Transformative actions on all drivers of biodiversity loss are urgently required to achieve the Global Goals by 2050

Halting biodiversity loss by 2030 and accelerating the reversal of negative biodiversity change requires transformative change, and cannot be achieved through conservation and restoration alone. Ambitious and comprehensive actions are needed to address the multiple direct and indirect drivers of biodiversity loss. Given the failures to achieve previous global commitments, there is an urgent need to focus on how such global commitments can be achieved effectively. This session will make the case for integrated knowledge and solutions as an imperative for realizing the Global Biodiversity Framework as a transformative instrument. The aims are of the session are to:

• Discuss the transformative potential of the Global Biodiversity Framework
• Identify key areas where integrated action is needed to implement the GBF effectively and achieve wider sustainable development

The session will build on recent contributions from the scientific community to support a more robust understanding of people as part of nature and the importance of an integrated approach to transformation change that are needed to address the multiple drivers responsible for the decline of biodiversity and ecosystems (Friedman et al 2022, IPBES 2019, Díaz 2020). It will include findings of an assessment led by the bioDISCOVERY programme of Future Earth and the Secretariat of the Group on Earth Observations Biodiversity Observation Network (GEO BON) conducted in 2021. The assessment analysed how actions in the 21 targets of the first draft of the post-2020 global biodiversity framework (GBF) and a comprehensive monitoring framework could contribute to achieving the goals and biodiversity milestones of the GBF.

As countries meet to finalise the GBF, it is crucial to integrate the robust evidence on the need for an integrated approach from ambition and target setting through to implementation and monitoring to implement the GBF while meeting other biodiversity-related agreements, the sister Rio Conventions, and the 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development, thus providing entry points for strategic coordination with other regimes.

This event is led by the International Science Council, bioDISCOVERY and GEOBON.

Speakers:

1. Peter Bridgewater, Institute for Applied Ecology, University of Canberra, Australia Learning from the past to leverage the future – making the GBF a truly transformative agenda / creating the conditions for success in 2030 and beyond
2. Paul Leadley, bioDISCOVERY and Paris-Saclay University, France – The need for and opportunities of integrated implementation of the GBF
3. David Obura, CORDIO Kenya, Earth Commission – From conservation to addressing the drivers of decline of biodiversity
4. Erin Billman, Executive Director, Science Based Targets Network (SBTN)
5. Balakrishna Pisupati, UNEP – Strenthening the science policy interface across multilateral environmental agreements
6. María Cecilia Londoño Murcia, Instituto Humboldt in Colombia and GEO BON – Tracking the drivers of biodiversity loss: the data and monitoring frameworks needed to support transformative action – GEO BON

The roundtable will be facilitated by Anne-Sophie Stevance, Senior Science Officer, International Science Council, and you can watch online via the CBD website.

Image by Alberto César Araújo/Amazônia Real via Flickr.