18 November 2018: The Secretariat of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), Egypt and China launched an action agenda for nature and people to catalyze actions in support of biodiversity conservation and its sustainable use. The agenda aims to support achievement of the CBD’s Vision of Living in Harmony with Nature by 2050.
Egypt, as the President of the 14th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP 14) to the CBD, and China, as the future host of COP 15, launched, on 15 November, the ‘Sharm El-Sheikh to Beijing Action Agenda for Nature and People’ in collaboration with the CBD at the UN Biodiversity Conference, which is convening from 14-29 November in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt.
The action agenda has three main objectives: to raise public awareness about the urgent need to stem biodiversity loss and restore biodiversity health for both humanity and the global ecosystem; to inspire and implement nature-based solutions to meet key global challenges; and to catalyze cooperative initiatives in support of global biodiversity goals. The action agenda will be hosted on an online platform that will receive and showcase commitments and contributions to biodiversity from stakeholders across all sectors in advance of COP 15, which will convene in Beijing, China, in 2020. This platform will enable the mapping of global biodiversity efforts, and help to identify key gaps and estimate impact.
The action agenda seeks to enable a paradigm shift in the human-nature relationship from abuse and neglect to respect, value and sustainability.
In explaining the rationale for the action agenda, the CBD states that humans have modified 77 percent of land on Earth, excluding Antarctica, an increase from 15 percent a century ago. Vertebrate populations have declined by 60 percent from 1970 levels, and the oceans have absorbed 60 percent more heat than previously thought, posing additional challenges to efforts to limit global warming. The CBD states that “we are rapidly destroying nature” but stresses that society has the knowledge and skills to change the current path and trajectory. Within this context, the action agenda seeks to enable a paradigm shift in the human-nature relationship “from abuse and neglect to respect, value and sustainability.”
The action agenda will place special emphasis on the nature-climate-oceans-water-land nexus and action areas related to the SDGs. The initiative welcomes the announcements of additional initiatives to raise ambition in conservation, sustainable use and access and benefit sharing (ABS) and in mainstreaming conservation measures and biodiversity solutions across all sectors. [CBD Announcement] [CBD Press Release] [IISD ENB Coverage of UN Biodiversity Conference]