The Convention on Biological Diversity

The CBD is a global agreement that aims to bring the world together under a ten-year plan to reverse the loss of biodiversity. It’s a crucial space for countries to make decisions together on nature, for the benefit of all people and the planet. These decisions made at an international level guide and shape national and local action taken for nature.

View The CBD Website.

Over a decade ago, at the 2010 meeting of the CBD, countries agreed to a set of 20 global targets which aimed to halt biodiversity loss. These came to an end in 2020 and very few of these targets were achieved,, including by the UK, as our ‘Lost Decade’ report in 2020 highlighted. 

 At COP15 in 2022, nations agreed to a new action plan for this decade: the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. This plan is designed to halt and reverse biodiversity loss by 2030. It includes commitments to take urgent action to stop extinctions, recover species populations, and protect and restore ecosystems by the end of the decade. While it’s not perfect, the new framework offers real hope for tackling biodiversity loss – if these global promises are really turned into action!  To find out more about  the agreement as a whole, visit our blog.

We closely follow CBD negotiations and provide scientific and policy recommendations to countries in order to support Nature Positive outcomes.

In doing so we support the work of BirdLife International, with its dynamic partnership that spans the globe, and collaborate closely with a range of international NGOs. We are also continually working to raise the profile of the CBD, helping politicians, decision makers, businesses, and the public to better understand why the CBD is important for us all.

The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework is an important foundation for reversing biodiversity loss. We’ll be working hard to show how its targets can be met and to drive action, both in policy and practice.

Countries must respect deadlines for submitting plans and reports, and ensure those plans are well financed, and put into action across the decade. It’s essential that this action genuinely halts and reverses the loss of nature, for the sake of all people and our planet.
 

For the CBD to drive success, the framework’s global commitments need to be implemented at local, devolved, and national levels. We’re calling on the UK and its four countries to set an example by not just talking the talk but genuinely ‘walking the walk’. Check out our vision for the UK, and our recommendations for action across the four countries of the UK here. 

With BirdLife Europe and Central Asia we are also challenging the EU to deliver on the framework’s key commitments, and to show what is possible when concrete action is taken for nature.

 

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