First Draft of Global Biodiversity Framework Identifies Four Goals for 2050

The Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) has published the first draft of the post-2020 global biodiversity framework. The draft was released in the lead-up to the third meeting of the Open-ended Working Group on the post-2020 global biodiversity framework, which will convene online from 23 August-3 September 2021.

The draft dated on 5 July 2021 highlights a 2050 vision and 2030 mission, namely, “By 2050, biodiversity is valued, conserved, restored and wisely used, maintaining ecosystem services, sustaining a healthy planet and delivering benefits essential for all people.” In the period to 2030, the draft frameworks states that there will be “urgent action across society to conserve and sustainably use biodiversity and ensure the fair and equitable sharing of benefits from the use of genetics resources, to put biodiversity on a path to recovery by 2030 for the benefit of planet and people.”

The framework identifies 21 action-oriented targets for urgent action over the decade to 2030.

The framework has four long-term goals for 2050 related to the 2050 Vision for Biodiversity, with each 2050 goal having corresponding milestones to assess progress in 2030. The long-term goals relate to:

Enhanced integrity of all ecosystems;
Valuing, maintaining or enhancing Nature’s contributions to people through conservation and sustainable use;
Fair and equitable sharing of the benefits from the utilization of genetic resources; and
Closing the gap between available financial and other means of implementation, and those necessary to achieve the 2050 Vision.

The framework identifies 21 action-oriented targets for urgent action over the decade to 2030, organized into three categories: reducing threats to biodiversity; meeting people’s needs through sustainable use and benefit-sharing; and tools and solutions for implementation and mainstreaming.

The first draft GBF also includes sections on: implementation support mechanisms; enabling conditions; responsibility and transparency; and outreach, awareness, and uptake.

A note from the co-chairs of the Open-ended Working Group that introduces the first draft indicates that the GBF will be supported by three additional documents: (a) a monitoring framework with headline indicators, (b) a glossary with a definition of terms used in the framework, and (c) supporting technical information on each draft goal and target.

The Open-ended Working Group on the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework was established by Decision 14/34, reached by the 14th session of the Conference of the Parties to the CBD (COP 14) in 2018, in order to support the process of developing a post-2020 global biodiversity framework (GBF). The first meeting of the Working Group took place from 27-30 August 2019, in Nairobi, Kenya, and concluded with a request for a zero draft text to be prepared prior to the Working Group’s second meeting.

The zero draft was released in January 2020. It presented five long-term goals for 2050 related to the CBD’s 2050 Vision for Biodiversity. Each goal also had an associated outcome for 2030. The five goals addressed: net loss and ecosystem resilience; reductions in the percentage of species threatened with extinction; the maintenance and enhancement of genetic diversity; the benefits of nature to people; and increasing the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits from the use of genetic resources and associated traditional knowledge.

The zero draft framework also included 20 action-oriented targets for 2030, presented under the categories of: reducing threats to biodiversity; meeting people’s needs through sustainable use and benefit-sharing; and tools and solutions for implementation and mainstreaming.

The second meeting of the Working Group convened in February 2020. This meeting reviewed the zero draft framework and, among other decisions:

Invited the 24th meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical, and Technological Advice (SBSTTA 24) to provide elements for the development of the global biodiversity framework;
Invited SBSTTA to provide a scientific and technical review of updated goals and targets, and related indicators and baselines;
Requested the Working Group Co-Chairs and the Secretariat to update the elements of the draft framework that were reviewed during the second meeting of the Working Group; and
Requested the Working Group Co-Chairs and the Secretariat to prepare a first draft of the global biodiversity framework.

SBSTTA 24 was scheduled to take place in May 2020, but due to the global pandemic it was postponed and eventually rescheduled as an online event, taking place over several weeks in May-June 2021. The Earth Negotiations Bulletin reports that during the meeting, delegates discussed the importance of balance, questioned the complexity of the proposed indicators, and suggested options for baseline dates, among other items. Speakers also discussed the importance of selecting indicators for national reporting, whether there should be headline indicators, and what they should be.

Another subsidiary body of the CBD, the Subsidiary Body on Implementation also convened online during several weeks in May-June 2021 (SBI-3). With regard to the GBF, the SBI discussed:

A draft outline for a post-2020 gender plan of action;
A communication strategy for the GBF;
The implementation plan and capacity-building action plan for the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety; and
Other elements on the development of the GBF, including a decision on the periodicity of COP meetings beyond COP 16.

The third meeting of the Open-ended Working Group on the post-2020 framework was originally scheduled to take place in July 2020 but postponed due to the pandemic. It will take place online instead in August-September 2021. [First draft of the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework] [UNEP landing page]