Governments and others deliberated on the structure of the post-2020 global biodiversity framework and planned for further developing the draft text at their second of three negotiating meetings. Negotiations on the framework are expected to culminate at the UN Biodiversity Conference in Kunming, China, in October 2020.  

The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) Strategic Plan 2011-2020, which lays out the 20 Aichi Biodiversity Targets, is rapidly approaching its 2020 expiration date. As a result, the Open-ended Intersessional Working Group on the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework was developed and has been tasked with advancing preparations for the development of the framework. 

As the Earth Negotiations Bulletin analysis of the meeting indicates, the charge to “develop an all-encompassing framework that includes, in addition to addressing direct and indirect drivers of biodiversity loss and rapid species extinction, a plethora of considerations, such as ecosystem health, nature’s contributions to people, human health, socio-economic concerns, trade concerns, human rights considerations, new technologies, indigenous peoples and local communities (IPLCs), gender issues, intergenerational concerns, and education, among others, is by definition an extremely daunting task.”

The first meeting of the Working Group, which took place on 27-30 August 2019, at the UN Office at Nairobi, Kenya, agreed that the Co-Chairs and the CBD Bureau would develop a zero draft text on the global biodiversity framework; the zero draft was released in January 2020.

The second meeting of the Working Group took place from 24-29 February 2020, at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) in Rome, Italy. On the opening day participants were challenged to focus on implementation, raise ambition in goals and targets, provide financial and other means of implementation, and develop mechanisms to hold each other accountable and review progress. In his opening remarks to the Working Group, Hamdallah Zedan, Egypt’s Ministry of Environment, speaking on behalf of President of the 14th session of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD COP 14), also underlined the need for the global biodiversity framework to provide a detailed plan of action to reduce biodiversity loss, which he stressed is taking place at an alarming rate and requires urgent response. 

Working Group participants commented on the zero draft of the framework. At the conclusion of the meeting, participants:

• 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 for consideration by the third Working Group meeting, which is scheduled to take place in July; 
• 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 prepare a document, updating the elements of the draft framework that were reviewed during the second meeting of the Working Group; 
• requested the Secretariat to provide scientific and technical information to support SBSTTA’s review, including an analysis of linkages with the SDGs; and
• requested the Working Group Co-Chairs and the Secretariat to prepare a first draft of the global biodiversity framework. 

The third meeting of the Working Group is tentatively scheduled to take place from 27-31 July 2020, in Cali, Colombia. [Earth Negotiations Bulletin summary of Working Group meeting]