Representatives from 196 countries this week approved an overall approach for monitoring efforts to meet the world’s biodiversity targets, though a lack of detail means more work needs to be done.
Delegates from parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity met this week in Nairobi as part of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical, and Technological Advice (SBSTTA-25).
They approved a monitoring framework for the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF), agreed last year, as well as methods to identify national capacity issues for its implementation.
Many insiders see this work as a step forward to achieving the 23 global biodiversity targets outlined in the GBF.
“The work of delegates this week has helped ensure that we can move from agreement to action,” said David Cooper, acting executive secretary of the CBD.
”We have more work to do before and during COP16 and SBSTTA-26, including to ensure the robust monitoring of progress at global and national levels.”
INDICATORS LACKING
One of the most persistent challenges to the GBF has been understanding what to measure, due to biodiversity and the targets’ complexity.
At SBSTTA-25, the CBD secretariat proposed a number of indicators that correspond to those 23 targets, for review by country delegates, some of which are dependent on action from the private sector.
Target 15 on corporate disclosures on nature-related risks, dependencies, and impacts will be assessed on how many companies provide information under the Taskforce for Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD).
Meanwhile, Target 19 aims to mobilise $200 billion a year of biodiversity-related funding by 2030. This target will require annual national reporting to be broken down by funding source, public or private, and whether finance is international or domestic.
However, several target indicators have notable gaps, which were mentioned by delegates from Finland, showing the monitoring approach to be incomplete.
Target 8 on minimising ocean acidification and Target 17 on implementing biosafety measures are just some of the targets that currently have no indicators at all, which is a risk to the GBF’s successful implementation by 2030.
Countries are expected to submit National Biodiversity Strategies and Actions Plans by COP16 next year, but an incomplete set of indicators could mean fragmented results.
Also, as biodiversity climbs the ladder of public awareness, how it is monitored is increasingly coming under scrutiny.
On the final day of the meeting, protesters blindsided delegates by raising concerns about the current lack of indicators for the GBF, according to reports from the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD). Reports said that protesters displayed placards bearing messages such as “wrong indicators = fake success” and “GBF without proper monitoring is worthless!”.
MONEY MATTERS
Delegates pushed the CBD secretariat to conduct further work on developing the monitoring framework for the GBF, which will be due at the next SBSTTA meeting in a year’s time.
However, CBD boss Cooper emphasised that the secretariat will need to assess the resources required for the work, and noted that they would seek additional resources if necessary, which highlights funding remains a challenge even at the international level, according to IISD.
For GBF targets to be met, core funding remains a huge roadblock.
The Global Environment Facility-led GBF fund received just enough startup funding to embed itself within the World Bank in late September, but it’s not yet capitalised its fund to disburse finance to countries.
A progress update on the GBF will be due at the CBD COP16 next year, which was due to take place in Turkey. However, the country pulled out last August, citing recent earthquakes that devastated parts of the country in February, and it is not yet clear where the event will be held.
By Tom Woolnough – tom@carbon-pulse.com
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