The Challenge

In 2020 governments will agree a new global biodiversity framework that will replace the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020 and its Aichi Biodiversity Targets. This will be a major event, as the post-2020 global biodiversity framework will provide both the context and the level of ambition for action to address concerns about biodiversity and ecosystem services until at least 2030.

Governments have given themselves two years to develop the new framework, and, based on current discussion, it is expected that the process for doing so will engage a broad range of stakeholders, draw on evidence from multiple sources, and seek to place biodiversity and ecosystem services in the context of other global agendas relating to development, climate change, land degradation and disaster risk reduction.

In order to build an effective post-2020 global biodiversity framework it will be important to learn lessons from previous target setting, and to consider progress in achieving the Aichi Biodiversity Targets. However this is not the only evidence that will be needed, and inputs will come from multiple sources – meetings, publications, consultation. Gathering that evidence and using it effectively will be a major challenge.

Our solution & impact

UNEP-WCMC has worked closely with the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity for many years, and is recognised by many governments and the European Union as a provider of support services to the Convention, as well as of technical support to countries. UNEP-WCMC is also very familiar with other biodiversity-related conventions and key intergovernmental agendas and processes. We are therefore well placed to support the CBD Secretariat and Parties in developing the post-2020 global biodiversity framework.

The following illustrate a number of the approaches being developed and undertaken by UNEP-WCMC to support the Convention as it leads development of the post-2020 global biodiversity framework.

• In order to help keep track of the process leading up to adoption of a post-2020 global biodiversity, UNEP-WCMC has developed “The 2020 Biodiversity Strategic Planning Timeline” working with the Secretariat of the Convention. This is an interactive timeline of initiatives and milestones leading up to the development of a post-2020 global biodiversity framework, and links to details on each of the listed meetings.

• Assessment of progress in achieving the Aichi Biodiversity Targets will be critical. UNEP-WCMC provides the secretariat for the Biodiversity Indicators Partnership, which plays a substantive role in this assessment, contributing to development of the Convention’s flagship publication the Global Biodiversity Outlook, and also contributing to other assessment processes.

• The Convention has already agreed a 2050 Vision of “living in harmony with nature”, which provides context for the post-2020 global biodiversity framework. UNEP-WCMC is supporting discussion on how to achieve this vision at the Convention’s governance and advisory bodies drawing on our work on scenarios and modelling.

• Recognising the importance of evidence in decision making, UNEP-WCMC convened an expert meeting to help ensure effective use of knowledge in developing the post-2020 global biodiversity framework, working with the Cambridge Conservation Initiative and others including the Convention Secretariat. Outputs from this meeting are informing the Convention’s governance and advisory processes, and UNEP-WCMC will follow up on those areas of interest to governments.

• As an organisation analysing and synthesising data and information relevant to delivery of the Convention’s objectives, UNEP-WCMC is well placed to undertake analysis of the potential implications for biodiversity of different types of target, and is already working with the protected areas community to consider the potential implications of different types of protected area target and how their achievement might be tracked.

• As part of this UNEP-WCMC helped organise a symposium on “Safeguarding space for nature and securing our future: developing a post-2020 strategy” led by the Zoological Society of London and National Geographic Society, working together with IUCN, BirdLife International, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, UN Environment World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC) and the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (SCBD).

• Drawing on experience in supporting countries in developing their National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans and drafting national reports, UNEP-WCMC will undertake a review of lessons learnt from developing national strategies and reports, including interpretation of Aichi Biodiversity Targets for use at the national level.  

Expertise & Team

Our team brings together substantial experience of the use of science and evidence in supporting policy and practice. These projects include cross-programmatic effort, with involvement from the Ecosystem Assessment and Policy Support, Science and Protected Areas teams in particular.

Jerry Harrison

Principal Investigator

Neil Burgess

Chief Scientist