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Deeply concerned that, despite many positive actions by Parties and others, most of the Aichi Biodiversity Targets are not on track to be achieved by 2020, which, in the absence of further significant progress, will jeopardize the achievement of the mission and vision of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020,1 and the Sustainable Development Goals,2 and ultimately the planet’s life support systems;
1.Welcomes the updated analysis of progress in the implementation of the Convention and the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020 and towards the achievement of the Aichi Biodiversity Targets, including the update on progress in revising/updating and implementing national biodiversity strategies and action plans, including national targets and national reports, and the analysis of the contribution of targets established by Parties and progress towards the Aichi Biodiversity Targets;3
2.Welcomes with appreciation the regional assessments of biodiversity and ecosystem services for Africa, the Americas, Asia and the Pacific, and Europe and Central Asia, and the thematic Assessment of Land Degradation and Restoration of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services;
3.Welcomes the review of updated scientific information,4 including its conclusions and identified information gaps, and the possible options to accelerate progress towards the achievement of the Aichi Biodiversity Targets contained in the annex to the present decision;
4.Also welcomes the additional indicators which have been identified and those which have updated data points,5 and acknowledges the contribution of the Biodiversity Indicators Partnership in advancing the work on indicators relevant to the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020;
5.Recognizes the efforts made by Parties to translate the Aichi Biodiversity Targets into national commitments and actions, but notes with concern the findings of the updated assessment of progress6, in particular:
(a)For most of the Aichi Biodiversity Targets, there has been limited progress, and, for some Targets, no overall progress;
(b)Only a limited number of Parties have adopted their national biodiversity strategies and action plans as whole-of-government policy instruments;
(c)Only a limited number of national biodiversity strategies and action plans contain resource mobilization strategies, communication and public awareness strategies, or capacity development strategies, as the guidance for national biodiversity strategies and action plans suggests;
(d)Only a limited number of national biodiversity strategies and action plans demonstrate that biodiversity is being mainstreamed significantly into cross-sectoral plans and policies, poverty eradication policies, and/or sustainable development plans;
6.Notes that some Parties have integrated their national biodiversity strategies and action plans into other national environmental and development strategies and that this can facilitate more effective resource mobilization and communication;
7.Invites Parties that have adopted their national biodiversity strategies and action plans as whole-of-government policy instruments to share, including through the clearing-house mechanism of the Convention, their experiences and best practices in doing so, including challenges encountered;
8.Urges Parties to significantly accelerate their efforts to implement the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020, in particular by addressing any gaps between the aspirations included in their national biodiversity strategies and action plans and the actions taken to implement them;
9.Invites Parties to strengthen collaboration with indigenous peoples and local communities, civil society organizations and women’s groups, youth and other relevant stakeholders, including the private sector, to implement the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020 effectively;
10.Invites Parties and others to join and contribute to partnerships, coalitions and alliances established to support the achievement of the Strategic Plan and the Aichi Biodiversity Targets;
11.Encourages Parties and invites other Governments, with a view to informing actions at the national level, to make use of the following, as appropriate:
(a)The regional assessments of biodiversity and ecosystem services for Africa, the Americas, Asia and the Pacific, and Europe and Central Asia, and the thematic Assessment of Land Degradation and Restoration of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services;
(b)The review of updated scientific information, including its conclusions, information gaps and possible options to accelerate progress towards the achievement of the Aichi Biodiversity Targets;7
(c)The additional indicators relevant to the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020 which have been identified and those which have updated data points;8
12.Urges Parties and invites other Governments, as appropriate, to consider undertaking national assessments of biodiversity and ecosystem functions and services;
13.Invites relevant organizations and development partners to support Parties in undertaking national assessments of biodiversity and ecosystem functions and services, including through the provision of appropriate technical and financial resources, noting ongoing work in this regard undertaken in the context of BesNET with technical support from the United Nations Environment Programme’s World Conservation Monitoring Centre;9
14.Noting the need to enhance political, technical and financial support, technology transfer, and capacity-building, urges Parties and invites other Governments, in accordance with national circumstances, and invites indigenous peoples and local communities, relevant organizations, including from the private sector, and other relevant stakeholders to take urgent action by 2020 on those Aichi Biodiversity Targets, or elements thereof, for which progress needs to be accelerated, by carrying out, among other things, the following actions, as appropriate:
(a)For Target 1, develop communication strategies and tools for education and awareness-raising related to biodiversity as a means to promote behavioural change for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity, including sustainable production and consumption, noting that, while more biodiversity-related information has been made available, it is not reaching the general public;
(b)For Target 3, eliminate, phase out or reform perverse incentives that contribute to biodiversity degradation and develop and apply positive incentives that reward the adoption of sustainable practices in harmony with the Convention and other international obligations, taking into account national socioeconomic conditions;
(c)For Target 5, noting that while the annual rate of net forest loss has been halved, further efforts to address regional forest degradation and deforestation are needed and further efforts are needed to reduce the loss and degradation of other ecosystems;
(d)For Target 6, enhance efforts to reverse the decline in the sustainability of the world’s fisheries;
(e)For Target 7, promote the conservation and sustainable use of soil biodiversity, such as by contributing to the International Initiative for the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Soil Biodiversity coordinated by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations;10 and improve enforcement and monitoring of sustainable forest management and the sustainability of timber trade, particularly in developing countries and tropical regions;
(g)For Target 9, place more focus on preventing the spread of invasive alien species and to eradicate those already present;
(i)For Targets 11 and 12, noting that not all eco-regions of the world are adequately covered by protected areas, most protected areas are not well connected, and most Parties have not assessed the management effectiveness of the majority of their protected areas, and that global prevention of species loss should focus on specific regions of the world where most species diversity exists and/or where they are the most threatened, focus on the protection, management and conservation of the most significant areas for biodiversity, such as through the initiatives of the Alliance for Zero Extinction and others,11 through protected areas, other effective area-based conservation measures and specific species conservation measures;
(j)For Target 13, noting that the number of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture secured in ex situ conservation facilities shows an increase, enhance actions to avoid further reduction in genetic variation among breeds of farmed and domesticated animals, and promote in situ conservation in centres of origin and genetic diversity;
(k)For Targets 14 and 15, step up the implementation of the short-term action plan on ecosystem restoration,12 drawing on the findings of the thematic Assessment of Land Degradation and Restoration of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services and noting the Pan-African Action Agenda on Ecosystem Restoration for Increased Resilience,13 endorsed at the African Ministerial Summit on Biodiversity 2018;14
(l)For Target 18, increase efforts in the protection of and respect for traditional knowledge and make use of information contained in the Local Biodiversity Outlooks,15 inter alia, on the customary sustainable use by indigenous peoples and local communities, to contribute to updated reporting on progress in the implementation of the Aichi Biodiversity Targets;
(m)For Target 19, further promote and facilitate the mobilization of open-access biodiversity-related data and information, considering the voluntary guidance to improve the accessibility of biodiversity data and information;16
(a)Strengthen the capacities of national focal points for the Convention on Biological Diversity and decision makers to make effective use of the findings of the assessments of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services;
(b)Facilitate integrated approaches to biodiversity research, including on the interactions between indirect and direct drivers of biodiversity loss and their impacts on biodiversity, ecosystem functions and services and their contribution to human well-being;
16.Recognizes that there is a need to make more effective and systematic use of the support mechanisms identified in the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020,17 to facilitate action on the issues identified in paragraphs 11, 12 and 13;
17.Urges Parties and invites other Governments, in accordance with national circumstances and priorities, and invites other relevant organizations, indigenous peoples and local communities and stakeholders to make use of the options contained in the annex to the present decision, as appropriate;
18.Requests the Executive Secretary to communicate through the United Nations system, including the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development and relevant multilateral environmental agreements, that failing to achieve the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020 jeopardizes the attainment of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and, therefore, urgent action, including achieving resource mobilization targets,18 is required to achieve the Aichi Biodiversity Targets and to safeguard the planet’s life-support systems;
19.Also requests the Executive Secretary, subject to the availability of resources, to use and analyse the review of scientific information and the outcomes of all products of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, including the regional assessments on biodiversity and ecosystem services and the thematic Assessment of Land Degradation and Restoration, in the preparation of the post-2020 global biodiversity framework under the Convention, and to provide the results of those considerations to the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice at a meeting held prior to the fifteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties;
20.Further requests the Executive Secretary, in collaboration with Parties, to keep the analysis of national biodiversity strategies and action plans and national targets up-to-date and to make this information available through the clearing-house mechanism of the Convention;
21.Encourages Parties to submit the sixth national report in a timely manner, and requests the Executive Secretary to continue to update the analysis of progress towards the implementation of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity-2011-2020 on the basis of information contained in the sixth national reports, which should be submitted by 31 December 2018, and to make the updated analysis available for consideration by the Subsidiary Body on Implementation at its third meeting;
22.Requests the Executive Secretary, in consultation with Parties, the Secretariat of the Global Environment Facility, the United Nations Development Programme and the United Nations Environment Programme, to analyse the status of adoption of national biodiversity strategies and action plans by eligible Parties and to continue to monitor the integration of biodiversity into sustainable development plans and poverty eradication strategies;