The “Sharm El-Sheikh to Beijing Action Agenda for Nature and People” was launched in November 2018 during the COP14 of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). It is now necessary to consider how it could fulfil its role, and more specifically help mobilise actors from all sectors as effectively as possible on the road to Kunming. It is, also, in the medium term, necessary to reflect on how to ground the Action Agenda within the CBD, so that it can facilitate non-state actors’ mobilisation for implementing the post-220 framework.
Key Messages
- The Action Agenda is by no means anecdotal. It fulfils fundamental strategic functions to stimulate a positive political momentum prior to COP15, and to help achieve an ambitious agreement in Kunming in 2020. There is therefore an urgent need to energise the Action Agenda as soon as possible.
- In the short term (from 2019), efforts are required to provide impetus, to structure and coordinate. As many initiatives as possible must be mobilised, which may be organised according to the Aichi Targets or activity sectors for example, and a decision should be made regarding who could play the coordinator role, alongside Egypt, China, and the Secretariat.
- At COP15, the decision could be made to anchor the Action Agenda within the CBD, to support the implementation of the post-2020 global framework. It will be important to consider how commitments that are credible and measurable could be valorised, while linking them to the intergovernmental framework.
- After 2020, the Biodiversity Action Agenda should support the implementation of the CBD and the post-2020 global framework towards its future global goals, in synergy with similar initiatives such as the Global Climate Action Agenda or the Ocean Commitments.
