Realizing a Nature-Positive Future in North America:
No More Business as Usual
Presented by the Doris Duke Foundation, the Salazar Center’s sixth International Symposium on Conservation Impact took place May 5 – 7, 2025, in Vancouver, British Columbia. Together with more than 200 conservation leaders from across the continent, we explored the question, how can North America meet the ambitious 2030 targets of the Kunming‑Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework within a political context that increasingly undermines environmental protection, democratic decision-making, and nation to nation cooperation?
Synthesis Report
Realizing a nature-positive future in North America: No more business as usual
Companion Report
Three Perspectives on Biodiversity Conservation Strategy
After the Symposium, the Salazar Center team reflected on what we heard from 2025 participants and attendees, and this report weaves together the Symposium’s presentations and conversations, capturing the wisdom, knowledge, and resolve of our continental community as we strive to meet 2030 biodiversity goals. Key takeaways include:
- the importance of Indigenous-led stewardship,
- the necessity of transboundary connectivity across the continent, and
- the potential of innovative finance models to scale impact.
The report also emphasizes the clear-eyed realism and determination to plan for future generations that emerged so strongly over the course of our three days together.
While planning the 2025 Symposium, we wondered how our conservation community was feeling about the political changes sweeping across the continent. To better understand our network’s perceptions, we partnered with Dr. J. Gooden—a conservationist working at the intersection of philanthropy, practice, and research—before, during, and after the event to explore two questions:
- What changes were most concerning?
- How could conservation professionals, collectively, act to most effectively protect biodiversity?
The resulting report describes our findings as well as implications and suggestions for further action.
The 2025 Symposium was made possible by our generous sponsors:
