The Convention on Biological Diversity

The UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) has existed since 1992 and meets every two years to discuss biodiversity conservation, sustainable use of biodiversity and sharing of genetic resources. As part of the CBD agreements, in 2010 the EU signed the Aichi targets, thereby agreeing to halt global biodiversity loss by 2020. However, the UN's Global Biodiversity Outlook and WWF’s Living Planet Index have shown that these targets have not been met.

The CBD COP15, postponed from 2020 and now scheduled to take place in December 2022 in Montreal, Canada, will be a pivotal meeting for biodiversity conservation, as a post-2020 Biodiversity Strategy will be agreed upon for the following decade. As a party to the CBD, the EU operates as one single bloc at the table, and so it is crucial that it shows strong leadership, commitments and tangible targets to protect biodiversity.

At the CBD COP15, leaders can secure a global agreement, known as the global biodiversity framework (GBF), to halt and reverse biodiversity loss by 2030 for a nature-positive world. This means having more nature at the end of the decade than we have now.
 

What WWF is doing

WWF advocates for stronger biodiversity conservation efforts by the EU in line with CBD targets and offers expertise and support in achieving these results.

We work to ensure that the EU:

• Commits to being Nature Positive by 2030, to halt and reverse biodiversity loss;
• Is a champion for nature conservation both global and domestically;
• Allocates the necessary finance needed to meet these targets;
• Integrates the EU 2030 Biodiversity Strategy into other policy areas, such as agriculture, climate action, and development policy;
• Translates these strategies into EU laws