Action agenda for biodiversity

The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) is one of the three conventions established at the UN Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. In addition to the Framework Convention on Climate Change, a treaty to conserve biodiversity was also signed. In 2011, twenty specific targets were defined for the treaty, the Aichi targets. These strategic targets came to an end in 2020, which means that new targets must be defined. This will be addressed at the Biodiversity Summit in 2022 in Montreal, Canada.

The Convention on Biological Diversity has been signed by 196 countries and, as a result, is one of the most widely supported international environmental treaties. The Netherlands also signed the treaty.
Signatory countries are obliged to conserve biodiversity, use biodiversity sustainably and distribute the costs and benefits of biodiversity fairly and equally between countries.

The Convention on Biological Diversity is the ultimate international policy mechanism for addressing biodiversity loss. Global cooperation is crucial for tackling the loss of biodiversity, due to the numerous and transnational causes of the problem. The Biodiversity Summit represents the most important event at which this can be achieved.

The Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity convene every two years to hold a Conference of Parties (CoP). During the conference more specific agreements are made on components of the Convention on Biological Diversity, and are elaborated. Targets are also established for protecting biodiversity over a longer period (10 years). Countries regularly report on their progress in achieving the targets. The summit in Montreal is the fifteenth edition of this conference (CoP15).

In the run-up to the summit, various committees and working groups are involved in global, regional and thematic consultation. In preparation, participating countries can organise their own meetings to gather input from nature organisations, businesses, knowledge institutions and public authorities for the country’s contribution to the summit.

The Netherlands is one of the countries that signed the treaty in 1992 and will also attend the Biodiversity Summit. As a member of the European Union, the Netherlands is committed to the EU Biodiversity Strategy to 2020.
Therefore, it is important that the government now takes steps to develop a specific, ambitious Dutch contribution to the Convention in association with social organisations, businesses and citizens. They must develop an action agenda that demonstrates the Netherlands can contribute to the protection of biodiversity and is willing to do so. IUCN NL is calling on Dutch organisations to contribute to the Netherlands’ action agenda by making a pledge.

IUCN NL is working towards an ambitious and broadly supported Dutch biodiversity agenda that contributes to the new biodiversity targets, with input from various groups in society. To achieve this we are calling on Dutch organisations to make a pledge.
We focus on conserving and restoring biodiversity in the Netherlands, reducing the Netherlands’ biodiversity footprint abroad, and boosting biodiversity in the Netherlands’ international cooperation. We also strive for a collective, broadly supported Dutch position on the new targets that must be defined in 2021.

Dutch businesses, social organisations, knowledge institutions and citizens can contribute to the new biodiversity targets by making a pledge for the Netherlands’ Action Agenda for Biodiversity.

A pledge is a promise which, for example, could relate to the recovery of species, nature conservation or restoration, combating threats to biodiversity, creating awareness or inspiring others to take action.

Each pledge on the Dutch action agenda contributes to the targets of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD): conserving biodiversity, using biodiversity sustainably and distributing the benefits from biodiversity fairly and equally.