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Abu Dhabi erupts from the desert like a mirage, steel and glass emerging from sand and sky, air thick with heat, alive with the pulse of the Middle East. From the moment I touched down, I felt it: this city was built on the belief that something daring can rise from nothing. It felt like the only proper host for one of the most consequential gatherings in global conservation history: the IUCN World Conservation Congress 2025.
I stepped into the halls of change as a chef, but within hours I realized I’d become something more: a witness to the machinery of global decision-making, and a participant in conversations that could shape ecosystems, communities, and economies including the world of food and hospitality.
Walking into the Heart of Conservation:
The opening session unfolded in the expansive plenary hall of the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre. Delegates from governments, NGOs, Indigenous communities, industry, and academia filled the seats. Screens glowed with the Congress theme: scaling up resilient conservation action, reducing climate overshoot risks, achieving equity, transitioning to nature-positive economies, innovation, and leadership. There was a hum in the room, a vibration of urgency that reverberated through every corner of the hall.
Inside the Members’ Assembly, the process was exacting. Nearly 200 motions had been submitted ahead of the Congress, and about 138 met the criteria to be debated or voted on. Some were resolved via e-vote in the weeks before the event, but the most complex or contentious were reserved for live debate here, under the bright lights of Abu Dhabi. Every motion carried weight, and for me as a chef, some had particular resonance because they intersected directly with food, hospitality, and culinary sourcing.
Connecting Policy to the Plate:
Motion 108 addressed the global wildlife pet trade. At first glance, it seems far removed from kitchens and hospitality. But it reinforces a principle critical to sourcing: every choice, every ingredient, every menu item can have consequences beyond the plate. The discussion emphasized responsible consumption and the ripple effect of trade decisions a direct parallel to sustainable sourcing in food and beverage.
Motion 87 covered synthetic biology. The Congress rejected a blanket moratorium and adopted a measured framework for applying biotech interventions in conservation. For hospitality, this matters because innovation in agriculture and ingredient production whether lab-grown proteins, regenerative crops, or alternative proteins can transform what we serve and how we approach sustainability in kitchens. It opened the door for chefs and food service teams to think differently about sourcing and menu design while staying aligned with conservation priorities.
The motion on Indigenous languages, rights, and traditional knowledge underscored that conservation cannot exist without community. For food and beverage, this is profound: sourcing ingredients ethically, learning from local practices, and honoring the traditions of growers and farmers strengthens supply chains and tells a story that resonates on every plate. It connects diners directly to the ecosystems and communities that provide their meals.
The 30x30 target motion committed countries to protect 30% of terrestrial and marine areas by 2030. For chefs and hospitality teams, the health of these landscapes is critical. Seafood sourcing, farm-to-table operations, and ingredient integrity all depend on thriving ecosystems. The motion is a framework for aligning menu development, sourcing decisions, and operational practices with planetary health.
The Abu Dhabi Call to Action provided a guiding vision: putting nature first, fostering collaboration, ensuring fairness and inclusion, acting on evidence, and mobilizing resources. For anyone in hospitality, it offers a blueprint: sourcing ethically, supporting regenerative practices, and embedding conservation into every operational decision is not just responsible it is transformative.
Food as the Common Thread:
When I spoke at the Congress, I said, “Food is the thread that ties all humanity together.” Everyone eats. Everyone remembers a meal that changed their perspective. And when you sit across a table, you can reach someone’s heart and change their mind.
Delegates shared stories of conservation projects I had read about but never experienced up close: vanilla farmers funding park rangers, hospitality ventures in Kenya transforming human-wildlife conflict into community opportunity, artisan cooperatives in Sudan struggling to reach global markets. They weren’t abstract examples; they were opportunities to connect the policy outcomes of the Congress directly to tangible action in food systems. The motions passed in Abu Dhabi became a framework for how hospitality and culinary expertise can amplify impact.
When the motion on business engagement passed, requiring private sector companies to embed nature-positive practices, the message was clear: kitchens, sourcing, and hospitality are now central to global conservation efforts. Our daily decisions ingredient sourcing, menu planning, procurement are no longer peripheral; they are part of the architecture of change.
The City, the Heat, the Experience:
Abu Dhabi stretches between desert and sea, and you feel that duality everywhere. Blazing days, calm evenings; ultra-modern towers, ancient traditions; sand dunes alongside the Gulf. The calls to prayer at dawn, the spice markets at midday, the skyline lit in gold at dusk all of it seeps into your bones.
Even the food told the story: seafood fresh from the Gulf, herbs grown in arid soils, dates and cardamom coffee before dawn. Every ingredient felt earned. Every dish a reflection of place. Every place a piece of planet.
The exhibition floor was alive with innovation: species-monitoring tech, Indigenous knowledge platforms, supply-chain transparency tools, alternative proteins, and conservation-finance models. Kitchens and dining experiences are part of the same ecosystem. Hospitality does not exist apart from conservation we are participants, influencers, and amplifiers.
Looking Forward:
This trip was more than a speech. It was a statement that food, hospitality, and culinary sourcing matter at the highest levels of conservation. The motions, votes, and policy outcomes of IUCN 2025 have real consequences. Every chef, supplier, and food service team member has a role in advancing these priorities.
Returning, I carry a renewed sense of purpose. The plate is not just sustenance; it is a storyteller. It is a bridge between people and planet. The motions passed in Abu Dhabi provide a blueprint: sourcing ethically, thinking expansively, and aligning with frameworks both locally and globally.
In the kitchen, in procurement, in the dining room, every decision echoes. Every menu becomes a chance to advance a nature-positive future.
Final Thought:
If you could have been there with me, felt the heat of the sand outside the glass towers, heard the applause of a global assembly, seen the motion-cards flash “Approved” on screens, you’d understand this isn’t just about saving species or forests. It’s about saving ourselves.
By choosing what we serve, by where we source, and by how we tell the story behind the plate, we lean into the conservation conversation. And in the end, that’s what unites us all: people, food, planet.
In the kitchen, we hold more power than we often realize the power to connect, to change, to conserve. And in Abu Dhabi, in that hall of global voices and global policy, I saw how that power begins.
