to safeguard and restore wildlife populations, reinforcing nature-based solutions and promoting policy coherence among Rio Conventions.

This initiative revitalizes the climate discourse, focusing on natural carbon removal processes. To achieve net-zero emissions, balancing emissions with nature’s absorption is essential. As traditional carbon sinks falter, attention to Article 5 of the Paris Agreement becomes imperative.

Highlighting ecosystems’ climate-regulating functions, including those of wild animals, clarifies that nature’s carbon capture often surpasses technological approaches. Ed Goodall, a climate policy expert, aptly noted, “We often act as if humanity alone can engineer carbon sinks, but life has been quietly doing this work for literally hundreds of millions of years. It’s time we collaborate with complexity, not override it with machines.”

The resolution also enriches ongoing discussions on integrating efforts to combat climate change, biodiversity loss, and desertification. Many nations acknowledge this need for synergy, and as COP30 approaches, the emphasis on thriving wildlife for environmental gains is especially timely.

Featured image: Adam Oswellv/ We Animals

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About the author: Silvia Mantilla, Global Policy & Communications Manager at the World Federation for Animals. Within this role, she bridges WFA’s advocacy and visibility, overseeing its engagement at the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and leading the organisation’s strategic communications and outreach. Prior to joining WFA, she spent more than twelve years with United Nations agencies and programmes, spearheading communications and partnerships that delivered high-impact campaigns on sustainable development across three continents. A political scientist by education, Silvia graduated from the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana in Colombia before pursuing her postgraduate studies at the Università Iuav di Venezia in Italy.