Photograph by: Enric Sala, National Geographic
August 20, 2020
In a few weeks, the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity will release a final report card on the world's 20 biodiversity targets, set back in 2010 for achievement by this year. According to all predictions, we have made progress, but largely missed those pledges, as we did the decade before, when the world agreed to stem the rate of biodiversity loss.
March 23, 2020
In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, on 23 March 2020, CBD Acting Executive Secretary Elizabeth Mrema announced that the dates for this meeting would be adjusted. The meeting was originally scheduled to take place from 15-28 October 2020.
March 20, 2020
The Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (SCBD) and the ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity (ACB) will conduct a three-day online training on the use of the Bioland tool, an online platform designed to help parties to the CBD in the curation and sharing of biodiversity data.
The webinar, which will run from 25 to 27 March 2020, serves as a preliminary activity to the Regional Workshop for the ASEAN on National Clearing-House Mechanisms, which was originally slated for 8 to 12 March 2020 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, but was postponed due to growing concerns on the spread of the Coronavirus disease or COVID-19.
March 5, 2020
The Earth is vast—but it is also finite. As human development has expanded to meet the needs of a growing population, far too much of nature has been lost or degraded. This degradation is a major driver of climate change as well as species loss—and both crises pose serious threats to people.
Scientists are talking of deadly tipping points, and recent images of blazing fires, wounded wildlife and urgent evacuations in Australia hammer home that the delicate balance of nature can be tipped out of control within a relatively short time frame. We urgently need to reset and reverse these trends—but doing so will require broad collaboration and investment. This job is too big for environmentalists alone.
March 3, 2020
Angeli Mehta reports on how companies like Danone, Unilever, and China's Cofco International are addressing biodiversity loss through platforms like the Business for Nature coalition and One Planet Business for Biodiversity
This decade has been billed as the decade of climate action – but it’s not enough to cut carbon emissions, we also have to reverse the precipitous loss of our planet’s biodiversity.
March 3, 2020
A new global deal for nature will need strong implementation and finance, but discussions on these issues at the latest negotiations under the Convention on Biological Diversity were lacking.
The clock is ticking. With just eight months to draw up a new deal for nature to prevent dire predictions of the extinction of one million species becoming reality, scientists and conservation groups are closely following progress of talks under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).
February 27, 2020
The Vice Minister of Environment of Costa Rica, Pamela Castillo, present in Rome on the occasion of the UN biodiversity summit, said there is a "general consensus" between the participating countries to advance their proposal to protect 30% of terrestrial and marine ecosystems.
In an interview with Efe, Castillo valued as "very positive" the atmosphere of consensus and "fluid conversation" in the first meetings of the signatory countries of the Convention on Biological Diversity, which this week in Rome prepare the framework document on biodiversity that will be ratified at the next October summit.
February 27, 2020
Protect biodiversity and manage natural resources sustainably at a time when people are devastating the planet: the Convention on Biological Biodiversity (CBD) began Monday to examine an action plan by 2050.
Originally scheduled in China, which will host the 15th meeting of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (COP15) in October, the February negotiations were moved to Rome due to the coronavirus epidemic.
February 27, 2020
Governments are under pressure this year to agree on protecting at least 30% of the planet’s land and seas by 2030, not only to conserve endangered species and ensure food and water supplies, but also to help regulate an increasingly erratic climate.
February 28, 2020
This week, delegates from more than 100 countries and territories gathered in Rome for the first round of negotiations on a Paris Agreement-style global treaty to address the extinction crisis threatening one million species worldwide and the ecosystems on which humanity relies to survive.
February 26, 2020
Extinction risk could decrease by more than 50% if at least 30% of land were to be conserved across the tropics, a new study reveals.
February 24, 2020
Nature experts and government delegates gather this week in Rome to hash out an international deal for endangered species, trying to avoid a mass extinction event caused by human activity.
Having been hastily relocated from Kunming in China following the coronavirus outbreak, negotiators from more than 140 countries have until February 29 to study a draft text.
February 24, 2020
Qu Dongyu, Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), told negotiators on Monday that as agriculture and food systems are “at the heart of the concept of sustainable development”, they are central to deliberations regarding the Post-2020 Biodiversity Framework, which is expected to be adopted at the UN Biodiversity Conference in October.
“Biodiversity is fundamental for ecosystems, for human beings, and is the basis of food diversity," said Mr. Qu, opening the second meeting of the Open-ended Working Group established by the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), which FAO is hosting.
February 24, 2020
Negotiations over a 10-year agenda for nature are about to begin. Our ecological future depends on the engagement of every global citizen.
The year 2020 has been designated a “super year for nature”, when the global community will rededicate itself to halting biodiversity loss with a 10-year action agenda, scheduled for agreement at the conference of the parties to the UN Convention on Biodiversity (CBD) in Kunming in China in October.
February 23, 2020
In October 2020, the Convention on Biological Diversity will adopt a strategy — the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework — to replace the Aichi Targets. The Framework is intended as a step towards meeting the vision of a world ‘living in harmony with nature’ by 2050.
In order to reach that vision, there must be recognition of the interdependency of human rights and a healthy planet. As the Framework is negotiated, Forest Peoples Programme is therefore collaborating with a number of allies (including those listed below) to highlight the importance of human rights for biodiversity stewardship.
