Nigeria, int’l delegates urge action on biodiversity targets by 2020

More than 1,000 delegates from around the world including Nigeria have called on governments to scale up actions needed to achieve existing global biodiversity targets by 2020 (the Aichi Biodiversity Targets).

The delegates met at the just concluded two critical meetings of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in Montreal, Canada and recommended that governments also addressed the process for negotiating a new and more effective global biodiversity framework for the post-2020 period.

Inspired by the overall possibilities and the need for urgent action, delegates assessed progress under the Convention, and advanced a proposal for the negotiating path towards the post-2020 global biodiversity framework.

They recognized the need to leverage emerging new scientific research including the work of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), such as the recently released regional assessments. Parties also invited greater collaboration between the IPBES and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

A major topic addressed at the meeting was mainstreaming of biodiversity into sectors that depend on biodiversity, and whose actions cause potential adverse impacts to ecosystems and species. Governments recommended a package of actions for governments, businesses and other stakeholders, to facilitate the incorporation of biodiversity considerations into the energy, mining, infrastructure, manufacturing and processing, and health sectors.

Countries noted considerable progress in setting access and benefit-sharing frameworks. However, the delegates underlined, that further efforts are needed to make the Protocol fully operational.

The meeting also addressed the way forward for advancing on a global multilateral benefit-sharing mechanism, and on the question of specialised international instruments related to access and benefit-sharing in the context of Article 4.4 of the Protocol.

Countries looked at the question of mechanisms for conservation of biodiversity that extend beyond existing notions of protected areas and recommended that the definition ‘other effective area-based conservation measures’ be considered by the COP, along with technical advice on guiding principles.

Governments recognised that, as new scientific information continues to emerge, there may be a need to modify existing ecologically or biologically significant marine areas (EBSAs).

Countries also identified the need for agreed-upon means and approaches to describe new EBSAs in areas where EBSA workshops have already been held. A proposal for processes to revise existing, and describe new, EBSAs was advanced to the COP.

Delegates recommended that COP 14, this November, adopt the global action plan 2018-2030 for the conservation and sustainable use of pollinators.

Governments urged the engagement of businesses, indigenous peoples and local communities, and other relevant actors, involved in production landscapes, to address the drivers of loss of wild and managed pollinators in all ecosystems.

UN Assistant Secretary-General and CBD Executive Secretary, Dr. Cristiana Paşca Palmer, noted that “the results in Montreal reflect governments’ awareness of the need for accelerated actions to achieve the Aichi Biodiversity Targets.  The outcomes of these meetings identified key areas that require additional attention. What we need now is to turn these discussions into effective and inclusive actions on the ground.”

Stressing that “2020 is just around the corner,” the CBD Executive Secretary observed that the process for designing the post-2020 biodiversity framework needs to be science-based, transparent, and inclusive.”