The evolving outcomes of UNFCCC COP30 and the IUCN World Conservation Congress (WCC) 2025 reveal a deeper structural shift in international law: from negotiating ambition to governing delivery across interconnected systems. As Prof Marie-Claire Cordonier Segger (Univ Cambridge / CISDL) has emphasised, “the real frontier of international law today lies in implementation—how norms are translated into coherent, accountable governance across climate, nature, and development.” What emerges from recent dialogues is not simply a catalogue of decisions, but a reconfiguration of legal priorities. COP30 and WCC 2025 together signal that climate action, biodiversity conservation, and the SDGs can no longer be pursued in parallel silos; rather, they must be operationalised through integrated legal frameworks that anticipate CBD COP17 and UNFCCC COP31 as moments of consolidation, not reinvention.
Listen to expert insights on how the key outcomes of the UNFCCC COP30 and IUCN WCC 2025 set the stage for the CBP COP 17 and UNFCCC COP 31 in 2026.
Adv Ayman Cherkaoui is the Director of the Hassan II International Center for Environmental Training and holds the position of Deputy Chair of the IUCN World Commission on Environmental Law (IUCN WCEL). He also served as a Special Advisor for Climate Change and Negotiations to the COP22 Presidency.
From a climate governance perspective, COP30’s significance lies in its recalibration of how the Paris Agreement is implemented domestically. As Prof Alessandra Lehmen (President, Environmental Law Commission, OAB/RS / Brazilian Bar Federal Climate Change Commission) argues, “climate governance is increasingly being constitutionalised—embedded within domestic legal systems as a matter of rights, duties, and long-term state responsibility.” This shift is complemented by the systems-oriented framing highlighted by Prof Markus Gehring (Univ Cambridge / CISDL), who notes that “effective climate law now depends on aligning financial regulation, trade, and public governance with decarbonisation pathways.” Together, these perspectives point to an emerging legal architecture where NDCs are no longer standalone commitments, but are woven into broader regulatory and economic systems. The implication is clear: ahead of COP31, closing the ambition gap will depend not only on stronger targets, but on legal designs capable of delivering implementation at scale and with equity.
Listen to expert exchanges on Climate Law and Governance Post-COP30.
Experts include Prof Markus Gehring (Prof, Univ Cambridge / Lead Counsel, CISDL); Adv Ayman Cherkaoui (Lead Counsel, CISDL / Director, Hassan II Intl Centre for Enviro Training / Deputy Chair, IUCN World Commission on Environmental Law); Adv Railla Puno (Coordinator, CLGI) as chairs and Prof Joao Daniel Macedo Sa (Prof, PPFG-UFPA Law); Prof Leonardo de Camargo Subtil (Univ Caixas do Sul); Adv Mara Wendebourg (Lawyer, Legal Response International); Adv Himanshu Pabreja (Coordinator, CLGI); Adv Emily Morison (Project Lawyer, International Bar Association); Adv Bianca Miranda (LLM Candidate, Queen Mary University; Consultant, EBRD); Adv Elliot Njejimana (Moderator, REJEAC); Prof Layla McClaskey (Prof, Res Collective on Advanced Studies Energy Transition (NEATE), FGV Rio Law); Prof L Pushpa Kumar (Prof, Univ Delhi); Adv Maria de Arcos Tejerizo (Lawyer, Madrid Bar); Dr Pedro Schilling de Carvalho (Asst Prof, Univ College London); Adv Ana Chagas (IBA Water Law Comm); Adv Done Yalcin (Senior Partner, CMS); Adv. Gozde Kuscuoglu (Partner, BTS-Legal) as intervenors.
Please refer to this link for more insights on the climate discussions.
Parallel developments in biodiversity governance reinforce this move toward integration. Reflecting on the trajectory following WCC 2025, Prof Jorge Cabrera (Univ Costa Rica / CISDL) underscores that “the Global Biodiversity Framework will succeed or fail on its legal uptake—how its targets are translated into national legislation and institutional practice.” At the same time, Prof Chris Sandbrook (Univ Cambridge Conservation Research Institute) cautions that “conservation cannot be reduced to spatial targets alone; it must engage with the social and political realities that shape how land and ecosystems are governed.” These insights converge in the growing emphasis on rights-based conservation and the recognition of OECMs as vehicles for embedding Indigenous and community stewardship within formal legal systems. The challenge ahead of CBD COP17 is therefore not merely to expand conservation coverage, but to design governance frameworks that are both ecologically effective and socially legitimate.
Listen to expert exchanges on Biodiversity Conservation and Indigenous Rights Post-IUCN WCC and Looking Ahead to CBD COP17.
Experts include Prof Jorge Cabrera (Univ Costa Rica / Lead Counsel, CISDL); Dr Daniel Ruiz De Garibay Ponce (Senior Lecturer, Asia Pacific University of Technology, and Innovation / Coordinator, BLGI); Adv Tejas Rao (Senior Manager, CISDL) as chairs and Adv Tim Scott (Senior Policy Advisor, UNDP); Dr. Harry Jonas (Senior Director, WWF-US / Co-Chair, IUCN WCPA OECM Specialist Group); Adv Nina Pindham (Cornerstone Barristers); Adv Elizabeth Nwarueze (DPhil Candidate, Univ Oxford); Ms Tsovinar Hovhannisyan (Director, ArAves Nature Conservation NGO / Conservation Programs Manager, FPWC); Adv Emily Julier (Counsel, Hogan Lovells); Prof Konstantia Koutouki (Prof, Univ Montreal); Ms Jojo Mehta (Co-Founder & CEO, Stop Ecocide International) as intervenors.
Please refer to this link for more insights on biodiversity.
What follows from these trajectories is a clear agenda for legal and governance reform. As Adv Michael Strauss (EBRD) has observed, “the effectiveness of international law will increasingly depend on its ability to mobilise investment, manage risk, and coordinate across fragmented systems.” This demands a shift toward interoperable legal frameworks, stronger accountability mechanisms, and deeper collaboration across actors—from governments and financial institutions to legal practitioners, academics, civil society, and Indigenous communities. The task is less about creating new regimes than about stitching together those that already exist into a functioning whole. In this sense, the road to UNFCCC COP31 in Antalya, CBD COP17 in Yerevan, and UNCCD COP17 in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia is not merely procedural; it is a test of whether international law can move from fragmented ambition to integrated transformation.
Listen to expert insights on Future Directions and Forward Legal Strategies after the UNFCCC COP30 & the IUCN WCC 2025.
Adv. Mike Strauss is an experienced legal professional with a distinguished career in international development finance and public policy. He has served on the Board of the Asian Development Bank and as Senior Advisor for International Finance at the U.S. Treasury, where he worked on global financial and development issues. He currently serves as General Counsel of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), where he leads legal strategy and supports the institution’s mission to advance sustainable, market-oriented transitions.