At the 6th Conservation Asia Congress in Kathmandu, nearly 500 mostly Asian conservationists adopted the Kathmandu Resolution calling for trans-Asian collaboration, freer movement of knowledge, and targeted capacity building to address biodiversity loss across diverse ecosystems.
Delegates at the Conservation Asia Congress passed the Kathmandu Resolution asking for regional cooperation, resource mobilization, and free movement of knowledge and expertise.
Program content was strong on terrestrial and charismatic-species research but participants flagged gaps on marine ecosystems, smaller species, and social-science perspectives.
# What happened in Kathmandu
The meeting produced the Kathmandu Resolution 2026. The resolution calls for building the capacity of the Asian conservation sector through peaceful regional cooperation and trans-Asian collaboration, the free movement of knowledge and expertise, and mobilizing resources to foster leadership.
# Who attended and what they did
The program delivered more than 300 hours of knowledge sharing. The scientific schedule included 11 plenary talks, roughly 300 oral presentations across 24 sessions and 19 symposiums, and 59 poster presentations. Organizers also ran five half-day and seven full-day workshops focused on skills and capacity-building.
# What topics dominated the program
Presentations covered a broad swath of terrestrial biodiversity across Asia: Asiatic cheetah and Arabian leopard in West Asian drylands, snow leopards and highland fauna, elephants and primates in tropical South and Southeast Asia, and diverse avian, amphibian, and reptile conservation work. The meeting foregrounded human dimensions of conservation: human-wildlife interactions, the attitude-behavior nexus, political ecology, community stewardship, policy analysis, and conservation education.
# Gaps participants asked to address
Attendees reported several areas needing stronger focus in future regional work:
Those gaps shaped parts of the Kathmandu Resolution, which emphasizes more inclusive knowledge exchange and capacity building across themes and geographies.
# Why the Resolution matters for Asia's conservation field
The commentary around the Congress emphasizes structural challenges across Asia that complicate conservation: uneven development patterns, capital-intensive infrastructure growth, high dependence on natural resources, high population densities overlapping with wildlife habitats, illegal wildlife trade, and political conflicts. Delegates see regional cooperation and locally led capacity development as ways to better align conservation practice with these complex social and ecological realities.
# Immediate implications and next steps
Resolution asks governments, funders, and conservation organizations across Asia to prioritize:
If implemented, those steps would aim to broaden who leads conservation research and practice in Asia and to fill the programmatic gaps identified at the Congress.
# Bottom line
Congress combined a large, youthful, and regionally diverse cohort of practitioners and researchers and converted that gathering into the Kathmandu Resolution, a call for practical, Asia-focused collaboration and capacity building. Participants praised the scientific program and training opportunities while calling for more attention to marine systems, smaller species, and social-science perspectives.
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