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Mid-term review of progress in implementation of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020 including the fourth edition of the Global Biodiversity Outlook, and actions to enhance implementation

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Table of Contents

  1. Preamble
  2. Paragraph 1.
  3. Paragraph 2.
  4. Paragraph 3.

Mid-term review of progress in implementation of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020 including the fourth edition of the Global Biodiversity Outlook, and actions to enhance implementation

The Conference of the Parties
1.Recalls that the purpose of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020 is to promote effective implementation of the Convention through a strategic approach, comprising a shared vision, a mission, and strategic goals and targets (“the Aichi Biodiversity Targets”), that will inspire broad-based action by all Parties and stakeholders and takes into account the different tools and approaches used by Parties to achieve the Aichi Biodiversity Targets;
2.Recognizes that the effective implementation of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020 and achievement of the Aichi Biodiversity Targets depends on the enhancement of inter alia capacity-building, technical and scientific cooperation and the mobilization of resources in line with decisions XII/2 and XII/3;
3.Also recognizes the relevance of the Principles of the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development,1 the outcome document of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, “The future we want”,2 and the United Nations post-2015 development agenda and sustainable development goals, to the implementation of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020 and notes in this context, inter alia, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples;31Report of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, Rio de Janeiro, 3–14 June 1992, vol. I, Resolutions Adopted by the Conference (United Nations publication, Sales No. E.93.I.8 and corrigendum), resolution 1, annex I.2General Assembly resolution 66/288, annex.3General Assembly resolution 61/295, annex.

Fourth edition of the Global Biodiversity Outlook, Mid-term review of progress towards the goals of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020, and the Aichi Biodiversity Targets

4.Welcomes the fourth edition of the Global Biodiversity Outlook;
5.Acknowledges with appreciation the financial and in kind support provided by Canada, the European Union, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, the Republic of Korea, Switzerland and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to the preparation of the fourth edition of the Global Biodiversity Outlook;
6.Recognizes that there has been encouraging progress towards meeting some elements of most Aichi Biodiversity Targets but, in most cases, this progress will not be sufficient to achieve the targets unless further urgent and effective action is taken to reduce the pressures on biodiversity and to prevent its continued decline;
7.Notes the following general conclusions from the fourth edition of the Global Biodiversity Outlook:
(a)Meeting the Aichi Biodiversity Targets would contribute significantly to broader global priorities addressed by current discussions on the post-2015 development agenda: namely, reducing hunger and poverty, improving human health, ensuring a sustainable supply of energy, food and clean water, contributing to climate-change mitigation and adaptation, combating desertification and land degradation, and reducing vulnerability to disasters;
(b)Actions to achieve the various Aichi Biodiversity Targets should be undertaken in a coherent and coordinated manner; the individual Aichi Biodiversity Targets should not be addressed in isolation. Actions towards certain targets, notably those that address the underlying causes of biodiversity loss, the development and implementation of national biodiversity strategies and action plans, the further development and sharing of information, and the mobilization of financial resources, will have an especially strong influence on the achievement of the other targets;
(c)Attaining most of the Aichi Biodiversity Targets will require the implementation of a package of actions, typically including: legal or policy frameworks; socioeconomic incentives aligned with such frameworks; public and stakeholder engagement; monitoring; and enforcement. Coherence of policies across sectors and the corresponding government ministries is necessary to deliver an effective package of actions;
(d)It will be necessary to broaden political and general support for the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020 and the objectives of the Convention. This will require working to ensure that all levels of government and stakeholders across society are aware of the multiple values of biodiversity and related ecosystem services;
(e)Partnerships at all levels are required for effective implementation of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020, to leverage broad-scale actions, to garner the ownership necessary to ensure the mainstreaming of biodiversity across sectors of government, society and the economy and to enable synergies in the national implementation of the various multilateral environmental agreements;
(f)There are opportunities to support implementation of the Strategic Plan through enhanced technical and scientific cooperation among Parties. Further capacity-building support will also be needed, especially for developing countries, in particular the least developed countries and small island developing States, as well as countries with economies in transition;
(g)An overall substantial increase in total biodiversity-related funding, is needed for the implementation of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011–2020;
8.Notes with great concern that, given the progress made, Aichi Biodiversity Target 10 will not be achieved by its 2015 target date;
9.Requests the Executive Secretary:
(a)To develop a proposal on guidelines for the sixth national report, taking into account the types of information from the fifth national reports used in the preparation of the fourth edition of the Global Biodiversity Outlook and gaps that have been identified, for consideration by the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice and the Subsidiary Body on Implementation at meetings held prior to the thirteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties;
(b)To transmit the fourth edition of the Global Biodiversity Outlook to the secretariats of the biodiversity-related conventions, the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, other relevant organizations and the General Assembly of the United Nations and to bring the main findings of the report to the attention of these bodies;
(c)To implement in collaboration with relevant partners, as appropriate, and in cooperation with relevant stakeholders such as other sectors and youth, the communication strategy for the fourth edition of the Global Biodiversity Outlook with a focus on key audiences;
10.Encourages Parties, other Governments and relevant organizations, as appropriate, to take steps to disseminate widely the fourth edition of the Global Biodiversity Outlook and its findings, including by translating the report into local languages and producing other appropriate communication products for different stakeholders and making them publicly available;

Enhancing implementation of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020 and the achievement of the Aichi Biodiversity Targets

11.Recalling decision XI/22 and United Nations General Assembly resolution 67/212,4 highlights the need to ensure the appropriate integration of biodiversity and ecosystem functions and services into the United Nations post-2015 development agenda and sustainable development goals and notes, in this respect, the relevant findings of the fourth edition of the Global Biodiversity Outlook;4In resolution 67/212 of 21 December 2012 on the implementation of the Convention on Biological Diversity and its contribution to sustainable development, paragraph 23, the General Assembly, among other things, encouraged Parties and all stakeholders, institutions and organizations concerned to consider the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011–2020 and the Aichi Biodiversity Targets in the elaboration of the post-2015 United Nations development agenda, taking into account the three dimensions of sustainable development.
12.Emphasizing that, in order to achieve the Aichi Biodiversity Targets and to progress towards the 2050 Vision of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020, it will be necessary to enhance and accelerate implementation, urges Parties and encourages other Governments to take comprehensive and urgent measures necessary to ensure the full implementation of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020 and corresponding national biodiversity strategies and action plans;
13.Emphasizing that the specific actions needed to implement the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020 and to improve progress towards the Aichi Biodiversity Targets will vary with national circumstances and priorities, encourages Parties, other Governments and organizations, to make use of, in a flexible and voluntary manner, lists of key potential actions that could accelerate progress in the implementation of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020, as contained in the fourth edition of the Global Biodiversity Outlook and to further develop lists of potential actions with additional key potential actions;
14.Takes note of the key scientific and technical needs related to the implementation of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020, as identified by the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice at its seventeenth meeting and contained in annex I to the present decision, for use in future considerations on the implementation of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020 and achievement of the Aichi Biodiversity Targets, and invites Parties to take action to address the identified gaps;
15.Also takes note of the collation of further views of Parties with regard to the scientific and technical needs relating to cross-cutting issues and to specific Aichi Biodiversity Targets of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020, contained in annexes I and II respectively of SBSTTA recommendation XVII/1;
16.Invites Parties, indigenous and local communities and other relevant stakeholders to collaborate with the Group on Earth Observations Biodiversity Observation Network and other relevant organizations that contribute to building observing systems and to biodiversity monitoring, to address the priority needs identified by Parties related to biodiversity observations and monitoring;
17.Notes that the thematic and cross-cutting programmes of work of the Convention provide detailed guidance relevant to the implementation of the various elements of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020;
18.Requests the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice to review the main implications and findings of the fourth edition of the Global Biodiversity Outlook and its underlying technical reports as well as additional information from fifth national reports and other submissions with a view to identifying further opportunities and additional key actions, including, among others, the contributions of collective actions of indigenous and local communities for the achievement of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020 and the Aichi Biodiversity Targets, and other actions for the targets where there has been the least progress at the global level, for consideration by the Conference of the Parties at its thirteenth meeting;
19.Requests the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice to evaluate the scope, process and findings of the Global Biodiversity Outlook in the light of, and avoiding duplication with, the ongoing work of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services on a global assessment on biodiversity and ecosystem services, and to report to the Conference of the Parties at its thirteenth meeting in order to inform its consideration of the modalities of potential future editions of the Global Biodiversity Outlook;
20.Requests the Executive Secretary, subject to the availability of resources:
(a)To identify existing and possible ways and means to address the key scientific and technical needs as identified in annex I, in cooperation with relevant organizations, including the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, and to strengthen scientific and technical capacities especially in developing country Parties, in particular the least developed countries and small island developing States, and countries with economies in transition. Actions or measures to address these needs should include access to and transfer of technologies and the promotion of international technical and scientific cooperation;
(b)To convene a meeting of the Ad Hoc Technical Expert Group on Indicators for the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020, with the terms of reference provided in annex II;
(c)To review national experiences in the use of tools to evaluate the effectiveness of policy instruments for delivery of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020, using information contained in the fourth and fifth national reports and identify best practices and lessons learned;
(d)To report on these items to a meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice before the thirteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties.

Annex I

Key scientific and technical needs related to the implementation of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020

The Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice, at its seventeenth meeting, identified key scientific and technical needs related to the implementation of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020, including:
(a)Social scienceThe need for better ways to draw on social sciences to motivate choices consistent with the objectives of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020 and to develop new approaches through, inter alia, better understanding of behavioural change, production and consumption patterns, policy development, and the use of non-market tools. The need for more effective communication, education and public awareness to be spread more widely through school systems and other channels and to devise communication and awareness strategies on biodiversity, complementing communication, education and public awareness efforts with other perspectives including research on intercultural and intracultural communication experiences;
(b)Data and informationThe need for more accessible, affordable, comprehensive, reliable and comparable data and information streams through, inter alia, facilitated access to remote sensing, better collection and use of in situ observations, proxies, citizen science, modelling, biodiversity monitoring networks, better application of data standards and interoperability related to data acquisition and management to produce policy-relevant products, including indicators and scenarios to inform decision-making;
(c)Evaluation and assessmentThe need for improving and promoting methodologies for assessing the status and trends of species and ecosystems, hotspots and conservation gaps as well as ecosystem functions, ecosystem services and human well-being, at the national, regional and global levels;
(d)Planning and mainstreamingThe need for improvement and better use of appropriate planning tools, and approaches for mainstreaming, in implementing the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020 through, inter alia: biodiversity safeguards, tools and methods for spatial planning, including integrated land use and coastal and marine planning, valuation of biodiversity, ecosystem functions and ecosystem services; and mainstreaming biodiversity into sustainable development and other relevant policy sectors;
(e)Linking science and policyThe need for better integration of science and policymaking and for improved science-policy interfaces, particularly at the local and national levels and through the use of IPBES, and the improved and wider use of tools to promote policy coherence and policy evaluation and to produce scenarios and options relevant to policymakers;
(f)Maintenance, conservation and restoration of ecosystemsThe need for better understanding of ecosystem processes and functions and their implications for ecosystem conservation and restoration, ecological limits, tipping points, socio-ecological resilience and ecosystem services; and improved methodologies and indicators for monitoring ecosystem resilience and recovery, in particular for vulnerable ecosystems;
(g)Economic instrumentsThe need for better understanding of the performance of economic instruments and their wider use in achieving the objectives of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020, as well as poverty eradication strategies, taking into account national socioeconomic conditions, and the need for improved guidance and tools to develop positive incentives and for the identification, elimination, phasing out or reform of harmful incentives, consistent and in harmony with the Convention and other relevant international obligations, as well as the integration of biodiversity in national accounting, as appropriate, and reporting systems;
(h)Traditional knowledgeThe need for better ways to include relevant indigenous and traditional knowledge systems and the collective actions of indigenous and local communities to complement scientific knowledge in support of the effective implementation of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020, with the approval and involvement of the holders of such knowledge, innovations and practices;
(i)Scientific and technical cooperationThe need to foster improved scientific and technical cooperation among Parties, scientific networks and relevant organizations, in order to match capabilities, avoid duplication, identify gaps and achieve efficiencies. The need to enhance the clearing‑house mechanism of the Convention to make scientific and technical cooperation more effective;
(j)Different approachesThe need to strengthen non–monetary valuation tools and methodologies for the maintenance of ecosystem functions.

Annex II

Terms of reference for further work by the Ad Hoc Technical Expert Group on Indicators for the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020

The terms of reference for the meeting of the Ad Hoc Technical Expert Group on Indicators for the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020 are:
1.Drawing on the information in the fourth edition of the Global Biodiversity Outlook and its underlying technical studies, the fifth national reports and other reports provided by Parties, considering the use of indicators to date in monitoring progress in the implementation the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020, building on previous work and experiences related to indicators for the Aichi Biodiversity Targets, and recognizing that a range of conceptual and methodological frameworks and approaches exist:
(a)Identify a small set of measurable potential indicators that could be used to monitor progress at the global level towards the Aichi Biodiversity Targets with a focus on those that are currently not well addressed and those that may be relevant to the United Nations post-2015 development agenda and sustainable development goals;
(b)Prepare guidance on the different types of indicators and approaches used to monitor progress in the implementation of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020 at the regional, national and subnational levels, reflecting, as appropriate, different perspectives among Parties for achieving conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity, drawing on a review of national reports and other relevant submissions to the Convention as well as reports prepared in compliance with other relevant processes;
2.The work of the Ad Hoc Technical Expert Group will also draw upon relevant work of the Biodiversity Indicators Partnership and its member organizations, the Group on Earth Observations Biodiversity Observation Network, the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, the Technical Support Team for the post-2015 United Nations development agenda and the sustainable development goals, the United Nations Statistics Division, the Indicators Working Group of the International Indigenous Forum for Biodiversity, and other partners;
3.The procedures for Ad Hoc Technical Expert Groups outlined in the consolidated modus operandi of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice (decision VIII/10, annex III), will be followed. The work of the Ad Hoc Technical Expert Group will be informed by background information prepared by the Executive Secretary in collaboration with the members of the Biodiversity Indicators Partnership and other partners;
4.The report of the Ad Hoc Technical Expert Group will be peer-reviewed prior to its finalization. The final report of the Ad Hoc Technical Expert Group will be made available for consideration by the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice at a meeting prior to the thirteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties.