© Ocean & Climate Platform
After four years of intense negotiations, the 15th Conference of the Parties (COP15) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) came to an end on Sunday, 19th of December, with the adoption of a landmark agreement to halt and ultimately reverse biodiversity loss by 2030. While the conference opened with a strong warning from Antonio Guterres, who openly declared that “humanity has become a weapon of mass extinction”, the Kunming-Montreal Agreement brought a sigh of relief for all delegates and civil society faced with a lack of political ambition and engagement from the very beginning. Yet, despite this difficult start, and thanks to the mobilisation of non-state actors and significant support from Ministers over the last days, delegates were able to reach a relatively ambitious agreement to protect the world’s biodiversity. A long-awaited milestone was the adoption of a target to protect at least 30% of terrestrial and inland water, as well as 30% of coastal and marine areas by 2030.
Delivering a comprehensive and holistic policy framework, complementary to the climate regime
With the CBD mandate covering all life on Earth, and thus referring to both terrestrial and marine ecosystems, the ocean community was strongly mobilised at COP15 to ensure the ocean was not underrepresented in the framework. To ensure greater consideration of ocean issues at the implementation level, the Kunming-Montreal Agreement explicitly acknowledges some of the services provided by healthy ocean ecosystems , such as the sustainable management of fisheries and aquaculture to enhance resilience and ensure food security.
The framework also recognises nature’s role in regulating the global climate system, while highlighting the “impacts of climate change and ocean acidification on biodiversity”. Accordingly, it invites parties to adopt nature-based solutions and/or ecosystem-based approaches to mitigate and adapt to climate change. Although it does not explicitly mention its climate counterpart, the Framework does call for “enhanced collaboration, cooperation and synergies” with other relevant multilateral agreements and international organisations – which definitely includes the Paris Agreement under the Climate Convention (UNFCCC). Indeed, the plea for greater and enhanced synergies between the UNFCCC and CBD was loud and clear throughout the conference. It was even the focus of a day-long event on Transformative Change for Nature Positive Pathways, at the Rio Conventions Pavilions, in which the Ocean & Climate Platform presented four paths to increase collaboration: science, policy, action, finance.
Protecting at least 30 percent of coastal and marine ecosystems by 2030
This “Peace with Nature Pact” is divided into 4 overall goals and 23 targets for the protection of the world’s biodiversity. The most emblematic of these, carried by more than 110 countries united under the High-Ambition Coalition for Nature and People, ensures the protection of “at least 30 percent of terrestrial, inland water, and of coastal and marine areas” by 2030 (Target 3) – when the current areas under protection respectively account for 17 and 8 percents. This decision was very much welcomed by the ocean community, especially since the distribution between land and the ocean remained vague until the very end of the negotiations. If at this stage the target does not specify the level of protection or other quality standards for management, France and Costa Rica clearly expressed their intention to create a “High-Ambition Coalition 2.0”, turning the coalition they currently chair into a platform to support its implementation. This could be a major step to ensure marine protected areas effectively achieve social and ecological benefits.
Considering that conservation must go hand-in-hand with strong measures to address the underlying drivers of biodiversity loss and sustainably manage the remaining 70% of the ocean, this target was complemented by two others. The first one entails that “all areas are under participatory integrated biodiversity-inclusive spatial planning and/or effective management processes” by 2030 (Target 1), while the second calls for “at least 30 percent of areas of degraded terrestrial, inland water, and coastal and marine ecosystems are under effective restoration” by 2030 (Target 2). These targets, which aim for ecological connectivity and ecosystem integrity, recognise the needs for a holistic approach to the management of ecosystems globally.
This holistic approach also aims at inclusivity. It allows for a balanced approach with appropriate level of protection and sustainable use for indigenous peoples and local communities, including small-scale fishers. Hence, the framework further accounts for complementing highly protected areas with managed areas, such as Other Effective area-based Conservation Measures, and maintaining the stewardship of these communities over traditional territories. This new framework has really set precedent in recognising the rights of indigenous peoples and local communities (IPLCs) compared to the previous Aichi Biodiversity Target. The framework places the free, prior and informed consent of indigenous peoples and local communities at the heart of biodiversity action. It is included as the first guiding principle of the framework, with Parties acknowledging the roles and contributions of these local actors as “custodians of biodiversity and partners in the conservation, restoration and sustainable use”.
Recognising the importance and potential of the whole-of-society approach to implement the framework
The Kunming-Montreal Agreement also addresses the “how” questions, reflecting on enabling conditions to effectively implement the goals and targets of the framework. While the “No Paris Without Montreal” declaration clearly pointed out the driving role of non-state actors, Parties explicitly recognised the importance and potential of adopting a whole-of-society approach. They identified “action and cooperation by all levels of government and by all actors of society” as a prerequisite for success. Manuel Pulgar Vidal, currently acting as Champion of the Action Agenda for Nature and People under the CBD, warmly welcomed this initiative and encouraged Parties to go further and strengthen the mandate of the Action Agenda.
The Action Agenda for Nature and People, which so far remains a voluntary commitment platform, could become a key vehicle to effectively implement this framework. Extending its mandate could be a game-changer in the way ocean actors mobilise and influence decision-makers to drive concrete action and financial flows for the ocean and its ecosystems. There is much to learn from the climate regime in that regard. The Marrakech Partnership for Global Climate Action (MP-GCA), a dedicated space for non-state actors under the Climate Convention, has proved to be instrumental over the last years in anchoring the ocean in international climate action. The MP-GCA could inform and help operationalise its biodiversity counterpart, the Nature Action Agenda, and set the path for a holistic and coordinated approach. A number of formal and informal discussions took place, in Montreal, to identify the necessary next steps to ensure non-state actors are an active part of the solution, while creating new forms of collaboration between the climate and biodiversity regimes to achieve common goals.
Similarly to the climate Global Stocktake, the Kunming-Montreal Agreement also provides for a monitoring framework, requiring countries to monitor and report every five years or less on a large set of indicators related to progress against its goals and targets. The latter aims to enhance transparency, accountability and compliance of Parties’ action, which was identified as one of the clear shortcomings of the Aichi Biodiversity Targets.
Establishing a Global Biodiversity Framework Fund under the Global Environment Facility
Considering that the success of the framework largely depends on adequate and equitably distributed resources, Parties agreed – not without difficulty – to increase biodiversity funding to implement the framework, mobilising at least USD 200 billion per year by 2030 (Target 19). Parties have also requested the Global Environment Facility (GEF) to establish, as soon as possible, a Special Trust Fund – known as the “Global Biodiversity Framework Fund” – to complement existing support and scale-up financing to ensure the timely implementation of the framework. They further insisted on the “need to quick-start immediate mobilization of resources from all sources”, thus recognising the urgency and scale of the current crisis. Although there is still an imbalance with the real needs, these are very encouraging steps to bridge the biodiversity financing gap – which is currently estimated at an average of USD 711 billion per year (Deutz et al., 2020).
Under this target, Parties specifically agreed upon Official Development Assistance (ODA) from developed to developing countries, in particular the Least Developed Countries and Small-Island Developing States, to at least USD 20 billion per year by 2025, and to at least USD 30 billion per year by 2030 – calling for increased international solidarity from the Global North towards the Global South. A number of countries responded to that call, with 11 governments, the European Union and the GEF announcing new biodiversity fundings.
Moving forward – including as part of the review of the Strategy for Resource Mobilisation at COP16 (2024) – it will be necessary to further align all financial flows, considering a wide range of financial sources.
As a complement to these financial commitments and pledges, Parties agreed to “eliminate, phase out or reform incentives, including subsidies, harmful for biodiversity”, as well as to reduce them by at least USD 500 billion per year by 2030 (Target 18). This decision echoes ongoing efforts on harmful fisheries subsidies under the World Trade Organisation (WTO), which have come to a halt, and could provide an opportunity to move forward. The vast majority of WTO members are also Parties to the CBD, and could ask for consistency.
While many stakeholders were concerned about a potential failure of the negotiations, the Kunming-Montreal Agreement marked a historic moment by adopting a relatively ambitious framework for the world’s biodiversity and its many contributions to nature and people. Of course, a lot remains to be done to ensure the post-2020 global biodiversity framework is effectively implemented and does not suffer the same fate as its predecessor. In just 8 years, ⅓ of the world’s land and ocean are to be protected so there is clearly no more time to waste. To secure continued progress, it will be imperative to keep connecting the climate and biodiversity regimes and use both fora to elevate the role of the ocean, marine and coastal ecosystems.
Authors: Marine Lecerf & Loreley Picourt, with the support of Louise Robillard, Florine Dominguez & Anaïs Deprez