Africa and the Pacific align regional biodiversity strategies and action plans with the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework

16th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity

Farallones - Youth meeting room (Plaza One) / Online
15.00 on 23 October 2024

The African and Pacific regions exhibit unique and highly diverse ecological systems and landscapes that host an array of endemic aquatic and terrestrial species of global importance and vital significance to the lives of peoples.

Over the past decades, a range of economic and environmental drivers have exerted enormous pressure on these systems with biodiversity being lost at an unprecedented rate. The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) provides a global framework to reverse this trend. Achieving the framework’s ambitious targets on nature and biodiversity loss by 2030 requires stepping up efforts at national and regional levels.

In the African region, the African Union (AU) developed and adopted a continental biodiversity strategy in alignment with the Kunming-Montreal GBF. The Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the East African Community (EAC) subsequently revised and aligned their respective biodiversity strategies and action plans with the AU’s and the Kunming-Montreal GBF to guide their Member States with national target setting.

In the Pacific region, FAO, through a consultative process, facilitated the development of the Pacific Action Plan for Mainstreaming Biodiversity for Food and Agriculture (2024–2030). This plan is aligned with the Pacific Islands Framework for Nature Conservation and Protected Areas 2021-2025 (PIRT Framework), which provides the overall strategic direction for environmental conservation in the region. Several Pacific Islands are currently working on setting national targets with support from the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) and FAO, using a cross-sectoral approach that involves environment, agriculture, forestry, and fisheries. These regional biodiversity strategies and action plans serve as guidance for countries in reviewing and updating their National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs) and achieving the Kunming-Montreal GBF targets, and other relevant biodiversity-related international instruments to which they are parties, including the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, and the Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit-sharing. The actions set out in the respective plans also directly contribute to the outcomes of the FAO Strategy on Mainstreaming Biodiversity across Agricultural Sectors and its Revised Action Plan (2024–2027).

At this side event, organized by the AU, EAC, SADC, SPREP and FAO, regional biodiversity strategies and action plans will be showcased, and participants will be invited to share their thoughts and experiences.