TNC, WWF, CI, WCS, BirdLife, B4N and WBCSD: The Measurable Nature Positive Goal for the CBD Mission

Humanity faces multiple existential and interconnected threats: nature loss, climate change, pandemics, and inequitable human development patterns. There is a high-level measurable goal for climate change under the Paris Agreement and Glasgow Climate Pact: carbon neutrality (net zero) by 2050 with the 2030 goal of reducing global carbon dioxide emissions by 45 per cent relative to the 2010 level. 

CEOs from 14 of the world’s largest environmental organizations published a new paper calling for the global goal to halt and reverse nature loss by 2030 to become the overarching Mission of the new 10-year Global Biodiversity Framework which will be agreed at this year’s UN CBD-COP15 UN biodiversity summit in Kunming, China.

The paper sets out how the world can track progress toward achieving a nature-positive world by 2030, through measurements designed to quantify the maintenance and improvement of natural processes, ecosystems and species over time. These include migration patterns; carbon sequestration and storage; ecological integrity of habitats; extinction risk of species; wildlife abundance; and genetic diversity. Achieving a consensus on the ability to measure these trends is important for biodiversity conservation. Organizations are asking governments to commit to new targets and actions at a national level within one year of CBD-COP15. 

Backed by multiple NGOs including The Nature Conservancy, WWF International, Conservation International, Wildlife Conservation Society, and BirdLife International and business coalitions such as Business for Nature and WBCSD , today’s paper calls on negotiators to revise the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework’s Mission to include the following goal:

“For the benefit of people and planet, take urgent action across society to halt and reverse biodiversity loss and achieve a nature positive world by 2030, so that there is more nature in 2030 than 2020, using biodiversity sustainably and ensuring the fair and equitable sharing of benefits from the use of genetic resources.”

The Nature Positive goal proposes three basic milestones for success: (1) zero net loss of nature from 2020; (2) net positive improvement in nature by 2030, and (3) full recovery of nature by 2050. 

To deliver against these goals, civil society groups recommend a series of actions including that we

• View all economic activity through a nature-positive lens;
• Cease activities that degrade or convert natural ecosystems, particularly those that are highly intact;
• Restore ecosystems wherever possible;
• Increase funding for protected areas and sustainably-stewarded Indigenous lands;
• Protect at least 30% of land, inland waters, and the ocean.

Read the full paper