Eight principles for inclusive nature action have been developed in consultation with multiple conservation partners, including government and civil society leaders from around the world, Cambridge Conservation Initiative (CCI) members Fauna and Flora, and Executive Director of CCI Melissa Leach.

The principles are intended to provide a guiding framework to help governments, donors, non-governmental organisations and other stakeholders support and scale up transformative action to conserve, restore and sustainably use and manage biodiversity in ways that are locally-led, gender-responsive and inclusive of a wide diversity of rights holders.

The principles were initially developed during a Wilton Park conference on ‘Transformative change for global biodiversity: the role of gender equality and social inclusion’ hosted by the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in September 2024. CCI hosted a follow on workshop in January 2025 and several CCI partners have been involved in planning and participating in further workshops, dialogues and action plans.

Published in time for New York Climate Week 2025, the principles were highlighted by UK Minister for Nature Mary Creagh in her speech at the event:

“These principles challenge us to rethink how we fund, design and deliver climate and biodiversity solutions. They call for structural change – like securing land rights, strengthening local leadership and weaving Indigenous knowledge into policy and practice. They also call on us as funders to be more flexible, patient and adaptative, and most crucially, for us all to ensure that the rights and security of environmental defenders – often Indigenous Peoples and local communities and very often women – are safeguarded.”

The next steps for the collaboration are practical: to get the principles into action, so they genuinely make a difference to the equity of nature and climate work around the world. Dr Dilys Roe, Principal Researcher and Team Leader at the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), who has been central to the development of the principles, will be presenting the principles at the Nature Positive Pavilion at the World Conservation Congress in Abu Dhabi, on Monday 13 October. The event aims to publicise the principles, explain how they resonate with, but are also different from, other initiatives, and encourage greater uptake, implementation and funding in the run up to the next Convention on Biological Diversity CoP in 2026.