International Day for Biological Diversity

Note from the Secretariat: Guidance material on each target of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework is accessible by clicking on the target number below. This material provides an overview of each target by briefly introducing key terms, highlighting some of the implications for national target setting, and providing key points and guiding questions for consideration as part of national target-setting exercises. It also identifies the adopted indicators to monitor progress and resources that could assist with national target setting and implementation . This material should be considered a work in progress, and it will be periodically updated with inputs from Parties and partner organizations in the light of experiences with its use. This information is meant to serve as a resource that Parties and others may wish to consider as they implement the Global Biodiversity Framework . It does not replace or qualify decision 15/4 or 15/5 . Section H. Global targets for 2030 ...

  In simple terms, biodiversity refers to all types of life on Earth . The UN Convention on Biological Diversity ( CBD ) describes it as “the diversity within species, between species and of ecosystems, including plants, animals, bacteria, and fungi ”. These three levels work together to create life on Earth, in all its complexity. The diversity of species keep the global ecosystem in balance , providing everything in nature that we, as humans, need to survive, including food, clean water, medicine and shelter.  Over  half of global GDP  is strongly dependent on nature. More than one billion people  rely on forests  for their livelihoods. Biodiversity is also our strongest natural defence against  climate change . Land and ocean ecosystems act as “carbon sinks” , absorbing more than half of all carbon emissions.   Forests are being restored through biodiversity enterprise programmes in Kenya.

Because the first big push of the year to put the United Nations ’s bold plan to protect biodiversity into practice takes place in the Swiss capital, Bern , between 23 and 25 January. Introducing the conference, Patricia Kameri-Mbote, Director of the United Nations Environment Programme ( UNEP ) Law Division, warned that the lack of coordination between the various organizations trying to protect biodiversity is a “critical challenge” that needs to be urgently overcome “as we strive for a world living in harmony with nature by 2050”. A key aim of the conference will be to solve that problem b y pulling together the various initiatives taking place across the world. © United Nations/Mukhopadhyay S   Climate change and unsustainable land and water practices are driving drought conditions across the world.

The Plan, officially called the Kunming-Montreal  Global Biodiversity Framework , is a UN-driven landmark agreement adopted by 196 countries to guide global action on nature through to 2030, which was hashed out at meetings in Kunming, China and Montreal, Canada, in 2022. The aim is to address biodiversity loss , restore ecosystems and protect indigenous rights . Indigenous peoples  suffer disproportionately  from loss of biological diversity and environmental degradation. Their lives, survival, development chances, knowledge, environment and health conditions are threatened by environmental degradation, large scale industrial activities, toxic waste, conflicts and forced migration as well as by land-use and land-cover changes such as deforestation for agriculture and extractives. There are concrete measures to halt and reverse nature loss, including putting 30 per cent of the planet and 30 per cent of degraded ecosystems under protection by 2030 . Currently 17 per cent ...

From the smallest bacteria to the grandest ecosystems, biodiversity is a lifeline for all living things, providing essentials like food, water, and medicine. It's also a natural defense against climate change .  

  The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework or Biodiversity Plan sets out to Protect & Restore Invest & Collaborate Prosper with Nature Share Benefits Fairly by 2050.