COICA announces the approval of IUCN Motion 068 for urgent action to protect and restore the Amazon by 2030
Gland, Switzerland, September 24, 2025. – The Coordinator of Indigenous Organizations of the Amazon Basin (COICA) announces the approval of Motion 068 at the IUCN World Conservation Congress, with the support of 709 IUCN member organizations worldwide and 99 governments and/or governmental agencies.
In 2021, COICA became the first Indigenous organization to present a motion within the IUCN, pioneering this advocacy strategy. On that occasion, amid the pandemic, the motion received the support of 556 civil society and Indigenous organizations and 36 votes from governmental agencies.
Resolution 068 responds to the urgent need to restore the Amazon after the 2023–2024 fires, which devastated an area larger than Italy. It complements IUCN Resolution 129, led by COICA in 2021, which called to “Avoid the tipping point by protecting 80% by 2025,” now extended with a new timeframe to 2030.
However, it is crucial to stress that COP30 must become the space to enshrine a regional goal that prevents an imminent tipping point and guarantees the survival of our peoples, the Amazonian population, and the planet.
In 2021, IUCN Resolution 129 propelled the initiative “Amazonia for Life: Protect 80% by 2025, Avoid the Tipping Point”, and Indigenous leaders gathered under COICA became the architects of a vision that now guides global urgency to conserve the Amazon rainforest as an undeniable measure to prevent mass extinction.
Today, over 1,300 organizations worldwide—including around 100 Amazonian Indigenous organizations—have joined this call. The “tipping point” has been recognized as the most significant challenge in the Belém Declaration (2023), while the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues issued two resolutions in 2023 urging Amazonian governments to protect 80% of the biome, prioritizing Indigenous land recognition. Colombia adopted this goal in 2023, among other milestones.
Despite these efforts, four years later, data reveal that combined degradation and deforestation have worsened, now reaching 28%. Science confirms that the tipping point occurs when combined deforestation and degradation exceed 20–25%, and temperatures rise 4–5°C above pre-industrial levels.
According to Fany Kuiru, General Coordinator of COICA:
“The Amazon and its peoples are in danger of extinction. Protecting and restoring its integrity is a vital urgency for humanity and a debt owed to the peoples who defend it. Resolution 129 paved the way for a shared vision in 2021, but governments’ political will to protect the Amazon remains pending. Four years later, Resolution 068 calls for emergency action to also restore life in
this forest and its waters, on which Indigenous Peoples and nearly 50 million people in the basin depend. In a world where ethics have taken a back seat, we urge our governments and the global community to turn their words into concrete policies in 2025. We are living in a tipping point scenario—there is no more time, only action.”
The Role of Indigenous Peoples
The approval of Motion 068 is not just a technical victory; it is a political mandate, passed by a majority at IUCN—just like Resolution 129. It adds to key regional instruments such as the Belém Declaration, which identified the tipping point as the region’s greatest challenge; the Advisory Opinion No. 32 of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (2025), which developed the link between the climate crisis and human rights; and the approval of the Amazon Indigenous Peoples Mechanism (MAPI) within the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization (ACTO).
The knowledge and governance systems of over 500 Indigenous Peoples of the Amazon—including 185 in voluntary isolation or initial contact—have safeguarded life in the Amazon for millennia. Their territories cover one-third of the Amazon, yet receive no direct budget allocations and less than 1% of global climate financing, despite conservation outcomes comparable to or even exceeding those of protected areas.
Resolution 068 explicitly recognizes the need to ensure legal, physical, and financial security for Indigenous Peoples, placing them at the center of solutions.
Commitments of Resolution 068
The resolution approved by the IUCN body commits to:
- Halting deforestation and degradation by 2030, prioritizing the restoration of critical areas.
- Excluding extractive activities in zones of high ecological integrity.
- Integrating Indigenous territories into national biodiversity strategies and NDCs,
after ensuring free, prior, and informed consent.
- Strengthening innovative financial mechanisms, including debt forgiveness and
swaps, and pan-Amazonian funds with Indigenous participation.
Today, with eyes set on COP30 in Belém do Pará (Brazil, 2025), Motion 068 becomes the roadmap for governments, multilateral organizations, and civil society to assume binding commitments.
COICA calls on governments, financial institutions, civil society organizations, and global citizens to join the implementation of Resolution 068.
About COICA and the “Amazonia for Life: Protect 80% by 2025” Initiative
COICA was founded in 1984 to promote policies, proposals, and actions at local, national, and international levels, led by Amazonian Indigenous peoples, nationalities, and organizations.
In 2021, COICA and Indigenous leaders from the nine countries of the Amazon Basin, together with allied organizations, issued an urgent call to the IUCN to avoid the tipping point by protecting 80% of the Amazon by 2025. Resolution 129 was approved with the support of 541 global civil society organizations and 62 ministries.
Today, more than 1,300 organizations support the goal and the Initiative. The new resolution, backed by 709 organizations worldwide and 99 governments, will enable actions through 2030 to prevent cascading tipping points by protecting and restoring Amazonian ecosystems.
The “Amazonia for Life Initiative” calls for the protection and restoration of 80% of the Amazon by 2030 to avoid reaching the tipping point in the planet’s largest carbon sink.
Press Contacts / Interview Opportunities:
- Alicia Guzmán (Technical Coordinator, 80×2025 Initiative) – aliciaguzman5@hotmail.com / +593 98 641 5612
- Bryan Ludeña (COICA Communications) – blud1993@gmail.com / +593 98 979 5277
Protecting and restoring the Amazon is protecting the future of life on Earth.