Skip to Content
arrow-downarrow-top-rightemailfacebooklinkedinlocationmagnifypinterestprintredditsearch-button-closesearch-buttontriangletwitter

Press enter for results

The Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework: A ‘now or never opportunity for nature’

The Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework

As the world’s largest nature conservation partnership, with local roots and global reach informed by internationally-recognised science, BirdLife is uniquely placed to help guide and develop the post-2020 framework and mobilise support for its implementation.

Following delays due to the global COVID19 pandemic, governments are preparing to come together in 2021 to adopt a post-2020 global biodiversity framework, at the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) Conference of the Parties (COP 15) hosted by China in Montreal, Canada the home of the CBD Secretariat.

This post 2020 deal for nature and people is a stepping stone towards achieving the CBD 2050 Vision of ‘Living in harmony with nature’. It will replace and must improve on the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020, which has failed to stem the devastating decline in biodiversity. 

With the impacts of this failure to protect nature now threatening not only our well-being but our very survival, the coming decade represents a ‘now or never’ opportunity to put in place and deliver a transformational new framework to better safeguard, conserve and restore biodiversity for people and the planet.

The new framework must halt and start to reverse the loss of biodiversity so that we are ‘nature positive’ by 2030. It must transform how we value nature and unlock its full potential in underpinning the Sustainable Development Goals, the Paris Agreement on climate and a green recovery that helps us build back better from the devastating pandemic, itself a result of our imbalance with nature.

BirdLife position papers on the post-2020 framework

Below are some of the positions we have developed on elements of the post-2020 framework and related policy processes, elaborating on how the vision can be achieved, through elements such as a mission, principles, goals, targets, indicators and synergies with other conventions. Many of these positions are also available on the CBD’s post-2020 website, which also provides much more information about the process of developing the post-2020 framework, including a timeline of key events.

The current 2050 Vision states that, by 2050, “biodiversity is valued, conserved, restored and wisely used, maintaining ecosystem services, sustaining a healthy planet and delivering benefits essential for all people.”

Response to drafts of the post-2020 global biodiversity framework:

Current thematic positions from the BirdLife Partnership:

BirdLife support for the development and implementation of the new framework

As the world’s largest nature conservation partnership, with local roots and global reach informed by internationally-recognised science, BirdLife is uniquely placed to help guide and develop the post-2020 framework and mobilise support for its implementation.

In the run-up to COP15, BirdLife is actively involved in discussions and in sharing of evidence and expertise on the post-2020 framework with governments, business, academia, NGOs and other civil society, through formal and informal meetings, reports, scientific papers and position papers. 

Examples include:

  • Lead co-authorship of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) landmark global assessment report, which is being used to guide the development of the new framework;
  • Production and dissemination of our Birds and Biodiversity Targets report, showing what birds tell us about progress towards the Aichi Targets and requirements for the post-2020 biodiversity framework;
  • Involvement in regional and thematic consultations and meetings of the CBD’s Open-Ended Working Group on the post-2020 framework;
  • Dialogues with national governments through our network of 115 national Partners;
  • The development of position papers for discussion with Parties to the Convention and other stakeholders.

Relevant reports from the BirdLife Partnership:

Joint statements/briefings with other organisations:

Related initiatives

Webinars

Related news

This morning Patricia Zurita, CEO of BirdLife International, delivered an inspirational speech on behalf of international NGOs at the high-level segment of the Convention on Biological Diversity’s Conference of the Parties in Kunming, China, where the world’s nations are developing a new global framework to protect nature. This was her message.

“Vision without action is merely a dream. Action without vision just passes the time. Vision with action can change the world.” Joel Arthur Barker, American futurist

Despite the ongoing COVID pandemic, amid the escalating climate and biodiversity emergencies, BirdLife CEO Patricia Zurita led a small policy delegation to the just-closed International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) World Conservation Congress in Marseille.

We are at a critical juncture in our history and that of our planet: the joint climate and biodiversity crises now threaten the survival of humanity. Just this summer, several European countries were hit by deadly wildfires and unprecedented floods, killing hundreds of people, causing billions in damages, and leading to serious economic, social and health consequences. While this was a consequence of climate change, it was also a repercussion of the collapse of biodiversity.

Indigenous Peoples know their lands better than anyone, and nothing can replace their expertise in forest conservation. That’s why BirdLife and Partners are providing technical training and support for Indigenous Peoples, so that they can manage and protect their local forests for generations to come.

Through our world-leading science, unique local-to-global policy reach and extensive on-ground conservation work around the globe, BirdLife is uniquely placed to guide on why and how we need to restore nature to build back better from COVID-19, tackle the climate and biodiversity crises, and improve health and well-being, as part of wider and long-term efforts to achieve an equitable, carbon-neutral, nature-positive future for all.

It has been hard not to be deeply affected by the events of the past few weeks: catastrophic floods in Germany, China and India killing hundreds of people; forest fires in Siberia and North America; and drought and famine in Southern Madagascar. We know these extreme weather events have been triggered by the climate crisis, and it acutely demonstrates that we are now living with the consequences of our collective failure to wean ourselves off fossil fuels.

We are one month on from the launch of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, with another 119 months to drive the transformational changes to address the climate and ecological emergency – an emergency that had been brought into sharp focus by the heatwaves and fires raging in British Columbia and Siberia.

Biodiversity loss and climate change: two inextricably linked existential threats. Since 2015, we’ve had the universal climate goal of ‘1.5 degrees or under’. Now: introducing a Global Goal for Nature, what ‘nature-positive’ means and how it will be measured.

The importance and urgency of a green recovery from the current pandemic cannot be understated. That’s why the BirdLife Partnership is already putting theory into action and showing governments how to truly build back better.

Solar panels could help solve the climate crisis - as long as they don't harm habitats © unspash

BirdLife has joined forces with big voices in the conservation and energy sectors to develop a new set of global renewable energy guidelines. These best-practice steps outline how to keep nature safe as the world moves to more sustainable energy sources.

Healthy economies and societies need a healthy environment, so conserving nature is good for people – but for it to be both equitable and effective, conservation has to be done with and for local people. Key to this is recognising and implementing the universal right to a healthy environment, including the rights and role of Indigenous Peoples and local communities, and embedding these provisions in the post-2020 global biodiversity framework.

Related projects

It’s no secret that our natural world is in terrible shape. Our unsustainable system is causing climate chaos, putting over one million species at risk of extinction, and threatening human lives, livelihoods and wellbeing. BirdLife is mobilising people around the world to call for the UN to recognise the universal right to a healthy environment, as a basis for a nature-positive world for all.

Find out more#1Planet1Right: make it a human right to live on a healthy planet

Climate change is one of the greatest threats facing people and biodiversity. And while renewable energy is among the best tools in our arsenal for addressing climate change and achieving the targets set in the Paris Climate Agreement, it can harm species and ecosystems if placed in wildlife sensitive areas.

Find out moreThe Energy Task Force: energy with nature at its core

Stay up to date

Sign up to receive the latest bird conservation news. You’ll also receive updates about our projects, science and other ways to get involved including fundraising.

Thank you for your support, we are committed to protecting your personal information and privacy. For more information on how we use your data, please see our Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe from emails at any time by using the link in the footer of any email from us.

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.