United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)

Editor's note 20Mar13: Source D141 (common sections), D241, D341.

History, aims and objectives

The United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), adopted in 1992, is one of the three UN Rio conventions. Its main goals are

1. the conservation of biological diversity (or biodiversity);
2. the sustainable use of its components;
3. the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from genetic resources

The CBD includes two supplementary agreements: the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (2003) covering biotechnology issues and the Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilization (ABS, 2010).

In 2002, Parties to the CBD committed to "significantly reduce the rate of biodiversity loss by 2010". Failure to reach this target, led to the adoption of a Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020(the Aichi Biodiversity Targets), integrating more fully issues of sustainable use and of the safeguarding of ecosystems. The most relevant targets for LEDD are as follows:

• Reduce the rate of loss of all natural habitats including forests by at least one half, and significantly reduce fragmentation and degradation by 2020 (Target 5),
• Manage areas under agriculture, aquaculture and forestry sustainably by 2020 (Target 7),
• Bring pollution, including from excess nutrients, to levels that are not detrimental to ecosystem function and biodiversity by 2020 (Target 8)
• Minimize the multiple anthropogenic pressures on vulnerable ecosystems impacted by climate change by 2015 (Target 10).

Structure and components

The CBD currently has 193 parties. The Conference of the Parties (COP) is the decision-making body of the CBD. The Secretariat of the CBD is an administrative organ of the Convention, its role being to prepare and service meetings of the COP and other subsidiary bodies of the convention: including an open-ended intergovernmental scientific advisory body (Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice - SBSTTA) and three Working Groups: (1) on the review of implementation, (2) on traditional knowledge, innovation and practices and (3) on protected areas.

The Global Environment Facility (GEF) is the financial mechanism of the CBD and provides financial support to developing countries to implement the objectives and programmes of the CBD. In view of the weak level of implementation of the Convention, a strategy for resource mobilisation was adopted by the COP in 2008 to assist Parties to set national targets, actions and timeframes as well as to establish financial mechanisms, guided by a country specific resource mobilisation strategy for the effective implementation of the Convention .

Furthermore, a Clearing-House Mechanism (CHM) has been created to facilitate technical and scientific cooperation between Parties through the exchange of information and best practices.

Implementation process

The COP has endorsed seven thematic programmes that reflect the major biomes of the world and provide concrete guidance by describing principles, key issues, outputs and timetables. The work programmes on dry and sub-humid lands and agricultural biodiversity are the most relevant to to LEDD in cropland and grazing land and the extended programme of work on forest biodiversity, the most relevant for forests/shrubland.

Under the CBD, Parties have to develop or adapt strategies, plans or programmes reflecting the measures set out in the Convention. In addition, parties are required to integrate the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity into sectoral and cross-sectoral policies. A number of Parties have transposed these obligations by adopting national biodiversity strategies and action plans (NBSAP). Moreover, the CBD requires that Parties monitor biological diversity for the purposes of in-situ and ex-situ conservation, All of the above elements are contained in National Reports to be submitted regularly by the Parties to the Convention, describing national measures taken for the implementation of the Convention and their effectiveness and progress.

Regional and sub-regional capacity-building workshops are organised to strengthen national capacities for the development, implementation, reviewing, updating, and communication of National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans.

National implementation takes place at the competent geographical or governance level in the specific national context. However, the CBD supports decentralisation at the lowest possible level, through the promotion of the ecosystem approach. the CBD encourages integrated management of land, water and living resources, based on the recognition that humans, as well as their culture and use of resources, are an integral part of ecosystems.

However, the success of such activities very much depends on how effectively these elements are implemented on national and regional scale. Aside from the reporting duties mentioned above, the CBD does not have any mechanisms addressing compliance of Parties with their obligations under the Convention. A weakness of the CBD is that there are no established, formal non-compliance procedures (see UNEP 2007). This could provide an incentive for top Parties to perform poorly regarding their commitments or to delay their activities, since they do not face harsh consequences for doing so. In addition, the various programmes of work are not legally binding.

However, Parties of an international regime see COP decisions primarily as strong (political) commitments to implement the provisions of the treaty. Consequently, the provisions of the CBD in general, as well as the elements, goals and objectives contained in the programme of work on dry and sub-humid lands and agricultural biodiversity, can be regarded as key elements of a meaningful approach to combat LEDD on both an international and national scale. It is also noteworthy that most policies on conservation at national level strongly build on the decisions made by the COP of the CBD.

Greece, Italy, Spain, China and Morocco are all Parties of the CBD, as they have all ratified the Convention. With the exception of Greece, all examined states (Italy, Spain, China and Morocco) have compiled a national strategy document to implement the CBD targets.

CBD in cropland, grazing land and forest land

The work programmes on dry and sub-humid lands and agricultural biodiversity are the most relevant to to LEDD in cropland and grazing land and the extended programme of work on forest biodiversity, the most relevant for forests/shrubland.

The Programme of Work on agricultural biodiversity combines actions for all croplands. Land degradation is not specifically mentioned in the PoW on agricultural biodiversity, but as is the case for all CBD activities, the 'ecosystem approach' is recommended as the guiding principle to address the issues of agricultural biodiversity. In the context of cropland, the ecosystem approach points to strategies that go well beyond the conservation of species and genes and encompass the integrated management of land, water and living resources that promotes conservation and sustainable use in an equitable way. This strategy has to be interpreted in specific regional contexts; but, in principle, it provides a sound approach to address LEDD in agricultural ecosystems, as water and land (including soils) are substantial components of agricultural biodiversity management. In addition to assessment, capacity building and mainstreaming, a set of activities is aimed at adaptive management. This refers to the identification and promotion of practices that strengthen the positive effects and mitigate the negative impacts of agriculture on biodiversity. Since 2008 the Programme has integrated a programme on agricultural biodiversity and biofuels based on the acknowledgement of the potentially high direct and indirect negative impacts on biodiversity and ecosystems of further expansion of energy crops.

The Programme of Work on dry and sub-humid lands encompasses both the assessment of the current situation and targeted action for the future. The former includes activities to increase the knowledge base on biodiversity and ecological processes and to identify local and global benefits and best management practices. The latter includes activities that deal with the promotion of and support for measures of protection and practices of resource management, mainly through capacity building, case studies and coordination with other conventions. The problems posed to biodiversity and degradation of over- and undergrazing are addressed explicitly in the Programme. Moreover, trampling and removal of biomass, alteration of species composition through selective consumption and changed inter-plant competition, and redistribution of nutrients are recognised as enduring impacts on pasture ecosystems, which are to be addressed by its activities. This Programme also advocates the ecosystem approach as a core CBD strategy with regard to grazing land, going beyond the conservation of species and genes. The ecosystem approach is a strategy for the integrated management of land, water and living resources that promotes conservation and sustainable use in an equitable way, according to specific regional contexts.

The Extended Programme of Work on forest biodiversity is one of the largest in the CBD, aiming, among other things, at the conservation and sustainable use of forests. It attempts to tackle the degradation of forested lands include the following goals and activities: the restoration of biodiversity in degraded secondary forests, including plantations, with the aim to restore ecosystem services; improving knowledge and data on the status of degraded forests, deforested, restored and afforested lands; preventing losses caused by the unsustainable harvesting of timber and non-timber forest resources, e.g. by finding alternatives to the use of firewood by local communities.

Deforestation is identified as one of the main causes of land degradation and erosion, to be addressed though: (i) conservation, sustainable use, and benefit-sharing, (ii) institutional and socio-economic enabling environment, and (iii) knowledge, assessment, and monitoring.

• < Prev
• Next >