CALI, Colombia  — The sixteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP 16) was suspended in the morning of Nov. 2 but not before countries agreed on an expanded role of Indigenous Peoples and local communities in saving biodiversity and a groundbreaking agreement on the operationalization of a new global mechanism to share benefits from digital genetic information.

The strong results, built on a spirit of compromise, and dialogue, demonstrate that multilateralism can still achieve results in a fractious time.  After roughly 12 hours of meeting in the Plenary session, at roughly 9 am COP 16 lost quorum and was suspended before approval of a few last items.

It will resume at a later date and venue to complete the agenda. 

The results at COP 16 are important strides towards achievement of the 23 targets for 2030 laid out in the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF), adopted at the previous meeting of the Convention’s 196 Parties in Montreal in 2022.

With billions of people depending on nature’s contributions, threats to biodiversity intensifying, and financial resources in short supply, the stakes at COP 16 were high.

Among the notable achievements after 12-days of negotiations:

“Cali Fund” is Launched: Sharing the Benefits from Digital Genetic Information

Having agreed at COP 15 to establish a multilateral mechanism, including a global fund, to share the benefits from uses of digital sequence information on genetic resources (DSI) more fairly and equitably, delegates at COP 16 advanced its operationalization – a historic decision of global importance.

This complex decision addresses how pharmaceutical, biotechnology, animal and plant breeding and other industries benefiting from DSI should share those benefits with developing countries and Indigenous Peoples and local communities. 

Under the agreed guidelines, large companies and other major entities benefiting commercially from DSI uses should contribute to “the Cali Fund,” based on a percentage of their profits or revenues. The model targets larger companies most reliant on DSI and exempts academic, public research institutions and other entities using DSI but not directly benefiting. 

Developing world countries will benefit from a large part of this fund, with allocations to support implementation of the KMGBF, according to the priorities of those governments.

At least half of the funding is expected to support the self-identified needs of indigenous peoples and local communities, including women and youth within those communities, through government or by direct payments through institutions identified by indigenous peoples and local communities.  Some funds may support capacity building and technology transfer.

Strong monitoring and reporting will ensure industries see the impact of their contributions in a transparent and open way, and regular reviews will build the mechanism’s efficiency and efficacy over time.

This agreement marks a precedent for benefit-sharing in biodiversity conservation with a fund designed to return some of the proceeds from the use of biodiversity to protect and restore nature where help is needed most.

Strengthening the role of Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities in Biodiversity Efforts

In a landmark decision at COP 16, Parties adopted a new Programme of Work on Article 8(j) and other provisions of the Convention related to indigenous peoples and local communities. This transformative programme sets out specific tasks to ensure the meaningful contribution of indigenous peoples and local communities towards the three objectives of the Convention ((a) the conservation of biological diversity, b) the sustainable use of biological diversity, and c) the fair and equitable sharing of benefits), as well as the implementation of the KMGBF. Through this Programme, rights, contributions and traditional knowledge of indigenous peoples and local communities are further embedded in the global agenda. 

Parties also agreed to establish a new permanent subsidiary body on article 8j and other Provisions, with its modus operandi to be developed over the next two years. The new Subsidiary Body is expected to elevate issues related to the implementation of Article 8j and enhance the engagement and participation of indigenous peoples and local communities in all convention processes.

A further decision was taken to recognize the role of people of African descent, comprising collectives embodying traditional lifestyles, in implementing the Convention and in the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity.

Funding Biodiversity: A Strategy for Resource Mobilization 

Parties at COP 16 will resume discussions later will resume discussions later to approve a new “Strategy for Resource Mobilization” to help secure $200 billion annually by 2030 from all sources to support biodiversity initiatives worldwide, representing one of the KMGBF’s goals.  Another is the redirection by 2030 of $500 billion per year in subsidies that harm biodiversity. 

Parties will also look at the possible creation of a new dedicated global financing instrument for biodiversity to receive, disburse, mobilize and articulate funding needs.

To date the Convention has been able to count on resources mobilized to support the goals and targets of the GBF through a variety of bilateral arrangements, private, and philanthropic sources, as well as dedicated funds such as: 

• The Global Biodiversity Framework Fund (GBFF), agreed at COP 15 in 2022 and established in less than a year by the Global Environment Facility (GEF).  The fund accepts contributions from governments, the private sector, and philanthropies, and finances high-impact projects in developing regions, with emphasis on supporting countries with fragile ecosystems, such as small island states and economies in transition. To date, 11 donor countries as well as the Government of Quebec have pledged nearly US $400 million to the GBF Fund, with US $163 million pledged during COP 16. 
• The Kunming Biodiversity Fund (KBF), launched at COP 16 with a US $200 million contribution from the Government of China.  The KBF supports accelerated action to deliver 2030 Agenda and SDG targets and 2050 goals of the Kunming-Montréal Global Biodiversity Framework, particularly in developing countries.

COP 16 also considered an evaluation of the effectiveness of the GEF, which serves as the financial mechanism of the Convention.  The evaluation noted that the GEF has made significant progress in its role in resource mobilization and in supporting the implementation of activities that achieve the objectives of the CBD.  Parties recommended ways to enhance the governance of the GEF and how to effectively engage with IPLCs, women and youth.  The Convention also outlined a four year outcome-oriented framework of biodiversity priorities that can help enhance GEF support to the Parties to the Convention for its next replenishment cycle, the 9th to date.  The report of the GEF to COP 16 noted that during the first two years of its current funding cycle (GEF-8), the GEF approved 2.42 billion in direct support to the KMGBF.

Implementing and Monitoring the KMGBF

Delegates also took stock of progress in implementing the KMGBF since its creation in 2022. Some 119 countries, representing the majority of CBD’s 196 Parties, submitted national biodiversity targets – policy measures and actions to help reach the 23 KMGBF targets.

Additionally, to date 44 countries have submitted National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plans as the policy document which will support the implementation of these national targets. COP 16 acknowledged the remarkable progress made within two years and highlighted the need to accelerate action.

Synthetic Biology

Synthetic biology was a prominent topic at COP 16, with an eye toward its potential benefits while considering the risks. To address inequity in the participation of developing countries in the synthetic biology field, the decision introduces a new thematic action plan to help address the capacity-building, technology transfer and knowledge-sharing needs of Parties, and Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities. By helping countries assess and apply synthetic biology technologies, COP 16 aims to foster innovation while safeguarding biodiversity.

An expert group will guide identification of synthetic biology’s potential benefits and review the potential impacts of recent technological developments – a unique opportunity to explore synthetic biology in relation to the CBD’s three fundamental objectives and in implementing the KMGBF. 

Invasive Alien Species

COP 16’s decision on invasive alien species addresses one of the top five direct drivers of biodiversity loss, highlighting the need for international cooperation, capacity-building, and technical support for developing countries.  It proposes guidelines for managing invasive alien species, touching on issues such as e-commerce, multicriteria analysis methodologies and others. 

New databases, improved cross-border trade regulations, and enhanced coordination with e-commerce platforms aim to address gaps in managing invasive species risks and align with the goals of KMGBF, where cross-sectoral and collaborative approaches are central to biodiversity protection.

Ecologically or Biologically Significant Marine Areas (EBSAs)

COP 16 agreed on a new and evolved process to identify ecologically or biologically significant marine areas (EBSAs). Under the CBD, work on EBSAs, which identifies the most critical and vulnerable parts of the ocean, began in 2010 and became a central area of onean-related work.  Continued development of the programme was stymied for more than 8 years due to legal and political concerns. 

COP 16 gave new life to this process, agreeing on new mechanisms to identify new EBSAs and update existing ones, ensuring that the cataloging of information of these areas can support planning and management with the most advanced science and knowledge available.

This comes at a time when EBSAs can play an important role for marine biodiversity protection, with major steps being taken to implement the 30×30 protected areas target and to prepare for the future implementation of the new agreement for marine biodiversity beyond national jurisdiction..

Sustainable Wildlife Management and Plant Conservation

Among the most crucial areas of discussion was the protection of wild species. A decision on sustainable wildlife management underscores the necessity of monitoring, capacity-building, and the inclusive participation of indigenous peoples, local communities, and women. To this end, the decision calls for the cooperation of international bodies like CITES and FAO to implement. The framework encourages research on how wildlife use, biodiversity loss, and zoonotic diseases are interconnected, a vital area for a world increasingly aware of the public health implications of biodiversity loss.

Additionally, COP 16 saw a commitment to align plant conservation efforts with the KMGBF monitoring framework. This includes updating the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation with specific indicators and a standardized reporting template, ensuring that progress in plant protection is measurable and consistent with global biodiversity targets.

Biodiversity and health

At COP 16, CBD Parties approved a Global Action Plan on Biodiversity and Health designed to help curb the emergence of zoonotic diseases, prevent non-communicable diseases, and promote sustainable ecosystems.  The strategy embraces a holistic “One Health” approach that recognizes the health of ecosystems, animals, and humans as interconnected.

Recognizing that biodiversity loss and poor health often share common drivers—such as deforestation, pollution, and climate change—the Plan emphasizes the urgency of tackling these threats to benefit both ecosystems and humans. 

The strategy underlines the need for education and promoting understanding of the connections between biodiversity and health, and the need to strengthen policies that promote sustainable ecosystems, support traditional medicine, and reduce habitat destruction. Special attention is accorded to vulnerable populations, including Indigenous peoples, who depend on local biodiversity for food, medicine, and cultural identity, as well as youth, seen as vital contributors to conservation and health initiatives.

At the heart of the plan is a collaborative framework that brings together health professionals, conservationists, and policymakers. The COP decision invites nations to designate national focal points for biodiversity and health, and to develop policies reflecting these interconnections, integrating biodiversity-health considerations in policies across the range of sectors from agriculture to urban planning.

Parties further called for close cooperation with international organizations, including the World Health Organization, to develop monitoring tools and metrics for assessing the progress of biodiversity-health initiatives. 

Risk assessment

In Cali, Parties to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety welcomed new, voluntary guidance on assessing the risks posed by living modified organisms (LMOs) containing engineered gene drives, a milestone in international biosafety management aiming to bolster the scientific rigor and transparency of risk assessment procedures in the Protocol.

Engineered gene drives have the capacity to propagate genetic modifications rapidly through wild populations and the move to strengthen protocols comes amid increased debate over genetic engineering, particularly for applications for pest control, disease control, and agriculture.  The new guidance prioritizes scientific transparency and accuracy in risk assessments, an essential step toward unified safety standards for managing LMOs worldwide.

The new guidance materials bring together the best available scientific resources and guidance materials available for environmental risk assessment, while also emphasizing the precautionary approach.

The voluntary nature of these guidelines allows individual countries to tailor assessments to national contexts, considering ecological variables unique to their environments. This flexibility is crucial in regions with diverse ecosystems and will help regulators make informed decisions, taking into account both the benefits and risks of LMOs with gene drives.

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Comment

“Over the last weeks, we have seen the largest, whole-of-society mobilization for biodiversity unfold in Cali, triggering interest from around the globe. We have seen Indigenous Peoples and local communities, civil society, businesses and financial institutions, sub-national governments, cities and local authorities, women and youth present remarkable initiatives and action.

And through it all, this COP delivered a seminal message: the time has come to make peace with nature. 

“From Cali, this UN Biodiversity Conference sent a powerful call to action. It has never been clearer that the implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and the Paris Agreement in a synergistic fashion will make peace with nature within reach.” 

• Astrid Schomaker, Executive Secretary, Convention on Biological Diversity  

“We arrived in Cali with a heavy agenda of work, and thanks to the determination of countries and the energy from this ‘People’s COP’, we’ve made good progress. COP16 has delivered important commitments on the interconnections on nature and climate, biodiversity and health and Ecologically or Biologically Significant Marine Areas (EBSAs). The new agreement on Article 8J is a critical step forward and commits us to embed the knowledge and role of Indigenous Peoples and local custodians across our work to deliver the Global Biodiversity Framework. Another big win is the new mechanism and fund for fair and equitable benefit-sharing from Digital Sequencing Information of genetic resources which will ensure that those who profit from biodiversity give back to nature, countries and communities. Of course, we would have liked to achieve more on resource mobilization and advances on the monitoring framework, but we will not slow down the pace of work. 2030 is rapidly approaching and action cannot wait.”

Inger Andersen, Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme

Coverage highlights:

New York Times, USA, A Major Push to Protect Nature Is Happening Now Delegates from around the world are meeting in Colombia in what is expected to be the biggest U.N. biodiversity conference in history https://nyti.ms/3AbOrkr 

2) COP16 Talks in Colombia Adopt a Novel Way to Pay for Conservation

Washington Post, USA, Some of the countries richest in nature are poor. Here’s what it will take to save them https://bit.ly/3YhCG44 

The Associated Press, USA, Environmental delegates gather in Colombia for a conference on dwindling global biodiversity https://bit.ly/3YzHGm1

2) At U.N. summit, historic agreement to give Indigenous groups voice on nature conservation decisions

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Germany, UN-Biodiversitätskonferenz: Will denn keiner die Natur retten? / UN Biodiversity Conference: Doesn’t anyone want to save nature? https://bit.ly/4ePPOEp

Le Monde, France: COP16 sur la biodiversité : à Cali, les Etats devront transformer en actes leurs promesses de stopper la destruction de la nature / COP16 on biodiversity: in Cali, States will have to transform their promises to stop the destruction of nature into actions https://bit.ly/40eDNE6

Reuters, World lags on 2030 nature goals headed into UN COP16 talks, https://bit.ly/3AaS3TW

The Guardian, United Kingdom. Humanity is on the verge of ‘shattering Earth’s natural limits’, say experts in biodiversity warning, https://bit.ly/3YaLdpk  

Financial Times, United Kingdom, 

• Do businesses need to care about biodiversity? https://bit.ly/48ismNK, 
• The new corporate green goal: being ‘nature positive’ https://bit.ly/48gDfzy
• UN summit agrees deal on genetic data but fails on wider finance to protect nature

Forbes, United States, Investors wake to the threat of biodiversity risk 

New Scientist, United Kingdom, Simple plan could raise the billions needed to stem biodiversity loss, https://bit.ly/4fgP37s 

The Lancet, United Kingdom, Biodiversity loss: a health crisis

Science Magazine, United States, Move past promises for biodiversity 

News release in full, click here

Additional coverage highlights: here

Key role in 60% of global plant and animal extinctions; Annual costs now >$423 Billion – have quadrupled every decade since 1970; Report provides evidence, tools and options to help governments achieve ambitious new global goal on invasive alien species

The severe global threat posed by invasive alien species is underappreciated, underestimated, and often unacknowledged. According to a major new report by the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), more than 37,000 alien species have been introduced by many human activities to regions and biomes around the world. This conservative estimate is now rising at unprecedented rates. More than 3,500 of these are harmful invasive alien species – seriously threatening nature, nature’s contributions to people and good quality of life. Too often ignored until it is too late, invasive alien species are a significant challenge to people in all regions and in every country.

Approved Sept 2 in Bonn, Germany, by representatives of the 143 member States of IPBES,  the Assessment Report on Invasive Alien Species and their Control finds that alongside dramatic changes to biodiversity and ecosystems, the global economic cost of invasive alien species exceeded $423 billion annually in 2019, with costs having at least quadrupled every decade since 1970.

In 2019, the IPBES Global Assessment Report found that invasive alien species are one of the five most important direct drivers of biodiversity loss – alongside changes in land- and sea-use, direct exploitation of species, climate change and pollution. On the basis of this finding, Governments tasked IPBES to provide the best available evidence and policy options to deal with the challenges of biological invasions. The resulting report was produced by 86 experts from 49 countries, working for more than four and a half years. It draws on more than 13,000 references, including very significant contributions from Indigenous Peoples and local communities, making it the most comprehensive assessment ever carried out of invasive alien species around the world.

“Invasive alien species are a major threat to biodiversity and can cause irreversible damage to nature, including local and global species extinctions, and also threaten human wellbeing,” said Professor Helen Roy (United Kingdom), co-chair of the Assessment with Prof. Anibal Pauchard (Chile) and Prof. Peter Stoett (Canada). 

The authors of the report emphasize that not all alien species become invasive – invasive alien species are the subset of alien species that are known to have become established and spread, which cause negative impacts on nature and often also on people. About 6% of alien plants; 22% of alien invertebrates; 14% of alien vertebrates; and 11% of alien microbes are known to be invasive, posing major risks to nature and to people. People with the greatest direct dependence on nature, such as Indigenous Peoples and local communities, are found to be at even greater risk. More than 2,300 invasive alien species are found on lands under the stewardship of Indigenous Peoples – threatening their quality of life and even cultural identities.        

While many alien species were historically introduced on purpose for their perceived benefits to people, the IPBES report finds that the negative impacts of those that do become invasive are enormous for nature and people. “Invasive alien species have been a major factor in 60% and the only driver in 16% of global animal and plant extinctions that we have recorded, and at least 218 invasive alien species have been responsible for more than 1,200 local extinctions . In fact, 85% of the impacts of biological invasions on native species are negative,” said Prof. Pauchard. Examples of such impacts include the ways that North American beavers (Castor canadensis) and Pacific Oysters (Magallana gigas) change ecosystems by transforming habitats – often with severe consequences for native species.    

Nearly 80% of the documented impacts of invasive alien species on nature’s contributions to people are also negative – especially through damage to food supplies – such as the impact of the European shore crab (Carcinus maenas) on commercial shellfish beds in New England and the damage caused by the Caribbean false mussel (Mytilopsis sallei) to locally important fishery resources in India.  

Similarly, 85% of documented impacts negatively affect people’s quality of life – for instance through health impacts, including diseases such as malaria, Zika and West Nile Fever, spread by invasive alien mosquito species like Aedes albopictusand Aedes aegyptii. Invasive alien species also damage livelihoods, for example in Lake Victoria where fisheries have declined due to the depletion of tilapia, as a result of the spread of water hyacinth (Pontederia crassipes), which is the world’s most widespread terrestrial invasive alien species. Lantana (Lantana camara), a flowering shrub, and the black rat (Rattus rattus) are the second and third most widespread globally, with far-reaching impacts on people and nature. 

“It would be an extremely costly mistake to regard biological invasions only as someone else’s problem,” said Pauchard. “Although the specific species that inflict damages vary from place to place, these are risks and challenges with global roots but very local impacts, facing people in every country, from all backgrounds and in every community – even Antarctica is being affected.” 

The report shows that 34% of the impacts of biological invasions were reported from the Americas, 31% from Europe and Central Asia, 25% from Asia and the Pacific and about 7% from Africa. Most negative impacts are reported on land (about 75%) – especially in forests, woodlands and cultivated areas – with considerably fewer reported in freshwater (14%) and marine (10%) habitats . Invasive alien species are most damaging on islands, with numbers of alien plants now exceeding the number of native plants on more than 25% of all islands.

“The future threat from invasive alien species is a major concern,” said Prof. Roy. “37% of the 37,000 alien species known today have been reported since 1970 – largely caused by rising levels of global trade and human travel. Under ‘business-as-usual’ conditions, we project that total numbers of alien species will continue to increase in this way.”

“But business-as-usual is actually unlikely,” continues Roy. “With so many major drivers of change predicted to worsen, it is expected that the increase of invasive alien species and their negative impacts, are likely to be significantly greater. The accelerating global economy, intensified and expanded land- and sea-use change, as well as demographic changes are likely to lead to increases in invasive alien species worldwide. Even without the introduction of new alien species, already established alien species will continue to expand their ranges and spread to new countries and regions. Climate change will make the situation even worse.” The report underscores that interactions between invasive alien species and other drivers of change will be likely to amplify their impacts – for example invasive alien plants can interact with climate change, often resulting in more intense and frequent fires, such as some of the devastating wildfires experienced recently around the world, releasing even more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

The IPBES experts point to the generally insufficient measures in place to tackle these challenges. While 80% of countries have targets related to managing invasive alien species in their national biodiversity plans, only 17% have national laws or regulations specifically addressing these issues. This also increases the risk of invasive alien species for neighbouring States. The report finds that 45% of all countries do not invest in the management of biological invasions.    

On a more positive note, the report highlights that future biological invasions, invasive alien species, and their impacts, can be prevented through effective management and more integrated approaches. “The good news is that, for almost every context and situation, there are management tools, governance options and targeted actions that really work,” said Prof. Pauchard. “Prevention is absolutely the best, most cost-effective option – but eradication, containment and control are also effective in specific contexts. Ecosystem restoration can also improve the results of management actions and increase the resistance of ecosystems to future invasive alien species . Indeed, managing invasive alien species can help to mitigate the negative effects of other drivers of change.” 

Prevention measures – such as border biosecurity and strictly enforced import controls – are identified by the report as having worked in many instances, such as the successes achieved in Australasia in reducing the spread of the brown marmorated stink bug (Halyomorpha halys). Preparedness, early detection and rapid response are shown to be effective at reducing rates of alien species establishment, and to be especially critical for marine and connected water systems . The PlantwisePlus programme, assisting smallholder farmers in Africa, Asia and Latin America is spotlighted by the report as a good example of the importance of general surveillance strategies to detect new alien species.

Eradication has been successful and cost-effective for some invasive alien species, especially when their populations are small and slow-spreading, in isolated ecosystems such as islands. Some examples of this are in French Polynesia where the black rat (Rattus rattus) and rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) have been successfully eradicated. The report indicates that eradication of alien plants is more challenging due to the length of time that seeds may lie dormant in soil. The authors add that successful eradication programmes depend on, amongst other elements, the support and engagement of stakeholders and Indigenous Peoples and local communities.

When eradication is not possible for different reasons, invasive alien species can often be contained and controlled – especially in land-based and closed water systems, as well as in aquaculture – an example being the containment of the invasive alien Asian tunicate (Styela clava) in aqua-cultured blue mussels in Canada. Successful containment can be physical, chemical or biological – although the appropriateness and effectiveness of each option is dependent on local context. The use of biological control for invasive alien plants and invertebrates, such as introducing a rust fungus (Puccinia spegazzinii) to control bitter vine (Mikania micrantha) in the Asia-Pacific region, has been effective – with success in more than 60% of known cases.

“One of the most important messages from the report is that ambitious progress in tackling invasive alien species is achievable,” said Prof. Stoett. “What is needed is a context-specific integrated approach, across and within countries and the various sectors involved in providing biosecurity, including trade and transportation; human and plant health; economic development and more. This will have far-reaching benefits for nature and people.” Options explored in the report include considering coherent policies and codes of conduct across sectors and scales; commitment and resourcing; public awareness and engagement, such as citizen science campaigns like those promoting ‘check, clean and dry’; open and interoperable information systems; filling knowledge gaps (the authors identify more than 40 areas where research is needed); as well as inclusive and fair governance.

“The immediate urgency of invasive alien species, with extensive and growing harm to nature and people, makes this report so valuable and timely,” said Dr. Anne Larigauderie, the Executive Secretary of IPBES. “The Governments of the world agreed, in December last year, as part of the new Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, to reduce the introduction and establishment of priority invasive alien species by at least 50% by 2030. This is a vital, but also very ambitious commitment. The IPBES Invasive Alien Species Report provides the evidence, tools and options to help make this commitment more achievable.”

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Species

• >37,000: alien species established worldwide
• 200: new alien species recorded every year
• >3,500: invasive alien species recorded globally, including 1,061 plants (6% of all alien plant species), 1,852 invertebrates (22%), 461 vertebrates (14%) and 141 microbes (11%)
• 37%: proportion of known alien species reported since 1970
• 36%: anticipated increase in alien species by 2050 compared to 2005, under a “business-as-usual” scenario (assumes past trends in drivers of change continue)
• >35%: proportion of alien freshwater fish in the Mediterranean basin that have arisen from aquaculture

Impacts

• 34%: proportion of impacts reported in the Americas (31% Europe and Central Asia; 25% Asia Pacific; 7% Africa
• 75%: impacts reported in the terrestrial realm (mostly in temperate and boreal forests and woodlands and cultivated areas)
• 14%: proportion of impacts reported in freshwater ecosystems 
• 10%: proportion of impacts reported in the marine realm
• 60%: proportion of recorded global extinctions to which invasive alien species have contributed
• 16%: proportion of recorded global extinctions in which invasive alien species have been the sole driver
• 1,215: local extinctions of native species caused by 218 invasive alien species (32.4% were invertebrates, 50.9% vertebrates, 15.4% plants, 1.2% microbes)
• 27%: invasive alien species impacts on native species through ecosystem properties changes (24% through interspecific competition; 18% through predation; 12% through herbivory)
• 90%: global extinctions on islands attributed mainly to invasive alien species
• >$423 billion: estimated annual economic cost of biological invasions, 2019
• 92%: proportion of economic costs of biological invasions attributed to invasive alien species damaging nature’s contributions to people and good quality of life (with the remaining 8% of costs related to biological invasion management)
• >2,300: invasive alien species documented on lands managed, used and/or owned by Indigenous Peoples
• 400%: rise in the economic cost of biological invasions in every decade since 1970

Policy and management:

• 80% (156 out of 196): countries with targets in national biodiversity strategies and action plans for managing biological invasions
• >200%: increase in the last decade in the number of countries with national invasive alien species checklists, including databases (196 countries in 2022)
• 83%: countries without specific national legislation or regulations on invasive alien species
• 88%: success rate of eradication programmes (1,550) conducted on 998 islands
• >60%: success rates of biological control programs for invasive alien plants and invertebrates

IPBES Partner Comments

Humanity has been moving species around the world for centuries. This practice has brought some positives. However, when imported species run rampant and unbalance local ecosystems, indigenous biodiversity suffers. As a result, invasive species have become one of the five horsemen of the biodiversity apocalypse that is riding down harder and faster upon the world.

While the other four horsemen – changing land- and sea-use, over exploitation, climate change and pollution – are relatively well understood, knowledge gaps remain around invasive species. The IPBES Invasive Alien Species Report is a welcome effort to close these gaps. By providing critical information on trends in invasive species and policy tools to address them, this report can provide a springboard to concrete action on invasive species.

I ask all decision-makers to use this report’s recommendations as a basis to act on this growing threat to biodiversity and human well-being – and make a real contribution to achieving the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework by 2030.

Inger Andersen, Executive Director, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)

Invasive alien species pose a substantial threat to livelihoods and food security around the world. They can, for example, manifest as destructive crop or forest pests or displace species targeted by fisheries. They are an important driver of biodiversity loss and hence a threat to the various ecosystem services that support agricultural production and sustainable livelihoods. 

The information contained in this report will contribute greatly to efforts to combat the spread of invasive alien species and to meeting Target 6 of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. It will be especially valuable for all of us who work to integrate the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity into the world’s agrifood systems to enhance their productivity and resilience.

QU Dongyu, Director-General, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)

Invasive alien species — plants, animals or microorganisms that are introduced intentionally or unintentionally into areas where they are not native — remain one of the most striking symptoms of the adverse effect of human activities on our natural world. They not only contribute to wildlife species extinctions, but also pose a rapidly growing risk to progress on the Global Goals — affecting entire ecosystems, economies and food security to human health, wellbeing, and livelihoods. 

As anthropogenic factors such as climate change provide the perfect petri dish for alien species to multiply and spread, our decisions and actions must be rooted in a comprehensive understanding of this threat and its future implications. 

Addressing this need, this timely analysis by IPBES combines the latest science, data, and new thinking to guide countries, communities, and the United Nations family to prevent, mitigate, and manage invasive alien species, a pivotal step towards advancing the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework targets. That includes leveraging invaluable local knowledge and outlining a range of practical solutions. 

This new understanding will allow our global community to take new measures to protect both people and planet from the unwanted and severe consequences of invasive alien species.

Achim Steiner, Administrator, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)

Invasive alien species are one of the five main direct drivers of biodiversity loss globally and the threats they pose to species, to ecosystems and to human well-being are rapidly increasing. 

The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, in its Target 6, aims to tackle the impacts of invasive alien species on biodiversity and ecosystem services, and to reduce the rate of introduction and establishment of invasive alien species by at least 50% by 2030. This is an ambitious target, especially when we consider the increasing levels of global trade and travel. 

The IPBES Assessment will provide the best available scientific knowledge to help countries and stakeholders understand and address this growing threat. It will identify tools and policy measures for identifying and regulating pathways of introduction and for eliminating or controlling invasive species that have already been established. Critically, the assessment will take into account different value systems and help to focus actions on priority species, pathways and sites.

Congratulations to IPBES for this critical work. I look forward to seeing its active use by Parties and stakeholders. I believe it will be a critical resource to facilitate the urgent actions necessary to achieve Target 6 and work towards living in harmony with nature.  

David Cooper, Acting Executive Secretary, The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)

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IPBES has now released the Summary for Policymakers (SPM) of the Invasive Alien Species Report. The SPM presents the key messages and policy options, as approved by the IPBES Plenary. To access the SPM, photos, ‘B-roll’ and other media resources go to: www.bit.ly/IASMedia The full six-chapter Report (including all data) will be published later this year.

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About IPBES:

Often described as the “IPCC for biodiversity”, IPBES is an independent intergovernmental body comprising more than 140 member Governments. Established by Governments in 2012, it provides policymakers with objective scientific assessments about the state of knowledge regarding the planet’s biodiversity, ecosystems and the contributions they make to people, as well as the tools and methods to protect and sustainably use these vital natural assets. For more information about IPBES and its assessments visit www.ipbes.net

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Coverage highlights

New York Times, United States
Invasive Species Are Costing the Global Economy Billions, Study Finds
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/04/climate/invasive-species-cost-ipbes.html

Washington Post, United States
Scientists warn invasive pests are taking a staggering toll on society Invasive pests are wreaking havoc across the planet, destroying crops, disseminating pathogens, depleting fish people rely on for food
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/scientists-warn-invasive-pests-are-taking-a-staggering-toll-on-society/ar-AA1gdunT

Agence France Presse, France
World losing high-stakes fight against invasive species
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/world-losing-high-stakes-fight-against-invasive-species/ar-AA1gdL3l

The Hill, United States
Invasive species are costing society more than $423 billion a year: report
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/invasive-species-are-costing-society-more-than-423-billion-a-year-report/ar-AA1geTLO

Business Insider, United States
From non-native bluegrass in Antarctica to beautiful spotted bugs in the middle of NYC, here are 5 invasive species that are as stunning as they are threatening to humanity
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/from-non-native-bluegrass-in-antarctica-to-beautiful-spotted-bugs-in-the-middle-of-nyc-here-are-5-invasive-species-that-are-as-stunning-as-they-are-threatening-to-humanity/ar-AA1gf4Il

CNN, United States
Invasive species cost the world $423 billion every year and are causing environmental chaos, UN reports finds
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/invasive-species-cost-the-world-423-billion-every-year-and-are-causing-environmental-chaos-un-reports-finds/ar-AA1gfHg8

Newsweek, United States
Invasive Raccoons Wreaking Havoc on Europe’s Wildlife
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/invasive-raccoons-wreaking-havoc-on-europe-s-wildlife/ar-AA1ghqiM

Daily Mail, United Kingdom
Revealed: The invasive species wreaking havoc on Britain – including Asian hornets, giant hogweed, and killer shrimp
http://www.nla-eclipsweb.com/service/redirector/article/96343761.html

Reuters, United Kingdom
Invasive species costs global economy $423 bln per year – UN report
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/reuters/article-12478751/Invasive-species-costs-global-economy-423-bln-year–UN-report.html

UK Press Association, United Kingdom
Invasive alien species `travelling around the world at unprecedented rates
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/pa/article-12478757/Invasive-alien-species-travelling-world-unprecedented-rates.html

Australian Associated Press
Alien invaders driving destruction of nature worldwide
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/aap/article-12478767/Alien-invaders-driving-destruction-nature-worldwide.html

Full coverage summary click here

News release in full, click here

By 2030: Protect 30% of Earth’s lands, oceans, coastal areas, inland waters; Reduce by $500 billion annual harmful government subsidies; Cut food waste in half

Nearing the conclusion of a sometimes fractious two-week meeting, nations of the world today agreed on a historic package of measures deemed critical to addressing the dangerous loss of biodiversity and restoring natural ecosystems.

Convened under UN auspices, chaired by China, and hosted by Canada, the 15th Conference of Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity adopted the “Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework” (GBF), including four goals and 23 targets for achievement by 2030.

Among the global targets for 2030:
 

• Effective conservation and management of at least 30% of the world’s lands, inland waters, coastal areas and oceans, with emphasis on areas of particular importance for biodiversity and ecosystem functioning and services. The GBF prioritizes ecologically-representative, well-connected and equitably-governed systems of protected areas and other effective area-based conservation, recognizing indigenous and traditional territories and practices. Currently 17% and 10% of the world’s terrestrial and marine areas respectively are under protection.
• Have restoration completed or underway on at least 30% of degraded terrestrial, inland waters, and coastal and marine ecosystems
• Reduce to near zero the loss of areas of high biodiversity importance,including ecosystems of high ecological integrity
• Cut global food waste in half and significantly reduce over consumption and waste generation
• Reduce by half both excess nutrients and the overall risk posed by pesticides and highly hazardous chemicals
• Progressively phase out or reform by 2030 subsidies that harm biodiversity by at least $500 billion per year, while scaling up positive incentives for biodiversity’s conservation and sustainable use
• Mobilize by 2030 at least $200 billion per year in domestic and international biodiversity-related funding from all sources – public and private
• Raise international financial flows from developed to developing countries,in particular least developed countries, small island developing States, and countries with economies in transition, to at least US$ 20 billion per year by 2025, and to at least US$ 30 billion per year by 2030
• Prevent the introduction of priority invasive alien species, and reduce by at least half the introduction and establishment of other known or potential invasive alien species, and eradicate or control invasive alien species on islands and other priority sites
• Require large and transnational companies and financial institutions to monitor, assess, and transparently disclose their risks, dependencies and impacts on biodiversity through their operations, supply and value chains and portfolios

Warns the GBF: “Without such action, there will be a further acceleration in the global rate of species extinction, which is already at least tens to hundreds of times higher than it has averaged over the past 10 million years.”

The framework’s four overarching global goals
 

GOAL A

• The integrity, connectivity and resilience of all ecosystems are maintained,enhanced, or restored, substantially increasing the area of natural ecosystems by 2050;
• Human induced extinction of known threatened species is halted, and, by2050, extinction rate and risk of all species are reduced tenfold, and the abundance of native wild species is increased to healthy and resilient levels;
• The genetic diversity within populations of wild and domesticated species,is maintained, safeguarding their adaptive potential.

GOAL B

• Biodiversity is sustainably used and managed and nature’s contributions to people, including ecosystem functions and services, are valued, maintained and enhanced, with those currently in decline being restored, supporting the achievement of sustainable development, for the benefit of present and future generations by 2050.

GOAL C

• The monetary and non-monetary benefits from the utilization of genetic resources, and digital sequence information on genetic resources, and of traditional knowledge associated with genetic resources, as applicable, are shared fairly and equitably, including, as appropriate with indigenous peoples and local communities, and substantially increased by 2050, while ensuring traditional knowledge associated with genetic resources is appropriately protected, thereby contributing to the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity, in accordance with internationally agreed access and benefit-sharing instruments.

GOAL D

• Adequate means of implementation, including financial resources, capacity-building, technical and scientific cooperation, and access to and transfer of technology to fully implement the Kunming-Montreal global biodiversity framework are secured and equitably accessible to all Parties, especially developing countries, in particular the least developed countries and small island developing States, as well as countries with economies in transition,progressively closing the biodiversity finance gap of $700 billion per year,and aligning financial flows with the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and the 2050 Vision for Biodiversity.

Held at Montreal’s Palais des Congrès Dec. 7-19, representatives of 188 governments on site (95% of all 196 Parties to the UN CBD, as well as two non-Parties – the United States and The Vatican), finalized and approved measures to arrest the ongoing loss of terrestrial and marine biodiversity and set humanity in the direction of a sustainable relationship with nature, with clear indicators to measure progress.

In addition to the GBF, the meeting approved a series of related agreements on its implementation, including planning, monitoring, reporting and review;resource mobilization; helping nations to build their capacity to meet the obligations; and digital sequence information on genetic resources.

For example, The Global Environment Facility was requested to establish, as soon as possible, a Special Trust Fund to support the implementation of the Global Biodiversity Framework (“GBF Fund”). The fund would complement existing support and scale up financing to ensure the timely implementation of the GBF with adequate, predictable and timely flow of funds.

Digital sequence information on genetic resources – a dominant topic at COP15 –
has many commercial and non-commercial applications, including pharmaceutical product development, improved crop breeding, taxonomy, and the monitoring of invasive species.

COP15 delegates agreed to establish within the GBF a multilateral fund for the equitable sharing of benefits between providers and users of DSI, to be finalized at COP16 in Türkiye in 2024.

The agreement also obligates countries to monitor and report every five years orless on a large set of “headline” and other indicators related to progress against the GBF’s goals and targets.

Headline indicators include the percent of land and seas effective conserved, the number of companies disclosing their impacts and dependencies on biodiversity,and many others.

The CBD will combine national information submitted by late February 2026 and late June 2029 into global trend and progress reports.

* * * * *

Emphasized throughout the approved documents are the needs to foster the full and effective contributions of women, persons of diverse gender identities, youth,indigenous peoples and local communities, civil society organizations, the private and financial sectors, and stakeholders from all other sectors.

Also emphasized: the need for a “whole-of-government and whole-of-society approach” to implementing the GBF.
 

Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework: 23 targets
 

TARGET 1

Ensure that all areas are under participatory integrated biodiversity inclusive spatial planning and/or effective management processes addressing land and sea use change, to bring the loss of areas of high biodiversity importance, including ecosystems of high ecological integrity, close to zero by 2030, while respecting the rights of indigenous peoples and local communities.

TARGET 2

Ensure that by 2030 at least 30 per cent of areas of degraded terrestrial, inland water, and coastal and marine ecosystems are under effective restoration, in order to enhance biodiversity and ecosystem functions and services, ecological integrity and connectivity.

TARGET 3

Ensure and enable that by 2030 at least 30 per cent of terrestrial, inland water,and coastal and marine areas, especially areas of particular importance for biodiversity and ecosystem functions and services, are effectively conserved and managed through ecologically representative, well-connected and equitably governed systems of protected areas and other effective area-based conservation measures, recognizing indigenous and traditional territories, where applicable,and integrated into wider landscapes, seascapes and the ocean, while ensuring that any sustainable use, where appropriate in such areas, is fully consistent with conservation outcomes, recognizing and respecting the rights of indigenous peoples and local communities including over their traditional territories.

TARGET 4

Ensure urgent management actions, to halt human induced extinction of known threatened species and for the recovery and conservation of species, in particular threatened species, to significantly reduce extinction risk, as well as to maintain and restore the genetic diversity within and between populations of native, wild and domesticated species to maintain their adaptive potential, including through in situ and ex situ conservation and sustainable management practices, and effectively manage human-wildlife interactions to minimize human-wildlife conflict for coexistence.

TARGET 5

Ensure that the use, harvesting and trade of wild species is sustainable, safe and legal, preventing overexploitation, minimizing impacts on non-target species and ecosystems, and reducing the risk of pathogen spill-over, applying the ecosystem approach, while respecting and protecting customary sustainable use by indigenous peoples and local communities.

TARGET 6

Eliminate, minimize, reduce and or mitigate the impacts of invasive alien species on biodiversity and ecosystem services by identifying and managing pathways of the introduction of alien species, preventing the introduction and establishment of priority invasive alien species, reducing the rates of introduction and establishment of other known or potential invasive alien species by at least 50 percent, by 2030, eradicating or controlling invasive alien species especially in priority sites, such as islands .

TARGET 7

Reduce pollution risks and the negative impact of pollution from all sources, by2030, to levels that are not harmful to biodiversity and ecosystem functions and services, considering cumulative effects, including: reducing excess nutrients lost to the environment by at least half including through more efficient nutrient cycling and use; reducing the overall risk from pesticides and highly hazardous chemicals by at least half including through integrated pest management, based on science, taking into account food security and livelihoods; and also preventing,reducing, and working towards eliminating plastic pollution.

TARGET 8

Minimize the impact of climate change and ocean acidification on biodiversity and increase its resilience through mitigation, adaptation, and disaster risk reduction actions, including through nature-based solution and/or ecosystem-based approaches, while minimizing negative and fostering positive impacts of climate action on biodiversity.

TARGET 9

Ensure that the management and use of wild species are sustainable, thereby providing social, economic and environmental benefits for people, especially those in vulnerable situations and those most dependent on biodiversity,including through sustainable biodiversity-based activities, products and services that enhance biodiversity, and protecting and encouraging customary sustainable use by indigenous peoples and local communities.

TARGET 10

Ensure that areas under agriculture, aquaculture, fisheries and forestry are managed sustainably, in particular through the sustainable use of biodiversity,including through a substantial increase of the application of biodiversity friendly practices, such as sustainable intensification, agroecological and other innovative approaches contributing to the resilience and long-term efficiency and productivity of these production systems and to food security, conserving and restoring biodiversity and maintaining nature’s contributions to people,including ecosystem functions and services.

TARGET 11

Restore, maintain and enhance nature’s contributions to people, including ecosystem functions and services, such as regulation of air, water, and climate,soil health, pollination and reduction of disease risk, as well as protection from natural hazards and disasters, through nature-based solutions and ecosystem-based approaches for the benefit of all people and nature.

TARGET 12

Significantly increase the area and quality and connectivity of, access to, and benefits from green and blue spaces in urban and densely populated areas sustainably, by mainstreaming the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity, and ensure biodiversity-inclusive urban planning, enhancing native biodiversity, ecological connectivity and integrity, and improving human health and well-being and connection to nature and contributing to inclusive and sustainable urbanization and the provision of ecosystem functions and services.

TARGET 13

Take effective legal, policy, administrative and capacity-building measures at all levels, as appropriate, to ensure the fair and equitable sharing of benefits that arise from the utilization of genetic resources and from digital sequence information on genetic resources, as well as traditional knowledge associated with genetic resources, and facilitating appropriate access to genetic resources,and by 2030 facilitating a significant increase of the benefits shared, in accordance with applicable international access and benefit-sharing instruments.

TARGET 14

Ensure the full integration of biodiversity and its multiple values into policies,regulations, planning and development processes, poverty eradication strategies,strategic environmental assessments, environmental impact assessments and, as appropriate, national accounting, within and across all levels of government and across all sectors, in particular those with significant impacts on biodiversity,progressively aligning all relevant public and private activities, fiscal and financial flows with the goals and targets of this framework.

TARGET 15

Take legal, administrative or policy measures to encourage and enable business,and in particular to ensure that large and transnational companies and financial institutions:

(a) Regularly monitor, assess, and transparently disclose their risks,dependencies and impacts on biodiversity including with requirements for all large as well as transnational companies and financial institutions along their operations, supply and value chains and portfolios;

(b) Provide information needed to consumers to promote sustainable consumption patterns;

(c) Report on compliance with access and benefit-sharing regulations and measures, as applicable;

in order to progressively reduce negative impacts on biodiversity, increase positive impacts, reduce biodiversity-related risks to business and financial institutions, and promote actions to ensure sustainable patterns of production.

TARGET 16

Ensure that people are encouraged and enabled to make sustainable consumption choices including by establishing supportive policy, legislative or regulatory frameworks, improving education and access to relevant and accurate information and alternatives, and by 2030, reduce the global footprint of consumption in an equitable manner, halve global food waste, significantly educe overconsumption and substantially reduce waste generation, in order for all people to live well in harmony with Mother Earth.

TARGET 17

Establish, strengthen capacity for, and implement in all countries in biosafety measures as set out in Article 8(g) of the Convention on Biological Diversity and measures for the handling of biotechnology and distribution of its benefits as set out in Article 19 of the Convention.

TARGET 18

Identify by 2025, and eliminate, phase out or reform incentives, including subsidies harmful for biodiversity, in a proportionate, just, fair, effective and equitable way, while substantially and progressively reducing them by at least500 billion United States dollars per year by 2030, starting with the most harmful incentives, and scale up positive incentives for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity.

TARGET 19

Substantially and progressively increase the level of financial resources from all sources, in an effective, timely and easily accessible manner, including domestic,international, public and private resources, in accordance with Article 20 of the Convention, to implement national biodiversity strategies and action plans, by2030 mobilizing at least 200 billion United States dollars per year, including by:

(a) Increasing total biodiversity related international financial resources from developed countries, including official development assistance, and from countries that voluntarily assume obligations of developed country Parties, to developing countries, in particular the least developed countries and small island developing States, as well as countries with economies in transition, to at least US$ 20 billion per year by 2025, and to at least US$ 30 billion per year by 2030;

(b) Significantly increasing domestic resource mobilization, facilitated by the preparation and implementation of national biodiversity finance plans or similar instruments according to national needs, priorities and circumstances

(c) Leveraging private finance, promoting blended finance, implementing strategies for raising new and additional resources, and encouraging the private sector to invest in biodiversity, including through impact funds and other instruments;

(d) Stimulating innovative schemes such as payment for ecosystem services,green bonds, biodiversity offsets and credits, benefit-sharing mechanisms, with environmental and social safeguards

(e) Optimizing co-benefits and synergies of finance targeting the biodiversity and climate crises,

(f) Enhancing the role of collective actions, including by indigenous peoples and local communities, Mother Earth centric actions and non-market-based approaches including community based natural resource management and civil society cooperation and solidarity aimed at the conservation of biodiversity

(g) Enhancing the effectiveness, efficiency and transparency of resource provision and use;

TARGET 20

Strengthen capacity-building and development, access to and transfer of technology, and promote development of and access to innovation and technical and scientific cooperation, including through South- South, North-South and triangular cooperation, to meet the needs for effective implementation,particularly in developing countries, fostering joint technology development and joint scientific research programmes for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity and strengthening scientific research and monitoring capacities,commensurate with the ambition of the goals and targets of the framework.

TARGET 21

Ensure that the best available data, information and knowledge, are accessible to decision makers, practitioners and the public to guide effective and equitable governance, integrated and participatory management of biodiversity, and to strengthen communication, awareness-raising, education, monitoring, research and knowledge management and, also in this context, traditional knowledge,innovations, practices and technologies of indigenous peoples and local communities should only be accessed with their free, prior and informedconsent20, in accordance with national legislation.

TARGET 22

Ensure the full, equitable, inclusive, effective and gender-responsive representation and participation in decision-making, and access to justice and information related to biodiversity by indigenous peoples and local communities,respecting their cultures and their rights over lands, territories, resources, and traditional knowledge, as well as by women and girls, children and youth, and persons with disabilities and ensure the full protection of environmental human rights defenders.

TARGET 23

Ensure gender equality in the implementation of the framework through a gender-responsive approach where all women and girls have equal opportunity and capacity to contribute to the three objectives of the Convention, including by recognizing their equal rights and access to land and natural resources and their full, equitable, meaningful and informed participation and leadership at all levels of action, engagement, policy and decision-making related to biodiversity.

Coverage highlights

New York Times, “Countries Adopt a Sweeping Agreement to Protect Nature” https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/19/climate/biodiversity-cop15-montreal-30×30.html

Many others: As of Dec. 21:

9,377 different news sites in 181 countries published one or more articles in 72 languages
77,767 online news articles have been capturedTotal potential impressions: 430 billion, of which 297 billion (69%) were in China 
# articles / potential impressions by country:

United States 17,596 (potential impressions: 41 billion)

China: 13,665 (297 billion)

Canada: 12,566 (9 billion)

UK: 4,156 (10.4 billion)

Germany: 3,010 (6.7 billion)

France: 2,723 (9 billion)

India: 2,656 (7.9 billion)

Japan: 1,997 (16 billion)

Brazil: 1,123 (3 billion)

Korea: 1,095 (3.7 billion)

Sweden: 1,056 (560 million)
Spain: 982 (2.3 billion)

Switzerland: 632 (1.2 billion)

Türkiye: 576 (1.2 billion)

Coverage summary in full, click here

News release in full, click here

Key negotiating issues defined and detailed: A COP15 Primer

On Nov. 10, Elizabeth Maruma Mrema, David Cooper and David Ainsworth, respectively the Executive Secretary, Deputy Executive Secretary and Information Officer of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, conducted an interactive media briefing on the UN Biodiversity Conference (Montreal Dec. 7-19), including COP 15. They detailed the purpose, scope, structure, objectives, and what to expect. Recording: https://youtu.be/WWHl_Xaa-Os

Confronting the greatest loss of species on Earth since the dinosaurs’ demise, the world community convenes in Montreal in December under the auspices of the United Nations with the aim of adopting a new Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) with ambitious goals and specific action targets and timetables to achieve transformational change by the middle of the century.

At the United Nations Biodiversity Conference, Dec. 7-19, chaired by China in Montreal’s Palais des Congrès, representatives of almost every nation are called on to finalize and approve measures to arrest the dangerous, ongoing​​ loss of ​terrestrial and marine ​biodiversity and set humanity on a path to a sustainable relationship with nature — with clear indicators to measure progress and adequate resources for implementation.

The measures include enhancing the capacity of every nation to implement the framework, the delivery of new financial support and the redirection of harmful subsidies that damage biodiversity.

There is much to do to finalize the GBF (current draft: https://bit.ly/3E1arxr). Just prior to the Biodiversity Conference, negotiators will meet in Montreal from 3-5 December for last-minute pre-COP 15 Working Group discussion on the draft text. To facilitate this deliberation, WG Co-Chairs prepared, through an Informal Group Meeting, a streamlined text (available at https://bit.ly/3zKkV1X).

Says Elizabeth Maruma Mrema, Executive Secretary of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity: “What’s at stake are the fundamentals of human existence. Biodiverse, well-balanced ecosystems provide climate moderation, fertile soil and foods, clean water, modern drugs, and the foundation of our economies. 

“Nearly half of humanity depends directly on natural resources for livelihoods and, in many cases, their daily subsistence needs.”

Land and sea-use change, over exploitation, climate change, invasive species and pollution, she notes, are the foremost causes of nature’s decline, according to the 2019 IPBES Global Assessment of Biodiversity, which warned that one million plant and animal species face extinction within decades – a rate of loss 1,000 times greater than natural.

In the words of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres: “We face a triple planetary crisis. A climate emergency that is killing and displacing ever more people each year. Ecosystems degradation that are escalating the loss of biodiversity and compromising the well-being of more than 3 billion people. And a growing tide of pollution and waste that is costing some 9 million lives a year.”

“We need to change course — now — and end our senseless and suicidal war against nature. We know what to do. And, increasingly, we have the tools to do it. But we still lack leadership and cooperation.”

UNEP Executive Director Inger Andersen noted that, while progress has been made in the past, only six of the 20 Aichi Biodiversity Targets set in 2010 were partially met at a global level by the 2020 deadline. 

“We need to do better,” she said. “The health of nature underpins our own health and well-being. And by recognizing nature as a crucial ally, we can unleash human innovation in the service of sustainability and move towards the agreed vision of living in harmony with nature.”

* * * * *

COP 15, key objectives:

• Raise ambition for nature and ensure whole of government and whole of society implementation of a new global plan to put nature on the path to recovery by 2030, and humanity on a path to its globally-agreed vision of “Living in Harmony with Nature by 2050”

• Link the nature/biodiversity and climate agendas. Meeting GBF goals will contribute to the climate agenda while full delivery of the Paris Agreement is needed to ensure the GBF’s success

• Match commitments with accountable actions and resources to implement the framework

• Engage public, private and philanthropic sectors to close by 2030 the biodiversity finance gap, estimated to be around $700 billion USD a year, align trillions of dollars in global spending with goals for biodiversity, and ensure biodiversity is considered in economic decisions. Reform, redirect or end subsidies that harm biodiversity. (UNEP has reported that investments in ecosystems-based approaches need to at least triple by 2030 and increase four-fold by 2050.)

* * * * *

Agenda / other official documents

Open-ended Working Group on the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework

5th Meeting (Montreal, 3-5 December)

https://www.cbd.int/conferences/post2020/wg2020-05/documents

UN Biodiversity Conference (Montreal, 7-19 December)

• 15th meeting of Parties to the CBD (COP-15)
• 10th meeting of Parties to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (COP-MOP 10)
• 4th meeting of Parties to the Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilization (NP-MOP 4)

https://www.cbd.int/conferences/2021-2022

* * * * *

Key issues closely linked to the GBF:

Progress against the Aichi Biodiversity Targets (2010-2020)

Parties will conduct a final review of progress on the 20 biodiversity targets established in 2010, findings reported in the 5th Global Biodiversity Outlook in 2020, and options to improve planning, progress monitoring, reporting and reviews.

Digital Sequence Information

Information on the genetic sequences of biological resources has many commercial and non-commercial applications, such as pharmaceutical product development, improved crop breeding, taxonomy, and monitoring of invasive species. 

The relationship between Digital Sequence Information (DSI) and existing world agreements on access to genetic resources and benefit-sharing is a source of intense interest and Parties will consider options based the work of the Working Group on the post 2020 global biodiversity framework and informal consultations. https://www.cbd.int/doc/c/c064/37f6/d5024789093ef19bf5f84519/wg2020-05-03-en.pdf 

A positive outcome on DSI could greatly aid the sustained conservation and use of biodiversity at the local, national, and international levels.

Finance

COP 15 will develop a plan to increase the mobilization of financial resources to support the implementation of the framework. The Framework itself will include goals and targets on finance. 

COP 15 will also review the implementation of the Global Environment Facility, the Convention’s financial mechanism.

Stronger planning, reporting, and review mechanisms

Parties are expected to adopt a stronger, multi-dimensional approach to planning, monitoring, reporting and reviewing CBD implementation. 

An annex to the GBF is expected to contain headline indicators for national monitoring of implementation. Also foreseen: the establishment of a technical expert group on GBF indicators.

Traditional Knowledge and IPLCs 

At earlier meetings, CBD Parties adopted important tools and guidance to safeguard traditional knowledge and promote sustainable use of biodiversity. 

COP 15 topics include a new work programme and institutional arrangements related to indigenous peoples and local communities (IPLCs) to position them as GBF implementing partners. 

Parties will also consider recommendations to study indigenous peoples’ contributions to ecosystems management and biodiversity protection, the rights of indigenous peoples and the emerging rights of local communities. 

Gender

The draft GBF emphasizes that its successful implementation will depend on ensuring gender equality, empowering women and girls, greater access to education, and respecting the principle of intergenerational equity. 

It also includes a plan of action to ensure equal access to resources, services and technologies to support women’s engagement in the governance, conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity. 

Capacity building and development, and technical and scientific cooperation

Parties will negotiate long-term frameworks for capacity-building and development and how to strengthen technical and scientific cooperation. The goal: more effective promotion, sharing and utilization of science, technology and innovation to support GBF implementation.

Cooperation with other conventions, international organizations, and initiatives

Parties will focus on cooperation with other conventions, international organizations and initiatives to implement the GBF. 

The CBD Secretariat has identified substantive thematic and cross-cutting interests including capacity-building, information and knowledge management, monitoring and reporting, and communications. 

Proposed efforts include an Issue Management Group on Biodiversity of the Environment Management Group (EMG) of the UN through 2030.

Protected and conserved areas

The GBF is expected to include an ambitious target to protect and conserve terrestrial and marine areas beyond the current 17% and 10% respectively.

At their meeting in 2018, CBD Parties agreed that, in addition to conventional protected areas such as parks, “other effective area-based conservation measures (OECMs)” would count towards the target’s fulfillment as they also contribute to multiple benefits and co-benefits. OECMs will be considered in a flexible way on a case-by-case basis. 

Meanwhile, governments and other relevant organizations were encouraged to collaborate with indigenous peoples, local communities and others to identify areas that improve connectivity, ecological representativity, and key areas important for biodiversity. 

Other key issues

Biosafety and Living Modified Organisms / Cartagena Protocol

CBD’s Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, which entered into force in 2003, governs the movements of living modified organisms (LMOs) between countries.

In December, the Protocol’s 173 Parties are expected to advance an implementation plan, including capacity building, that is anchored on and complementary to the post-2020 global biodiversity framework.

Synthetic biology

At COP 15, discussions will include the potential of synthetic biology to address global challenges and what is needed to ensure its safe use. Parties will discuss horizon scanning, monitoring and assessment to understand what is in development and to assess potential impacts on biodiversity. This process would complement the work on risk assessment under the Cartagena Protocol. 

A recent CBD publication offers further information:https://bit.ly/3SOKhT5 

Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS) / the Nagoya Protocol

Significant progress has been made under the Nagoya Protocol since its 2014 entry into force but greater efforts are needed for effective implementation. In Montreal, the related agenda includes a review of: 

• national reporting
• the capacity-building framework
• a proposed global multilateral benefit-sharing mechanism
• the global financial support mechanism, and 
• operations of the ABS clearing-house

These considerations intersect notably with highly important questions about if and how the benefits of digital sequence information on genetic resources should be shared. 

ABS is deeply linked to GBF goals and targets, such as those relating to business, indigenous peoples and local communities, traditional knowledge, and resource mobilization.

Parties will also need to agree how to monitor ABS-related elements of the GBF, including standardized information on monetary and non-monetary benefits. 

Climate change

Recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports show land-use changes raise greenhouse gas emissions, reduce carbon sequestration, lower biodiversity and ecosystem resiliency and more. 

Addressing excessive meat consumption and other consumer patterns would mitigate both biodiversity loss and climate change. And investing in ecosystem restoration, agricultural and pasture lands rehabilitation, and sustainable agricultural productivity can combat climate change, biodiversity loss and food insecurity at the same time.

At COP15, Parties will consider the CBD Secretariat’s summary of recent papers on this topic, while its Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice (SBSTTA) has prepared recommendations, detailed at https://adobe.ly/3BXujzw 

Invasive alien species

Parties will consider strategies to prevent and reduce the rate of introduction and establishment of invasive alien species by 50%, and to control or eradicate such species. 

Agriculture

Parties will adopt a global action plan for the conservation and sustainable use of soil biodiversity prepared by the CBD Secretariat, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, the Global Soil Partnership (GSP) and other specialized organizations.

The GBF will set important targets to elevate sustainable food systems on the global agenda and ensure sustainable agricultural management by reducing pollution and pesticide use, mitigating the loss of nutrients, encouraging responsible choices to reduce food waste and overconsumption, and conserving genetic diversity, including by monitoring plant genetic resources critical for agriculture. 

Health

Health is a cross-cutting theme in the GBF. At the summit in Montreal, Parties will consider an updated global action plan recommended by CBD’s Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice (SBSTTA), detailed here.

The current draft of the GBF acknowledges that its sound implementation will strive to generate co-benefits – biodiversity-inclusive One Health approach. Health is also a cross-cutting theme in GBF targets 5, 12 and others.

Sustainable Wildlife Management

CBD Parties are encouraged to establish and maintain strong regulatory systems to differentiate between subsistence uses and illegal hunting, to incentivise sustainable consumption, to strengthen the capacity of indigenous peoples and local communities to exercise their rights and responsibilities in sustainable wildlife management; and to minimize the impacts of illegal hunting.

Parties need to agree on ways to ensure that the supply of wild meat is sustainably and legally managed at the source, reduce demand for unsustainably managed and/or illegal wild meat, and create an enabling environment for the sustainable management of wild meat.

At COP 15, Parties will examine how to recover and conserve species and the genetic diversity of wild and domesticated species, including through conservation beyond natural habitats, and how to reduce human-wildlife conflict.

Ecologically or biologically significant marine areas (EBSAs)

Work on EBSAs represents an international achievement, covering nearly all parts of the global ocean, but further progress is needed. Climate change and other major drivers of biodiversity loss are rapidly transforming many marine ecosystems and affecting many EBSAs.

Parties will consider how to modify existing EBSA descriptions and 17 proposed EBSA descriptions in the North-East Atlantic Ocean region. 

Conservation and sustainable use of marine and coastal biodiversity

Parties will discuss the role of marine, coastal and island biodiversity and implications of the GBF for related work programmes, including: 

• underwater noise, marine debris, area-based conservation, marine spatial planning, and coral reef and cold-water ecosystem management
• synergies and cooperation with other international processes, and 
• progress on capacity building and regional collaboration under the Sustainable Ocean Initiative.

Nature and culture

Summit outcomes will include ways to leverage the relationship between nature and culture to enhance GBF implementation.

* * * * * 

See also: A Nature Positive Narrative, UNEP, 2021

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Media Coverage Highlights

The Guardian, United Kingdom: Cop27 must pave the way for ‘a Paris moment’ for nature, says UN  https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/nov/11/cop27-must-pave-the-way-for-a-paris-moment-for-nature-cop15-says-un

Agencia EFE, via Infobae Argentina: ONU confía en un acuerdo en Montreal para impedir la pérdida de biodiversidad  https://www.infobae.com/america/agencias/2022/11/10/onu-confia-en-un-acuerdo-en-montreal-para-impedir-la-perdida-de-biodiversidad/

Presse Canadienne, Canada: COP15: des centaines de milliards de dollars pour protéger la nature  http://syndication.thecanadianpress.com/rss/3cffd932-dfd2-4774-ac04-e3deeb0cc7a3/9f2cd8cf-8dc8-4f99-959c-4f992928378a

Le Devoir Canada: Les négociations sur la biodiversité s’annoncent ardues à la COP15 de Montréal  https://www.ledevoir.com/environnement/770314/les-negociations-sur-la-biodiversite-s-annoncent-ardues-a-la-cop15-de-montreal

ICI Radio-Canada, Canada: COP15 : aucun chef d’État et des centaines de milliards à trouver pour protéger la nature https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/1931952/cop15-centaines-milliards-proteger-nature

BFM TV (via MSN France), France: COP de la diversité: un sommet crucial pour la planète boudé par les chefs d’État  https://www.msn.com/fr-fr/actualite/monde/cop-de-la-diversit%c3%a9-un-sommet-crucial-pour-la-plan%c3%a8te-boud%c3%a9-par-les-chefs-d%c3%a9tat/ar-AA13Ysob

Xinhua French: Plus de 10.000 personnes attendues à la deuxième phase de la COP15 à Montréal (ONU)  https://www.msn.com/fr-fr/actualite/monde/multim%c3%a9dia-plus-de-10000-personnes-attendues-%c3%a0-la-deuxi%c3%a8me-phase-de-la-cop15-%c3%a0-montr%c3%a9al-onu/ar-AA13YRNO

FAZ, Germany: Die Natur muss ohne Staatschefs gerettet werden https://www.faz.net/aktuell/feuilleton/debatten/zur-biodiversitaetskonferenz-in-montreal-kommen-keine-staatschefs-18455284.html

Down to Earth, India
Over 10,000 to attend UN biodiversity convention next month
https://www.downtoearth.org.in/news/wildlife-biodiversity/over-10-000-to-attend-un-biodiversity-convention-next-month-85927

Full release, click here

Proposed target of protecting 30% of land and seas by 2030 is important but will leave humankind far short of its ultimate goals for nature; Meeting each Global Biodiversity Framework target will be critical

Halting, then reversing the dangerous, ongoing loss of Earth’s plant and animal diversity requires far more than an expanded global system of protected areas of land and seas, scientists warned today.

Needed is successful, coordinated action across a diverse, interconnected set of “transformative” changes, including massive reductions in harmful agricultural and fishing subsidies, deep reductions in overconsumption, and holding climate change to 1.5°C.

More than 50 scientists from 23 countries today delivered to governments a synthesis of the science informing and underpinning 21 targets proposed in the draft ‘post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework’ being negotiated under the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and scheduled for adoption later this year at a world biodiversity summit in China.

The analysis was coordinated by two renowned international science bodies: bioDISCOVERY, a program of the Future Earth organization, and the Group on Earth Observations Biodiversity Observation Network (GEO BON).  The full report is available at https://bit.ly/3zWuE3N

Says Paul Leadley, an assessment leader, past chair of bioDISCOVERY, and Professor at Paris-Saclay University, France: “The target of protecting 30% of all land and seas is important and attracting a lot of attention. And expanding protected areas is a good start if done well, but far short of what’s needed to halt and reverse biodiversity loss — called ‘bending the curve’ for biodiversity’. There’s very good evidence that we will fail again to meet ambitious international biodiversity objectives if there’s too much focus on protected areas at the expense of other urgent actions addressing the threats to biodiversity.” 

“Governments are clearly struggling with the breadth and depth of the ‘transformative changes’ needed to bend the curve for biodiversity, and sometimes seem unwilling to face up to it.  But deep changes are necessary and will greatly benefit people in the long run.”

The essential point, says bioDISCOVERY co-Chair Lynne Shannon, a Professor at the University of Cape Town, South Africa, is that “there is no one-to-one linkage from any action target to a specific milestone or goal; instead, ‘many-to-many’ relationships exist among them.  We need to recognize, therefore, the complex relationships among targets, milestones and goals and undertake our planning and actions in an integrated manner.”

Among the group’s key conclusions and recommendations:

• Success requires transformative change.  Past experience in slowing and reversing biodiversity loss as well as scenarios of future biodiversity change show that only a comprehensive portfolio of interrelated actions will significantly reduce direct threats to biodiversity from land and sea use change, direct exploitation of organisms, climate change, pollution, and invasive alien species. None of the GBF targets that address these direct threats to biodiversity will alone contribute more than 15% of what’s needed to reach the world’s ultimate goals for ecosystems, species and genetic diversity.
• Action must be coordinated at every scale, with progress assessed frequently. The degree of biodiversity change, and the relative importance of drivers, vary greatly across scales and from place to place, and drivers in one place can affect biodiversity in other places far away (“telecoupling,” e.g. through global trade, climate change, etc).  Success will require action coordinated across local, national and international levels, in natural and managed ecosystems, and across intact and ‘working’ lands and seas. Success will also require upgrading monitoring capability and regular assessment of progress to make sure actions are delivering the intended outcomes at all levels.
• Substantial investment in better monitoring is needed to guide effective action.  There are massive gaps in biodiversity monitoring.  Most of the nearly 1 billion existing non-marine biodiversity-related records were collected in developed countries and within 2.5 km of roads, and less than 7% of the globe is sampled.  Two key improvements needed: a) a global monitoring system for biodiversity with the ability to attribute biodiversity change to specific drivers, and to integrate data from relevant threat sectors (e.g. agriculture, trade, climate); and b) a predictive capacity to anticipate future trends, to inform decision-making.
• Act now, and sustain it to ensure recovery.  Given that the time lags between action and outcomes are often measured in decades, especially in such areas as restoration of forests, coral reefs and fisheries, it’s imperative to act now to avoid irreversible loss and put biodiversity on a pathway to recovery by mid-century.

Says co-author Maria Cecilia Londoño Murcia of the Humboldt Institute, Colombia: “The sooner we act the better. Time lags between action and positive outcomes for biodiversity can take decades so we must act immediately and sustain our efforts if we are to reach the global goals by 2050. The time needed for safeguarding and restoring ecosystem structure, function and resilience is particularly critical for people and communities whose livelihoods and well-being directly depend on these systems and the benefits they provide.” 

Adds co-author David Obura, a distinguished scientist at the Coastal Oceans Research and Development (CORDIO), Kenya: “High levels of ambition for halting and reversing biodiversity loss will be critical. We underline, however, that this cannot be achieved just by conventional conservation actions”.  

“We show that the 21 Targets of the Global Biodiversity Framework essentially cover this broad gamut of indirect and direct drivers, but that no one Target can be implemented as a priority over the others to achieve success (other than providing the financial and other means necessary to implement all targets).”

* * * * *

Expert Input to the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework

 ​​Transformative actions on all drivers of biodiversity loss are urgently required to achieve the global goals by 2050

Key Messages 

A group of fifty international experts was convened by the bioDISCOVERY program of Future Earth and the secretariat of the Group on Earth Observations Biodiversity Observation Network (GEO BON) to provide an updated synthesis and assessment of how actions in the twenty-one targets of the draft post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) and a comprehensive monitoring framework could contribute to achieving the biodiversity milestones and goals of the GBF. The key findings are highlighted in eight short key messages below, which are expanded upon in an Executive Summary and accompanied by detailed analyses and a glossary of terms in an extended Technical Synthesis.

Success requires transformative change

Key Message 1: High levels of ambition for halting and reversing biodiversity loss (Goal A) cannot be met without transformative change which is a “fundamental, system-wide reorganization across technological, economic and social factors, including paradigms, goals and values, needed for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity, long-term human wellbeing and sustainable development”. 

A portfolio of actions is needed to address interacting drivers

Key Message 2: Achieving ambitious objectives for ecosystems, species and genetic diversity (Goal A) depends on a comprehensive portfolio of actions to reduce all of the direct drivers of biodiversity loss from land and sea use change, direct exploitation of organisms, climate change, pollution, invasive alien species, and their interactions . 

Action must be coordinated and progress assessed frequently

Key Message 3: Global targets of the GBF provide an important template for action, but it is how these targets are implemented and how actions are coordinated across local, national and international levels that will determine success in achieving objectives for biodiversity. Regular assessments of the implementation of targets and their contributions to progress towards clearly defined goals and milestones for biodiversity are therefore vital elements of the GBF.

Addressing threats in both natural and managed ecosystems is essential 

Key Message 4: Reversing biodiversity loss will require addressing threats to biodiversity in both natural and managed ecosystems, as well as the interconnections between them. “Natural” and “managed” ecosystems differ in their species and genetic composition, ecosystem functions and supply of benefits to people, hence the targets for action, reference states, monitoring requirements, and relevant indicators differ between them. 

All dimensions of biodiversity are interconnected and this should guide action

Key Message 5: All dimensions of biodiversity — genetic, population, species, community and ecosystem — show interlinked responses to human drivers. Efforts to mitigate the effects on drivers on one dimension (e.g population abundances) will depend on action on other dimensions (e.g. genetic diversity). Knowledge of the interlinked relationships between dimensions can be used to guide prioritization for conservation. 

Act now, and sustain it to ensure recovery

Key Message 6: Ambitious action is needed as soon as possible and must be sustained over time if we are to put biodiversity on a trend to recovery by mid-century.There is good evidence that while some dimensions of biodiversity recover rapidly following conservation action, many show long-lasting, or time-delayed, changes in response to actions to mitigate the effects of drivers. 

Coordinate actions across locations

Key Message 7: The degree of biodiversity change, and relative importance of drivers, vary greatly across scales and from place to place, and drivers in one place can affect biodiversity far away in other places.  

Invest in monitoring to guide effective action

Key Message 8: Successful implementation of the GBF requires substantial investment in monitoring capacity to detect change and attribute drivers. Ensure the supply of, and access to, data that underpin the effective use of indicators to track progress and guide action needed to implement the GBF at local, national and international levels. The set of indicators for monitoring progress to Goal A of the GBF should be expanded to comprehensively cover outcomes, drivers, and actions and the interdependencies between them.

* * * * * 

About

bioDISCOVERY

bioDISCOVERY mobilises the scientific community to advance research on monitoring, observation and modelling of biodiversity and ecosystems in order to improve our understanding of how biodiversity and ecosystems respond to environmental change, and to overcome the barriers that impede the use of observations and modelling in management and decision-making.

Group on Earth Observations Biodiversity Observation Network (GEO BON)

The mission of the GEO BON is to improve the acquisition, coordination and delivery of biodiversity observations and related services to users including decision makers and the scientific community.  It’s vision is a global biodiversity observation network that contributes to effective management policies for the world’s biodiversity and ecosystem services.

The post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework

Click here

* * * * *

Coverage highlights

The Guardian, United Kingdom: Expanding national parks not enough to protect nature, say scientists, click here

Le Monde, France: Pour protéger la biodiversité, des scientifiques appellent à des changements majeurs (To protect biodiversity, scientists call for major changes), click here

Globe and Mail, Canada: Global conservation goals are insufficient to avoid mass extinction event, report finds, click here

Nature, UK editorial: Biodiversity faces its make-or-break year, and research will be key, click here

Politico.eu, Belgium, Experts say draft biodiversity deal has to do more than expand protected areas, click here

Agence France Presse, newswire: More protected areas won’t save biodiversity, warn experts, click here; French: COP15 biodiversité : les mesures pour protéger les espèces jugées insuffisantes, click here; Spanish: El plan de áreas protegidas no salvará la biodiversidad, advierten expertos a la COP15, click here

IndoAsian News Service, India, newswire: Scientists urge quick, sweeping changes to halt biodiversity loss, click here

LUSA, Portugal, newswire: Cientistas pedem fim de consumo excessivo para ajudar biodiversidade (Scientists call for an end to overconsumption to help biodiversity), click here

MTI, Hungary, newswire: A biodiverzitás megőrzéséhez kevés a védett területek kiterjesztése (Extension of protected areas not enough to conserve biodiversity), click here

Helsingin Sanomat, Finland: Tutkijaryhmä: 30 prosenttia maapallon pinta-alasta pitää suojella, mutta sekään ei yksin riitä lajikadon pysäyttämiseen (Research team: 30% of the earth’s surface needs to be protected, but that alone is not enough to stop species extinction), click here

Radio Taiwan International, Taiwan: 聯合國草案擴大自然保護區 專家警告仍不足挽救滅絕潮 (UN draft to expand nature reserves not enough to save extinction, experts warn, click here

TrendingTopics, Austria: Artenvielfalt-Erhalt: Geplanter Schutz von 30 Prozent aller Landes- und Meeresflächen reicht allein nicht (Biodiversity preservation: Planned protection of 30 percent of all land and sea areas alone is not enough), click here

Open Access Government, United States: Reversing destruction of biodiversity should be top priority, click here

Earth.com, United States: Sweeping changes needed to reverse biodiversity loss, click here

Greenreport, Italy: Gli scienziati: necessari cambiamenti rapidi, profondi e radicali per fermare e invertire la pericolosa perdita di biodiversità (Scientists: Rapid, profound and radical changes needed to stop and reverse the dangerous loss of biodiversity), click here

Coverage summary in full, click here

News release in full, click here

Of the 18 science news releases produced in 2021, 16 were environment-themed: food waste, e-waste, oceans, biodiversity, dams, and floods. And one announced 14 living male relatives of Leonardo da Vinci, advancing a project investigating his DNA. 

2 minute slideshow: Click here

These releases generated over 9,200 news articles, published at thousands of online news sites in scores of countries and dozens of languages, ~33 billion potential public impressions in all, according to the Meltwater news search engine, which estimates actual impressions via online news sites at 825 million. Millions of additional impressions were also generated via print newspapers, magazines, radio, TV and social media.

With thanks to the researchers and collaborators behind these stories, and to the many journalists who covered them, the following releases were the most noted last year.

Draft 1 of the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework includes 21 action targets proposed for 2030; Will be considered at UN Convention on Biological Diversity’s COP15

The UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) Secretariat today released the first official draft of a new Global Biodiversity Framework to guide actions worldwide through 2030 to preserve and protect Nature and its essential services to people.

The framework includes 21 targets for 2030 that call for, among other things:

• At least 30% of land and sea areas global (especially areas of particular importance for biodiversity and its contributions to people) conserved through effective, equitably managed, ecologically representative and well-connected systems of protected areas (and other effective area-based conservation measures)
• A 50% of greater reduction in the rate of introduction of invasive alien species, and controls or eradication of such species to eliminate or reduce their impacts
• Reducing nutrients lost to the environment by at least half, and pesticides by at least two thirds, and eliminating the discharge of plastic waste
• Nature-based contributions to global climate change mitigation efforts of least 10 GtCO2e per year, and that all mitigation and adaptation efforts avoid negative impacts on biodiversity
• Redirecting, repurposing, reforming or eliminating incentives harmful for biodiversity, in a just and equitable way, reducing them by at least $US 500 billion per year
• A $US 200 billion increase in international financial flows from all sources to developing countries

More than two years in development, the Framework will undergo further refinement during online negotiations in late summer before being presented for consideration at CBD’s next meeting of its 196 parties at COP15, scheduled for Kunming, China October 11-24.

The full Global Biodiversity Framework is available at cbd.int

The Four Goals for 2050:

The draft framework proposes four goals to achieve, by 2050, humanity “living in harmony with nature,” a vision adopted by the CBD’s 196 member parties in 2010.

Goal A: The integrity of all ecosystems is enhanced, with an increase of at least 15% in the area, connectivity and integrity of natural ecosystems, supporting healthy and resilient populations of all species, the rate of extinctions has been reduced at least tenfold, and the risk of species extinctions across all taxonomic and functional groups, is halved, and genetic diversity of wild and domesticated species is safeguarded, with at least 90% of genetic diversity within all species maintained.

Goal B: Nature’s contributions to people have been valued, maintained or enhanced through conservation and sustainable use supporting the global development agenda for the benefit of all;

Goal C: The benefits from the utilization of genetic resources are shared fairly and equitably, with a substantial increase in both monetary and non-monetary benefits shared, including for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity.

Goal D: The gap between available financial and other means of implementation, and those necessary to achieve the 2050 Vision, is closed.

Milestones to be reached by 2030

The four goals each have 2-3 broad milestones to be reached by 2030 (10 milestones in all):

Goal A:

Milestone A.1 Net gain in the area, connectivity and integrity of natural systems of at least 5%

Milestone A.2 The increase in the extinction rate is halted or reversed, and the extinction risk is reduced by at least 10%, with a decrease in the proportion of species that are threatened, and the abundance and distribution of populations of species is enhanced or at least maintained.

Milestone A.3 Genetic diversity of wild and domesticated species is safeguarded, with an increase in the proportion of species that have at least 90% of their genetic diversity maintained.

Goal B:

Milestone B.1 Nature and its contributions to people are fully accounted and inform all relevant public and private decisions.

Milestone B.2 The long-term sustainability of all categories of nature’s contributions to people is ensured, with those currently in decline restored, contributing to each of the relevant Sustainable Development Goals.

Goal C:

Milestone C.1 The share of monetary benefits received by providers, including holders of traditional knowledge, has increased.

Milestone C.2 Non-monetary benefits, such as the participation of providers, including holders of traditional knowledge, in research and development, has increased.

Goal D:

Milestone D.1 Adequate financial resources to implement the framework are available and deployed, progressively closing the financing gap up to at least US $700 billion per year by 2030.

Milestone D.2 Adequate other means, including capacity-building and development, technical and scientific cooperation and technology transfer to implement the framework to 2030 are available and deployed.

Milestone D.3 Adequate financial and other resources for the period 2030 to 2040 are planned or committed by 2030.

21 “Action Targets” for 2030

The framework then lists 21 associated “action targets” for 2030:

Reducing threats to biodiversity

Target 1

Ensure that all land and sea areas globally are under integrated biodiversity-inclusive spatial planning addressing land- and sea-use change, retaining existing intact and wilderness areas.

Target 2

Ensure that at least 20 per cent of degraded freshwater, marine and terrestrial ecosystems are under restoration, ensuring connectivity among them and focusing on priority ecosystems.

Target 3

Ensure that at least 30 per cent globally of land areas and of sea areas, especially areas of particular importance for biodiversity and its contributions to people, are conserved through effectively and equitably managed, ecologically representative and well-connected systems of protected areas and other effective area-based conservation measures, and integrated into the wider landscapes and seascapes.

Target 4

Ensure active management actions to enable the recovery and conservation of species and the genetic diversity of wild and domesticated species, including through ex situ conservation, and effectively manage human-wildlife interactions to avoid or reduce human-wildlife conflict.

Target 5

Ensure that the harvesting, trade and use of wild species is sustainable, legal, and safe for human health.

Target 6

Manage pathways for the introduction of invasive alien species, preventing, or reducing their rate of introduction and establishment by at least 50 per cent, and control or eradicate invasive alien species to eliminate or reduce their impacts, focusing on priority species and priority sites.

Target 7

Reduce pollution from all sources to levels that are not harmful to biodiversity and ecosystem functions and human health, including by reducing nutrients lost to the environment by at least half, and pesticides by at least two thirds and eliminating the discharge of plastic waste.

Target 8

Minimize the impact of climate change on biodiversity, contribute to mitigation and adaptation through ecosystem-based approaches, contributing at least 10 GtCO2e per year to global mitigation efforts, and ensure that all mitigation and adaptation efforts avoid negative impacts on biodiversity.

Meeting people’s needs through sustainable use and benefit-sharing

Target 9

Ensure benefits, including nutrition, food security, medicines, and livelihoods for people especially for the most vulnerable through sustainable management of wild terrestrial, freshwater and marine species and protecting customary sustainable use by indigenous peoples and local communities.

Target 10

Ensure all areas under agriculture, aquaculture and forestry are managed sustainably, in particular through the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity, increasing the productivity and resilience of these production systems.

Target 11

Maintain and enhance nature’s contributions to regulation of air quality, quality and quantity of water, and protection from hazards and extreme events for all people.

Target 12

Increase the area of, access to, and benefits from green and blue spaces, for human health and well-being in urban areas and other densely populated areas.

Target 13

Implement measures at global level and in all countries to facilitate access to genetic resources and to ensure the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from the use of genetic resources, and as relevant, of associated traditional knowledge, including through mutually agreed terms and prior and informed consent.

Tools and solutions for implementation and mainstreaming

Target 14

Fully integrate biodiversity values into policies, regulations, planning, development processes, poverty reduction strategies, accounts, and assessments of environmental impacts at all levels of government and across all sectors of the economy, ensuring that all activities and financial flows are aligned with biodiversity values.

Target 15

All businesses (public and private, large, medium and small) assess and report on their dependencies and impacts on biodiversity, from local to global, and progressively reduce negative impacts, by at least half and increase positive impacts, reducing biodiversity-related risks to businesses and moving towards the full sustainability of extraction and production practices, sourcing and supply chains, and use and disposal.

Target 16

Ensure that people are encouraged and enabled to make responsible choices and have access to relevant information and alternatives, taking into account cultural preferences, to reduce by at least half the waste and, where relevant the overconsumption, of food and other materials.

Target 17

Establish, strengthen capacity for, and implement measures in all countries to prevent, manage or control potential adverse impacts of biotechnology on biodiversity and human health, reducing the risk of these impacts.

Target 18

Redirect, repurpose, reform or eliminate incentives harmful for biodiversity, in a just and equitable way, reducing them by at least US$ 500 billion per year, including all of the most harmful subsidies, and ensure that incentives, including public and private economic and regulatory incentives, are either positive or neutral for biodiversity.

Target 19

Increase financial resources from all sources to at least US$ 200 billion per year, including new, additional and effective financial resources, increasing by at least US$ 10 billion per year international financial flows to developing countries, leveraging private finance, and increasing domestic resource mobilization, taking into account national biodiversity finance planning, and strengthen capacity-building and technology transfer and scientific cooperation, to meet the needs for implementation, commensurate with the ambition of the goals and targets of the framework.

Target 20

Ensure that relevant knowledge, including the traditional knowledge, innovations and practices of indigenous and local communities with their free, prior, and informed consent, guides decision?making for the effective management of biodiversity, enabling monitoring, and by promoting awareness, education and research.

Target 21

Ensure equitable and effective participation in decision-making related to biodiversity by indigenous peoples and local communities, and respect their rights over lands, territories and resources, as well as by women and girls, and youth.

Says CBD Executive Secretary Elizabeth Maruma Mrema: “Urgent policy action globally, regionally and nationally is required to transform economic, social and financial models so that the trends that have exacerbated biodiversity loss will stabilize by 2030 and allow for the recovery of natural ecosystems in the following 20 years, with net improvements by 2050.”

“The framework aims to galvanize this urgent and transformative action by Governments and all of society, including indigenous peoples and local communities, civil society, youth and businesses and financial institutions. It will be implemented primarily through national-level activities, supported by subnational, regional and global-level actions.”

“This is a global, outcome-oriented framework for the Convention’s 196 Parties to develop national and regional goals and targets, to update national strategies and action plans as needed, and to facilitate regular monitoring and review of progress at the global level.”

Implementation

The draft Global Biodiversity Framework notes that effective implementation requires mobilizing resources from both the public and private finance sectors, ongoing identification of risk associated with biodiversity loss capacity development, technical and scientific cooperation, technology transfer and innovation.

It also calls for integration with relevant multilateral environmental agreements and other relevant international processes, including the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and strengthening cooperation.

Successful implementation will also depend on effective outreach, awareness and uptake by all stakeholders, a comprehensive system for planning, monitoring, reporting and review that allows for transparent communication of progress, rapid course correction, and timely input in the preparation of a post-2030 Global Biodiversity Framework.

Background

Biodiversity and its benefits are fundamental to human well-being and a healthy planet. Despite ongoing efforts, biodiversity is deteriorating worldwide and this decline is projected to continue or worsen under business-as-usual scenarios.

The post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework builds on the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020 and sets out an ambitious plan to implement broad-based action to bring about a transformation in society’s relationship with biodiversity and to ensure that, by 2050, the shared vision of living in harmony with nature is fulfilled.

The draft framework reflects input from the second meeting of a Working Group managing the framework’s creation, as well as submissions received. The draft will be further updated in late summer with the benefit of input from the 24th meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice and the 3rd meeting of the Subsidiary Body in Implementation, as well as the advice from thematic consultations.

Relationship with 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development

The framework will contribute to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. At the same time, progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals will help to provide the conditions necessary to implement the framework.

Theory of change

The framework’s theory of change assumes that transformative actions are taken to (a) put in place tools and solutions for implementation and mainstreaming, (b) reduce the threats to biodiversity and (c) ensure that biodiversity is used sustainably in order to meet people’s needs and that these actions are supported by (i) enabling conditions, and (ii) adequate means of implementation, including financial resources, capacity and technology. It also assumes that progress is monitored in a transparent and accountable manner with adequate stocktaking exercises to ensure that, by 2030, the world is on a path to reach the 2050 Vision for Biodiversity.

The theory of change for the framework acknowledges the need for appropriate recognition of gender equality, women’s empowerment, youth, gender-responsive approaches and the full and effective participation of indigenous peoples and local communities in the implementation of this framework. Further, it is built upon the recognition that its implementation will be done in partnership with many organizations at the global, national and local levels to leverage ways to build a momentum for success. It will be implemented taking a rights-based approach and recognizing the principle of intergenerational equity.

The theory of change is complementary to and supportive of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. It also takes into account the long-term strategies and targets of other multilateral environment agreements, including the biodiversity-related and Rio conventions, to ensure synergistic delivery of benefits from all the agreements for the planet and people.

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Media coverage highlights:

Reuters, United Kingdom, Draft UN agreement on biodiversity targets conservation, pollution, finance

Reuters, United States, Analysis-Giant leap for nature? All eyes on China to land new global pact

Agence France Presse, France: UN says protect 30% of land, oceans as biodiversity goals unveiled; Portuguese: Texto sobre diversidade que será negociado na COP15 é divulgado

Agencia EFE, Spain: La Convención sobre Diversidad busca pacto para preservar el 30% del planeta

The Guardian, United Kingdom: ‘Change is coming’: UN sets out Paris-style plan to cut extinction rate tenfold

Deutsche Presse Agentur, Germany: Naturschutz: Neue Strategie gegen alarmierenden Verlust der Artenvielfalt

Der Spiegel, Germany: Strategie zur biologischen Vielfalt So soll die Welt endlich den Kampf für den Artenschutz aufnehmen

Le Monde, France: Restaurer 20 % des écosystèmes, réduire massivement l’impact des pesticides… 21 cibles pour préserver la biodiversité

L’Express, France: Ce que contient le projet biodiversité de l’ONU qui sera présenté à la COP15 

Kyodo newswire, Japan, 多様性保全資金、2千億ドルに 30年まで、「愛知目標」の後継

Mainichi Newspaper, Japan, 生態系保存に年2000億ドル超 国連事務局が愛知目標後継草案

Asahi Shimbun, 朝日新聞, Japan, 生物多様性、２０３０年の目標案 「世界の３０％以上を保護区に」

CGTN, Mainland China, UN releases new global framework for managing nature through 2030

IndoAsian News Service, India, New global framework to manage nature through 2030

GMX DE, Germany: Dramatischer Rückgang der Artenvielfalt – Lebensgrundlage der Menschen bedroht

New Scientist, United Kingdom: UN plan would protect 30% of oceans and land to stem extinction

PBB newswire, Indonesia: Targetkan Lestarikan Minimum 30% Spesies Daratan dan Lautan pada 2050

Full coverage summary, click here

News release in full, click here

• Meeting ramped-up climate and biodiversity targets, cutting deadly pollution and achieving SDGs needs an all-society push for sustainability
• Shifting world views and putting nature at the heart of decision-making is key to achieving transformative change
• COVID-19 recovery plans are an unmissable opportunity to invest in nature and reach net zero emissions by 2050

The world can transform its relationship with nature and tackle the climate, biodiversity and pollution crises together to secure a sustainable future and prevent future pandemics, according to a new report by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) that offers a comprehensive blueprint for addressing our triple planetary emergency.

The report, Making Peace with Nature, lays out the gravity of these three environmental crises by drawing on global assessments, including those from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, as well as UNEP’s Global Environment Outlook report, the UNEP International Resource Panel, and new findings on the emergence of zoonotic diseases such as COVID-19.

The authors assess the links between multiple environmental and development challenges, and explain how advances in science and bold policymaking can open a pathway towards the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030 and a carbon neutral world by 2050 while bending the curve on biodiversity loss and curbing pollution and waste.

Taking that path means innovation and investment only in activities that protect both people and nature. Success will include restored ecosystems and healthier lives as well as a stable climate.

“By bringing together the latest scientific evidence showing the impacts and threats of the climate emergency, the biodiversity crisis and the pollution that kills millions of people every year, [this report] makes clear that our war on nature has left the planet broken,” UN Secretary-General António Guterres said in the report’s Foreword. “But it also guides us to a safer place by providing a peace plan and a post-war rebuilding programme.

“By transforming how we view nature, we can recognize its true value. By reflecting this value in policies, plans and economic systems, we can channel investments into activities that restore nature and are rewarded for it,” he added. “By recognizing nature as an indispensable ally, we can unleash human ingenuity in the service of sustainability and secure our own health and well-being alongside that of the planet.”

Amid a wave of investment to re-energize economies hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, the blueprint communicates the opportunity and urgency for ambitious and immediate action.

It also lays out the roles that everyone – from governments and businesses to communities and individuals – can and must play. 2021 is especially crucial, with upcoming climate and biodiversity convention meetings – UNFCCC COP 26 and CBD COP 15 – where governments must come up with synergistic and ambitious targets to safeguard the planet by almost halving greenhouse gas emissions in this decade, and by conserving and restoring biodiversity.

Tackling three planetary threats together

Economic growth has brought uneven gains in prosperity to a fast-growing global population, leaving 1.3 billion people poor, while tripling the extraction of natural resources to damaging levels and creating a planetary emergency.

Despite a temporary decline in emissions due to the pandemic, Earth is heading for at least 3°C of global warming this century; more than 1 million of the estimated 8 million plant and animal species are at substantially increased risk of extinction; and diseases caused by pollution are currently killing some 9 million people prematurely every year.

Environmental degradation is impeding progress towards ending poverty and hunger, reducing inequalities and promoting sustainable economic growth, work for all and peaceful and inclusive societies.

The report shows how this trio of environmental emergencies interact and have common causes, and thus can only be effectively addressed together. Subsidies on fossil fuels, for instance, and prices that leave out environmental costs, are driving the wasteful production and consumption of energy and natural resources that are behind all three problems.

Inger Andersen, Executive Director of UNEP, said the report highlighted the importance of changing mindsets and values, and finding political and technical solutions that measure up to the Earth’s environmental crises.

“In showing how the health of people and nature are intertwined, the COVID-19 crisis has underlined the need for a step-change in how we view and value nature. By reflecting that value in decision-making – whether we are talking about economic policy or personal choices – we can bring about a rapid and lasting shift toward sustainability for both people and the environment,” she said.

“‘Green recovery’ plans for pandemic-hit economies are an unmissable opportunity to accelerate the transformation.”

Released ahead of the fifth UN Environment Assembly, the report presents a strong case for why and how urgent action should be taken to protect and restore the planet and its climate in a holistic way.

It presents examples of what transformative change can look like, and how it can create prosperity, employment and greater equality. Far-reaching change involves recasting how we value and invest in nature, integrating that value into policies and decisions at all levels, overhauling subsidies and other elements of economic and financial systems, and fostering innovation in sustainable technologies and business models. Massive private investment in electric mobility and alternative fuels show how whole industries recognize the potential gains from shifting quickly.

The authors point out that ending environmental decline in all its forms is essential to advancing many of the Sustainable Development Goals, in particular poverty alleviation, food and water security and good health for all. An example is how intensifying agriculture and fishing in sustainable ways, allied with changes in diets and lower food waste, can help end global hunger and poverty and improve nutrition and health while sparing more land and ocean for nature.

Reinforcing the call for action, the report stresses the need for stakeholders at all levels of society to be involved in decision-making, and identifies dozens of key actions that governments, businesses, communities and individuals can and should undertake in order to bring about a sustainable world.

For instance:

• Governments can include natural capital in measures of economic performance, put a price on carbon and shift trillions of dollars in subsidies from fossil fuels, non-sustainable agriculture and transportation towards low-carbon and nature-friendly solutions
• International organizations can promote One Health approaches and ambitious international targets for biodiversity, such as expanded and improved protected area networks
• Financial organizations can stop lending for fossil fuels and develop innovative finance for biodiversity conservation and sustainable agriculture.
• Businesses can adopt the principles of the circular economy to minimize resource use and waste and commit to maintaining transparent and deforestation-free supply chains
• Non-government organizations can build networks of stakeholders to ensure their full participation in decisions about sustainable use of land and marine resources
• Scientific organizations can pioneer technologies and policies to reduce carbon emissions, increase resource efficiency and lift the resilience of cities, industries, communities and ecosystems
• Individuals can reconsider their relationship with nature, learn about sustainability and change their habits to reduce their use of resources, cut waste of food, water and energy, and adopt healthier diets

A sustainable future also means learning from the COVID-19 crisis to reduce the threat of pandemic diseases. The report underlines how ecosystem degradation heightens the risk of pathogens making the jump from animals to humans, and the importance of a ‘One Health’ approach that considers human, animal and planetary health together.

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About the UN Environment Programme (UNEP)

UNEP is the leading global voice on the environment. It provides leadership and encourages partnership in caring for the environment by inspiring, informing and enabling nations and peoples to improve their quality of life without compromising that of future generations.

About the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA)

UNEA is the world’s highest-level decision-making body on the environment. The Environment Assembly meets biennially to set priorities for global environmental policies and develop international environmental law. Through its resolutions and calls to action, the Assembly provides leadership and catalyses intergovernmental action on the environment.

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Coverage highlights:

Al Jazeera, Qatar: UN report highlights perils of world’s environmental destruction

Associated Press, United States: UN: Huge changes in society needed to keep nature, Earth OK
Spanish: ONU: Se necesitan grandes cambios en la sociedad para mantener la naturaleza, la Tierra en buen estado

Agence France Presse: Environmental Degradation Poses Triple Threat To Humans: UN

Reuters: U.N. chief backs new blueprint to end suicidal war on nature

Agencia EFE, Spain: La ONU solicita hacer la paz con la naturaleza para evitar el desastre  

UK Press Association: Dramatic changes in society needed to tackle environmental crises, says UN

IndoAsian News Service, India: UNEP synthesis provides blueprint to solve climate crisis

News sites

The Guardian, United Kingdom: Human destruction of nature is ‘senseless and suicidal’, warns UN chief

The Independent, United Kingdom: World must ‘transform relationship with nature’ to tackle burgeoning environmental crises, says UN

The Weather Network, Canada: Biodiversity, pollution, and climate change are interconnected: UN report

Coverage summary in full, click here

News release in full, click here

Highlights: Intergovernmental council on pandemic prevention; risk drivers include deforestation, wildlife trade; tax high pandemic-risk activities; 540,000 – 850,000 unknown viruses in nature could infect people; economic impacts 100x prevention costs

Future pandemics will emerge more often, spread more rapidly, do more damage to the world economy and kill more people than COVID-19 unless there is a transformative change in the global approach to dealing with infectious diseases, warns a major new report on biodiversity and pandemics by 22 leading experts from around the world.

Convened by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) for an urgent virtual workshop about the links between degradation of nature and increasing pandemic risks, the experts agree that escaping the era of pandemics is possible, but that this will require a seismic shift in approach from reaction to prevention.

COVID-19 is at least the sixth global health pandemic since the Great Influenza Pandemic of 1918, and although it has its origins in microbes carried by animals, like all pandemics its emergence has been entirely driven by human activities, says the report released on Thursday. It is estimated that another 1.7 million currently ‘undiscovered’ viruses exist in mammals and birds – of which up to 850,000 could have the ability to infect people.

“There is no great mystery about the cause of the COVID-19 pandemic – or of any modern pandemic”, said Dr. Peter Daszak, President of EcoHealth Alliance and Chair of the IPBES workshop. “The same human activities that drive climate change and biodiversity loss also drive pandemic risk through their impacts on our environment. Changes in the way we use land; the expansion and intensification of agriculture; and unsustainable trade, production and consumption disrupt nature and increase contact between wildlife, livestock, pathogens and people. This is the path to pandemics.”

Pandemic risk can be significantly lowered by reducing the human activities that drive the loss of biodiversity, by greater conservation of protected areas, and through measures that reduce unsustainable exploitation of high biodiversity regions. This will reduce wildlife-livestock-human contact and help prevent the spillover of new diseases, says the report.

“The overwhelming scientific evidence points to a very positive conclusion,” said Dr. Daszak. “We have the increasing ability to prevent pandemics – but the way we are tackling them right now largely ignores that ability. Our approach has effectively stagnated – we still rely on attempts to contain and control diseases after they emerge, through vaccines and therapeutics. We can escape the era of pandemics, but this requires a much greater focus on prevention in addition to reaction.”

“The fact that human activity has been able to so fundamentally change our natural environment need not always be a negative outcome. It also provides convincing proof of our power to drive the change needed to reduce the risk of future pandemics – while simultaneously benefiting conservation and reducing climate change.”

The report says that relying on responses to diseases after their emergence, such as public health measures and technological solutions, in particular the rapid design and distribution of new vaccines and therapeutics, is a “slow and uncertain path”, underscoring both the widespread human suffering and the tens of billions of dollars in annual economic damage to the global economy of reacting to pandemics.

Pointing to the likely cost of COVID-19 of $8-16 trillion globally by July 2020, it is further estimated that costs in the United States alone may reach as high as $16 trillion by the 4th quarter of 2021. The experts estimate the cost of reducing risks to prevent pandemics to be 100 times less than the cost of responding to such pandemics, “providing strong economic incentives for transformative change.”

The report also offers a number of policy options that would help to reduce and address pandemic risk. Among these are:

• Launching a high-level intergovernmental council on pandemic prevention to provide decision-makers with the best science and evidence on emerging diseases; predict high-risk areas; evaluate the economic impact of potential pandemics and to highlight research gaps. Such a council could also coordinate the design of a global monitoring framework.
• Countries setting mutually-agreed goals or targets within the framework of an international accord or agreement – with clear benefits for people, animals and the environment.
• Institutionalizing the ‘One Health’ approach in national governments to build pandemic preparedness, enhance pandemic prevention programs, and to investigate and control outbreaks across sectors.
• Developing and incorporating pandemic and emerging disease risk health impact assessments in major development and land-use projects, while reforming financial aid for land-use so that benefits and risks to biodiversity and health are recognized and explicitly targeted.
• Ensuring that the economic cost of pandemics is factored into consumption, production, and government policies and budgets.
• Enabling changes to reduce the types of consumption, globalized agricultural expansion and trade that have led to pandemics – this could include taxes or levies on meat consumption, livestock production and other forms of high pandemic-risk activities.
• Reducing zoonotic disease risks in the international wildlife trade through a new intergovernmental ‘health and trade’ partnership; reducing or removing high disease-risk species in the wildlife trade; enhancing law enforcement in all aspects of the illegal wildlife trade and improving community education in disease hotspots about the health risks of wildlife trade.
• Valuing Indigenous Peoples and local communities’ engagement and knowledge in pandemic prevention programs, achieving greater food security, and reducing consumption of wildlife.
• Closing critical knowledge gaps such as those about key risk behaviors, the relative importance of illegal, unregulated, and the legal and regulated wildlife trade in disease risk, and improving understanding of the relationship between ecosystem degradation and restoration, landscape structure and the risk of disease emergence.

Speaking about the workshop report, Dr. Anne Larigauderie, Executive Secretary of IPBES said: “The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of science and expertise to inform policy and decision-making. Although it is not one of the typical IPBES intergovernmental assessments reports, this is an extraordinary peer-reviewed expert publication, representing the perspectives of some of the world’s leading scientists, with the most up-to-date evidence and produced under significant time constraints. We congratulate Dr. Daszak and the other authors of this workshop report and thank them for this vital contribution to our understanding of the emergence of pandemics and options for controlling and preventing future outbreaks. This will inform a number of IPBES assessments already underway, in addition to offering decision-makers new insights into pandemic risk reduction and options for prevention.”

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The full report is available here: http://www.ipbes.net/pandemics

Executive summary: http://bit.ly/PandemicReportExecSum

The report, its recommendations and conclusions have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by the member States of IPBES – it represents the expertise and perspectives of the experts who participated in the workshop, listed here in full: https://ipbes.net/biodiversity-pandemics-participants

The IPBES workshop report is one of the most scientifically robust examinations of the evidence and knowledge about links between pandemic risk and nature since the COVID pandemic began – with contributions from leading experts in fields as diverse as epidemiology, zoology, public health, disease ecology, comparative pathology, veterinary medicine, pharmacology, wildlife health, mathematical modelling, economics, law and public policy.

The report is also strongly scientifically substantiated, with almost than 700 cited sources – more than 200 of which are from 2020 and 2019 – which offers decision-makers a valuable analytical snap-shot of the most up-to-date data currently available.

17 of the 22 experts were nominated by Governments and organizations following a call for nominations; 5 experts were added from the ongoing IPBES assessment of the sustainable use of wild species, the assessment on values and the assessment of invasive alien species, as well as experts assisting with the scoping of the IPBES nexus assessment and transformative change assessments.

Resource persons who contributed information but were not authors of the report included experts from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the Secretariat of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), and the World Health Organization (WHO).

Often described as the “IPCC for biodiversity”, IPBES is an independent intergovernmental body comprising more than 130 member Governments. Established by Governments in 2012, it provides policymakers with objective scientific assessments about the state of knowledge regarding the planet’s biodiversity, ecosystems and the contributions they make to people, as well as the tools and methods to protect and sustainably use these vital natural assets. For more information about IPBES and its assessments visit http://www.ipbes.net

Coverage highlights

Newswires

Thomson Reuters Foundation, UK, Scientists propose tax on meat and livestock to help avert future pandemics, click here

Press Association, UK, via Daily Mail, UK (24,234,282) Worse pandemics to come without action to curb harm to nature, report warns, click here

Agence France Press, via Yahoo news, United States (62,060,100) Nature loss means deadlier future pandemics, UN warns, click here

French, via Le Figaro, France (28,585,893) Les pandémies vont se multiplier et faire plus de morts, selon des experts de l’ONU, click here

Portuguese, via Globo, Brazil (12,086,233), Protejam a natureza ou enfrentem pandemias mais graves do que a Covid-19, alertam cientistas, click here 

Agencia EFE, via Infobae, Argentina (36,782,390) Reducir la pérdida de la biodiversidad evitará una era de pandemias (Reducing biodiversity loss will prevent an era of pandemics), click here

ANSA, Italy (12,621,632) Covid: studio, rischio pandemie peggiori. Serve prevenirle (Covid: study, worse pandemic risk. We need to prevent them), click here

Deutsche Presse Agentur, Germany, Forscher: Naturschutz kann Pandemien vorbeugen (Researcher: Conservation can prevent pandemics), click here

Kyodo News, via Yahoo! Japan (potential impressions: 92,198,566) 環境破壊が動物由来の感染症招く コロナの損害16兆ドル試算 (Environmental destruction causes infectious diseases of animal origin Corona damage estimated at $ 16 trillion), click here

The Canadian Press, via CTV News, Canada (14,461,132) Nature loss means deadlier future pandemics, UN warns, click here

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Major news sites

UK

Daily Mail

Worse pandemics to come without action to protect wildlife: Scientists warn there are up to 850,000 undiscovered viruses in birds and mammals that could infect humans, click here

The Guardian (87,129,192) Protecting nature is vital to ‘escaping era of pandemics’ – report, click here

BBC News (75,721,184) Cheaper to prevent pandemics than ‘cure’ them, click here

New Scientist, Controlling deforestation and wildlife trade could prevent pandemics, click here

The Independent, Halt the climate and nature-loss crises to prevent more pandemics, scientists tell world leaders, click here

USA

The Hill (24,796,323) UN warns of deadlier pandemics, click here

Gizmodo, Why Saving Nature Is the Best Way to End the Pandemic Era, click here

France

Le Monde (26,209,339) Prévenir les pandémies plutôt que guérir serait cent fois moins coûteux (Preventing pandemics rather than curing would be a hundred times cheaper), click here

Le Parisien (18,817,118) L’ONU anticipe des pandémies plus fréquentes et plus meurtrières (The UN anticipates more frequent and deadly pandemics), click here

20 Minutes (16,456,797) Les pandémies vont se multiplier et faire plus de morts, avertit l’ONU (Pandemics to multiply and kill more, UN warns), click here

Germany

Der Spiegel (24,711,886) Weltbiodiversitätsrat fordert Strategiewechsel im Kampf gegen Viren (World Biodiversity Council calls for a change in strategy in the fight against viruses), click here

Süddeutsche (14,705,059) Zoonosen Das Pandemiezeitalter muss nicht kommen (Zoonoses The age of pandemics need not come), click here

Spain 

LaVanguardia (32,424,925) Los expertos reclaman rearmar el planeta contra pandemias “más frecuentes, mortales y costosas” (Experts claim to rearm the planet against pandemics “more frequent, deadly and costly”), click here

El Diario (12,162,225) La ONU certifica que las mismas agresiones ambientales detrás del cambio climático causan las pandemias como la COVID-19 (The UN certifies that the same environmental aggressions behind climate change cause pandemics such as COVID-19), click here

Latin America

Infobae, Argentina (36,782,390) Las pandemias del futuro serán más mortales y costosas sin cambios en los modelos de producción (Future pandemics will be more deadly and costly without changes in production models), click here

El Tiempo, Colombia (13,807,544), ¿Qué es el ‘efecto dilución’, clave para evitar futuras pandemias? (What is the ‘dilution effect’, key to avoiding future pandemics?), click here

Poland

Onet (21,015,525), Eksperci nie mają dobrych wieści: kolejne pandemie będą gorsze niż obecna (There is no good news for experts: future pandemics will be worse than the current one), click here

Korea 

Daum (28,902,455) 미발견 바이러스 170만종 중 85만종 인간 감염 가능 (850,000 out of 1.7 million undiscovered viruses can infect humans), click here

Coverage summary in full, click here

News release in full, click here

Global Biodiversity Outlook 5 report outlines 8 major transitions needed to slow, then halt nature’s accelerating decline

Final report card on Aichi Biodiversity Targets, set in 2010: 6 of world’s 20 goals “partially achieved” by 2020 deadline.

Towards a landmark new global post-2020 biodiversity framework: GBO-5 synthesizes scientific basis for urgent action.

Bright spots include: extinctions prevented by conservation, more land and oceans protected, fish stocks bounce back in well-managed fisheries.

Montreal — Despite encouraging progress in several areas, the natural world is suffering badly and getting worse. Eight transformative changes are, therefore, urgently needed to ensure human wellbeing and save the planet, the UN warns in a major report.

The report comes as the COVID-19 pandemic challenges people to rethink their relationship with nature, and to consider the profound consequences to their own wellbeing and survival that can result from continued biodiversity loss and the degradation of ecosystems.

The Global Biodiversity Outlook 5 (GBO-5), published by the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), offers an authoritative overview of the state of nature. It is a final report card on progress against the 20 global biodiversity targets agreed in 2010 with a 2020 deadline, and offers lessons learned and best practices for getting on track.

“This flagship report underlines that ‘humanity stands at a crossroads with regard to the legacy we wish to leave to future generations,'” said CBD Executive Secretary, Elizabeth Maruma Mrema.

“Many good things are happening around the world and these should be celebrated and encouraged. Nevertheless, the rate of biodiversity loss is unprecedented in human history and pressures are intensifying.  Earth’s living systems as a whole are being compromised.  And the more humanity exploits nature in unsustainable ways and undermines its contributions to people, the more we undermine our own well-being, security and prosperity.”

News release in full, click here

GBO5 media coverage, summary presentation, click here