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Recalling decision XIII/3, in which it considered the mainstreaming of biodiversity in the sectors of agriculture, forestry, fisheries and aquaculture, and tourism as well as cross-cutting issues, and in which it decided to address, at its fourteenth meeting, the mainstreaming of biodiversity into the sectors of energy and mining, infrastructure, manufacturing and processing, and health,
Also recalling the Cancun Declaration on Mainstreaming the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Biodiversity for Well-Being, adopted during the high-level segment of the thirteenth meeting, in Cancun, Mexico, on 3 December 2016,1 as well as the Sharm El-Sheikh Declaration, adopted during the high-level segment of the fourteenth meeting, in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, on 15 November 2018;2
Further recalling decision VIII/28 on the voluntary guidelines on biodiversity-inclusive impact assessment,
Recognizing that energy and mining, infrastructure, manufacturing and processing, on the one hand, depend on biodiversity and the ecosystem functions and services that biodiversity underpins, and that the loss of biodiversity can impact these sectors negatively, and that, on the other hand, these sectors have potential impacts on biodiversity which may threaten the provision of ecosystem functions and services that are vital to humanity and to life on Earth,
Stressing that mainstreaming biodiversity in the sectors of energy and mining, infrastructure, manufacturing and processing, is essential for halting the loss of biodiversity and for the achievement of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-20203 and the goals and objectives of different multilateral agreements and international processes, including the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development,4 the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement,5
Emphasizing the important role of the business and financial sectors, indigenous peoples and local communities, civil society, local and subnational governments, academia, as well as women, youth and other relevant stakeholders in promoting and implementing the mainstreaming of biodiversity,
Acknowledging the work of various international organizations, relevant partner organizations and initiatives to advance biodiversity-related practices by businesses, such as that of the United Nations Environment Programme, the One Planet Network, the United Nations Global Compact, the United Nations Statistics Division, the Convention on Migratory Species and its multi-stakeholder energy task force, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development and its BioTrade Initiative, the International Union for Conservation of Nature, the International Integrated Reporting Council, the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership, the Natural Capital Coalition and its biodiversity working group, and the Global Reporting Initiative, among others,
Recognizing that mainstreaming is critical for achieving the objectives of the Convention, the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020, its Aichi Biodiversity Targets and the 2050 Vision for Biodiversity and should be one of the key elements of the post-2020 global biodiversity framework in order to achieve the transformational change required throughout society and economies, including changes in behaviour and decision-making at all levels,
1.Welcomes the report of the international expert workshop on biodiversity mainstreaming “The path we face: advances on mainstreaming biodiversity for well-being”;9
2.Also welcomes the executive summary of the report of the international expert workshop on mainstreaming in the sectors of energy and mining, infrastructure, and manufacturing and processing;10
3.Notes the importance of reviewing the effectiveness of, and identifying obstacles and challenges to, mainstreaming biodiversity, including the need for capacity-building, technology transfer, mobilization and provision of financial resources, including through existing bilateral, regional and multilateral mechanisms;
5.Welcomes the revised typology of actions for reporting on biodiversity and associated guidance prepared by the Executive Secretary;11
6.Recognizes that, while policies and tools exist to address the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity, there are still opportunities to mainstream biodiversity in the sectors of energy and mining, infrastructure, manufacturing and processing, including in relation to integrated spatial and strategic planning, project design, decision-making and economy-wide and sector-wide policies, including incentive measures as per Aichi Biodiversity Target 3;
7.Recognizes the critical role that multilateral development banks, insurance companies, the business sector, financial institutions and other sources of financial investment can play in mainstreaming environmental and social safeguards and best practices to avoid irreparable damage to biodiversity and ecological infrastructure;
8.Alsorecognizes that opportunities exist for the wider application of biodiversity-inclusive impact assessments and the integration of biodiversity considerations in feasibility studies and risk assessments and risk communication, in particular strategic environmental assessment of policies, plans and programmes and the use of spatial planning at the national and regional levels, as well as adjusting regulatory frameworks to encourage the assessment and disclosure of financial risks from biodiversity loss related to investors and businesses;
9.Welcomes United Nations Environment Assembly resolution 3/2 on pollution mitigation by mainstreaming biodiversity into key sectors;
10.Also welcomes the decision by the Conference of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in 2017 that the Food and Agriculture Organization will act as a Biodiversity Mainstreaming Platform for the agricultural sectors and the outcomes of the Multi-stakeholder Dialogue on Mainstreaming Biodiversity across Agricultural Sectors, held by the Food and Agriculture Organization and the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity from 29 to 31 May 2018;12
11.Welcomes the resolutions of the twelfth session of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Migratory Species of Wild Animals that support mainstreaming of biodiversity into the energy sector,13 in particular in the development of renewable energy that takes into account environmental impact assessments and monitoring information as it emerges, and the exchange of information provided through wider spatial planning processes, and also welcomes the work that has been done by the Convention on Migratory Species and its multi-stakeholder Energy Task Force to advance biodiversity-friendly practices in the energy sector;
12.Urges Parties, and invites other Governments, partners and relevant stakeholders to implement prior decisions of the Conference of the Parties related to the mainstreaming of biodiversity;
13.Encourages Parties, and invites other Governments and relevant stakeholders, notably public and private entities engaged in the energy and mining, infrastructure, manufacturing and processing sectors, as relevant, in accordance with their national capacities and circumstances, priorities and regulations:
(a)To take note of the trends within the respective sectors regarding their potential impacts and dependencies on biodiversity with a view to identifying opportunities for mainstreaming biodiversity;
(b)To include approaches to conserve, enhance and sustainably use biodiversity and ecosystem functions and services in upstream decisions on investments in these sectors, through such available tools as strategic environmental assessments and integrated spatial planning, including the evaluation of alternatives to such investments;
(c)To apply best practices on environmental impact assessments14 and biodiversity mainstreaming to decisions, including those of public and private financial institutions, related to the approval of projects and investments in these sectors;
(e)To review and, as appropriate, update legal frameworks, policies and practices to promote the mainstreaming of biological diversity in the energy and mining, infrastructure and manufacturing and processing sectors, including through safeguard, monitoring and oversight measures, and to promote the full and effective participation of relevant sectors, indigenous peoples and local communities, academia, women, youth and other relevant stakeholders, where applicable through consultations with indigenous peoples and local communities with a view to obtaining free, prior and informed consent, consistent with international agreements and consistent with national policies, regulations and circumstances;
(f)To provide, as appropriate, effective incentives and appropriate governance mechanisms that strengthen best practices and best available and innovative techniques, including on sustainable consumption and production to mainstream biodiversity in the energy and mining, infrastructure, manufacturing and processing sectors, consistent with international obligations;
(g)To promote and strengthen best practices on sustainable consumption and production, implemented in the energy and mining, infrastructure, manufacturing and processing, and other sectors, that favour conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity;
(h)To review and use, as appropriate, existing tools, including policies oriented to business planning, design, supply and value chains, sustainable procurement and consumption and similar policies, to promote biodiversity-related sustainable production and consumption in the energy and mining, infrastructure, and manufacturing and processing sectors, to shift markets towards more sustainable consumption and production and innovation, as well as to continue collaborating, developing and implementing other corporate policies and measures;
(i)To review and, as appropriate, update legal frameworks, policies and practices, to foster the mainstreaming of biodiversity conservation and sustainable use in socio-economic and business policies and planning, including through incentives for best practices in supply chains, sustainable production and consumption and measures at the scale of sites or production plants, requiring reporting by businesses on biodiversity dependencies and impacts, strengthening voluntary disclosures, and adopting or updating laws on sustainable procurement, and similar policies to shift markets towards more sustainable products and technologies;
(j)To design and implement, as appropriate, measures to encourage investments by the business and financial sectors to mainstream biodiversity in all sectors, including measures to promote public disclosure of corporate activities related to biodiversity and encourage the financial sector to develop approaches to mainstream the values of biodiversity and ecosystems in financing and investment in accordance with paragraph 9(b)(ii) of decision X/3;
(k)To encourage the application of technology and research and development and innovation regarding mainstreaming biodiversity in the sectors of energy and mining, infrastructure, and manufacturing and processing;
(l)To evaluate and pursue opportunities to utilize ecosystem-based approaches in the sectors of energy and mining, infrastructure, and manufacturing and processing, where appropriate;
(m)To integrate biodiversity and ecosystems functions and services in the planning and development of cities, including approaches to conserving, enhancing, restoring and sustainably using biodiversity and ecosystem functions and services in spatial planning across cities, landscapes and seascapes;
(n)To work with indigenous peoples and local communities and all relevant stakeholders across the public, private and civil society sectors in order to establish and strengthen coordination mechanisms to facilitate addressing the underlying causes of biodiversity loss and foster biodiversity mainstreaming across all sectors;
(o)To develop government coordination mechanisms, mechanisms for stakeholder inputs and engagement, multi-stakeholder knowledge platforms, and independent governmental audit or evaluation institutions to enhance biodiversity mainstreaming and enhance implementation at the national level;
(p)To establish knowledge platforms to bring together government agencies at different levels, the business sector, indigenous peoples and local communities and stakeholders to address the technical issues with respect to mainstreaming biodiversity, taking into account matters related to environmental stewardship and corporate social responsibility;
(r)To promote the formulation of policies, work plans and concrete actions among ministries, agencies and other bodies responsible for biodiversity and the sectors of energy and mining, infrastructure, manufacturing and processing, to facilitate the mainstreaming of biological diversity in these sectors, within the framework of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020 and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development,4 and to include such policies, work plans and concrete actions in their national biodiversity strategies and action plans, as appropriate;
14.Calls upon businessesto utilizetherevised typology of actions for reporting on biodiversity‑related business actions, and associated guidance prepared by the Executive Secretary, including for the purpose of improving the availability of comparable information on corporate biodiversity performance for all stakeholders, including investors and civil society;
15.Invites multilateral development banks, insurance companies, the business sector, financial institutions and other sources of financial investment to increase and improve, as appropriate, the implementation of best practices for conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity, and social and environmental safeguards on decisions regarding investments in these sectors, so that they are aware and informed by the best scientific knowledge and practice;
16. Invites relevant organizations and initiatives to further intensify their work to identify key elements for the design, promotion and implementation of biodiversity mainstreaming by the business and financial sectors, and to enhance mutual information-sharing and collaboration, in particular:
(a)To improve the internalization by businesses of the importance and values of biodiversity as stated in paragraph 13(h) above in the sectors and to facilitate the sharing of experiences and good practices;
(b)To develop and improve metrics, indicators, baselines and other tools to measure the biodiversity dependencies of businesses in these sectors and their impacts on biological diversity, in order to provide business managers and investors with trusted, credible and actionable information for improved decision-making and the promotion of environmental, social and governance investments;
(c)To develop specific guidance on how to strengthen the ecosystem and biodiversity impact and dependency components of business reporting against the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its Sustainable Development Goals;
(d)To enhance, as appropriate, the linkages between the United Nations System of Environmental-Economic Accounting and the accounting frameworks for biodiversity and ecosystems used by the business and financial sectors;
18.Also decides to establish an Informal Advisory Group on Mainstreaming of Biodiversity, to advise the Executive Secretary and the Bureau on further development of the proposal for a long-term approach to mainstreaming biodiversity, with the terms of reference contained in annex II, including on ways to integrate mainstreaming adequately into the post-2020 global biodiversity framework, to be submitted to the Subsidiary Body on Implementation for consideration at its third meeting;
(a)To undertake activities to support implementation of the present decision and to continue to support efforts related to the mainstreaming of biodiversity as requested in prior decisions of the Conference of the Parties;
(b)To ensure that discussions and inputs with respect to mainstreaming biodiversity are appropriately integrated in the development of the post-2020 global biodiversity framework, including both technical and policy discussions as well as inputs from various stakeholders and partners;
(c)To work with the Informal Advisory Group referred to in paragraph 18 above and interested Parties to further develop a long-term strategic approach to mainstreaming of biodiversity, based on the proposal contained in annex I hereto and supported by the Informal Advisory Group referred to in paragraph 18 above;
(d)To undertake additional work to facilitate the disclosure and reporting of the impacts of businesses on biodiversity and their dependencies on biodiversity, working in collaboration with relevant organizations and initiatives, including to support the objectives listed in paragraph 16 above;
(e)To undertake additional work to examine the role of indigenous peoples and local communities in mainstreaming biodiversity;
(f)To report on progress on the actions above to the Subsidiary Body on Implementation at its third meeting for consideration subsequently by the Conference of the Parties at its fifteenth meeting;
(g)To continue organizing, in collaboration with relevant organizations and stakeholders, in conjunction with other capacity building activities, forums for discussion and exchange of experiences with respect to mainstreaming of biodiversity in key sectors, including on a regional basis;
(h)To develop cooperation and partnerships with the secretariats of relevant multilateral agreements and international organizations as regards the mainstreaming of biodiversity;
(i)To continue to develop, in collaboration with the Biodiversity Indicators Partnership and other partnerships and stakeholders, as appropriate, metrics for measuring mainstreaming success which will provide a basis for adequately integrating biodiversity mainstreaming in the post-2020 global biodiversity framework.