IUCN at UN Biodiversity Conference CBD COP16

Under the theme ‘Peace with Nature’, COP16 is the first meeting of the COP after the adoption of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) in 2022, also known as the Biodiversity Plan.  

As focus now turns to implementation, Governments will review the progress made in translating the global framework into national strategies and plans. The COP is also expected to finalize outstanding issues from COP15 and related to the Framework such as the monitoring framework, the resource mobilization strategy, and the multilateral benefit-sharing mechanism from the use of digital sequence information (DSI), and to take decisions on many other items crucially important for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity. 

IUCN will closely follow the negotiations, providing scientifically-sound inputs for the implementation of the Framework, and for monitoring progress towards meeting the global goals and targets, putting forward its knowledge products, tools and the wealth of experience vested in the Union.  

IUCN will also host a pavilion in the Blue Zone of the COP venue. Under the banner Unite for Nature, Home of Union, the IUCN pavilion will showcase a variety of events throughout the two weeks of COP. All IUCN Members and partners are welcome to join! (Program of events coming up soon)  

With 6 years left to halt the loss of biodiversity, at COP16 IUCN calls for: 

• Urgent action, for all and by all. As countries update their National Biodiversity and Action Plans – NBSAPs, and translate the GBF to their national contexts, high ambition must prevail. While governments should play a leadership role, we need “all hands-on deck” and keep our determination to halt and reverse biodiversity loss to achieve a nature-positive world by 2030. 
• Unprecedented transformation to make peace with nature. Biodiversity underpins peoples’ lives and livelihoods. Achieving the Biodiversity Plan will require massive, unprecedented transformation and the contribution of all actors and sectors, putting nature at the forefront in decision-making and shifting from short term profits to long term sustainability, at all levels. Nature must not be seen as a commodity; it is our life-support system.  
• Leadership and commitment to bridge positions and reach compromises that will lead us to the substantial increase in financial resources needed from all sources for halting the loss of biodiversity. Every effort must be made to secure adequate funding and investment on biodiversity conservation.  
• Scaling-up from the tools we have. Rapid action to implement the GBF must be based on actual needs. Assessing needs – capacity, knowledge, data, resources – must be a continuous and adaptative exercise. However, we must first rely on the knowledge, tools, data and resources that already exist and that have proven effective to support conservation action. There is no need to reinvent the wheel!  

Specific recommendations for COP16 can be found in IUCN's position papers.