WCC 2020 Res 043 - Progress Report

Progress has been steadily made in the past 4 years since the adoption of the Resolution:

Paragraph 1: The Secretariat

As stated in previous years' reports, considering the various COP decisions and developments since the adoption of this Resolution, the IUCN Secretariat's efforts to implement the provisions of this Resolution have been carried out in a way that does not duplicate other efforts. In this regard, the IUCN Secretariat collated and submitted to the CBD a comprehensive but non-exhaustive list of IUCN tools and guidance to support the implementation of the KMGBF, by target (https://www.cbd.int/api/v2013/documents/B6B15B8E-6577-B242-BC27-F289B011B5BB/attachments/614424/IUCN-submission-tools-guidance-KMGBF-04dec.pdf). Of all the information received by the CBD, 120+ resources out of 1200 were developed by IUCN, thus evidencing there is ample guidance already available for translating the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMBGF) into national planning processes. Further, the IUCN Secretariat conducted an internal survey to gather information on requests for support in updating NBSAPs that IUCN might have received, to identify the interested Parties and the type of support being requested. Preliminary results showed that 15 Parties approached IUCN with diferent requests - ranging from providing inputs to the NBSAPs, participate in workshops, specific assitance with a particular target. The mapping exercise will need to be updated in light of the recent NBSAP submission information and COP16 decisions.

The Secretariat, through 4 of its regional offices, applied and was successfully selected to host regional and subregional technical and scientific cooperation centres (TSC Centres), as part of the Technical and Scientific Cooperation Mechanism, as established by decision 15/8. Coordinated by a global coordination entity, hosted by the Secretariat of the CBD, these centres are expected to support Parties among other things, to strengthen capacities of regional, subregional and national institutions to facilitate technical and scientific cooperation. As of June 2025, operationalization of the centres is underway, including signing hosting agreements. An assessment of needs will be conducted which will inform the development of the TSC centres' workplan.

The Secretariat continued its engagement and advocacy work in the CBD meetings, in particular at SBI4 and COP16 but also was invited to provide technical expertise in the regional and sub-regional dialogues on NBSAPs, organized by the CBD Secretariat and supported by many partner organizations, including IUCN.

Finally, the IUCN Secretariat will work on awareness raising and communication activities to support the implementation of this Resolution in 2025.

Paragraphs 2 and 3: Governmental and non-governmental Members

In accordance with Decision 15/6, Parties to the Convention were to present their updated NBSAPs or updated national biodiversity targets before COP16, in 2024. As of May 2025, 29 IUCN State Members submitted updated NBSAPs. Some of IUCN's national committees of members were involved in the preparatory process (Comité français de l'UICN, IUCN National Committee of The Netherlands, United Kingdom National Committee of IUCN Members, Israel National Committee of IUCN Members, IUCN Japan Committee, Australian National Committee, Brazilian National Committee, Vietnam National Committee). Some of these contributions can be found in activity reports for this Resolution and the more recent ones below:

JAPAN COMMITTEE: The IUCN Japan Committee obtained grants and other funding and dispatched Japan Committee staff and IUCN members to all CBD meetings in the lead up to COP15 and after. The delegation members included the youth generation as much as possible. After the meeting, a debriefing session was held with the Ministry of the Environment (IUCN member) and members participating in the international conference, where not only the government's position but also the NGO's position was communicated.
While taking into account the outcomes of the meetings of the Convention, IUCN members in Japan organised face-to-face and online symposia, named “Japan NBSAP Forum ”, on themes in which they are particularly strong. Events were held on 11 themes, 16 times, with a total of 1339 participants over two years. Some of the themes included expanding corporate and financial biodiversity-related initiatives; changing lifestyles; promoting biodiversity-friendly agriculture; strengthening 30 by 30 in both protected areas and OECMs; avoiding negative impacts of climate change measures on biodiversity and Nature Based Solutions.
These recommendations are reflected in the NBSAP. The NBSAP review process also succeeded in creating an “opportunity for the youth generation to express their views” in the official consultations
as a result of a request by IUCN members to the Ministry of Environment.

AUSTRALIAN COMMITTEE: The Australian Committee ran a series of workshops to help Australia achieve our commitments to the GBF.
2022 - GBF webinar (all 23 targets)
2023 - Global Biodiversity Framework workshop (all 23 targets)
2024 - Ecosystem Restoration Workshop (Target 2), working in collaboration with the Australian NBSAP team and the AHTEG monitoring framework representatives
2025 - Species Survival Symposium, aimed at achieving No New Extinctions (Target 4), run in collaboration with the IUCN SSC and the Australian Government Threatened Species Commissioner
2026 - 30 x 30 Event (Target 3).
More information on these events see links below

BRAZILIAN COMMITTEE: The process of updating the National Strategy and Action Plan for Biodiversity (NBSAP) in Brazil, began in 2023, aiming to aligning with global biodiversity targets and included public consultation and sectoral workshops. It has been a participatory process involving the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change (MMA), State governments, non-governmental organizations, the business sector, academia and Indigenous Peoples, Traditional Peoples and Communities, and Family Farmers, among other stakeholders.
Process Stages:
2023: Start of the update of the EPANB with online public consultation and sectoral workshops to gather contributions.
2024: Holding of workshops to consolidate contributions and adjustments.
2025: Continuation of the update process, including analysis of the contributions received and formulation of the new plan.
Various Brazilian IUCN members took part in the discussions and construction of Brazilian NBSAP and have been continuously monitoring the process of approval through the Biodivertity National Counsil, and through constant contacts with different government levels. The expectation was that the new Brazilian NBSAP would be submitted in 2024, before COP16. However, given the various consultations and the complexity of aligning them into a single document, the Brazilian goals were launched on the eve of the official closing of COP16, in February 2025.

VIETNAM NATIONAL COMMITTEE: Efforts by Members in Vietnam include supporting coastal & marine conservation and sustainable development efforts at national and local levels, assisting the participation of local communities, private sector actors and local government agencies in coastal biodiversity conservation, with focus on establishing Marine Protected Areas, executing Fishery Protected Areas with co-management framework, supporting pilot OECMs as well as promoting cooperation between related stakeholders and support the implementation of coastal initiatives to better manage and conserve the coastal environment and ecosystems, improve coastal livelihoods and community resilience to environmental risks.
(1). Re-aligning the targets of the National Biodiversity Strategy (NBS) to 2030, Vision to 2050 and other relevant national biodiversity targets and indicators with those of the KM-GBF in line with the upcoming mid-term review of the NBS and in preparation of the 7th and 8th national reports that are to be submitted to the CBD Secretariat in the February 2026 and 2029.
(2). Piloting, institutionalizing and operationalization of Other Effective Area-based Conservation Measures (OECMs), enhancing management effectiveness of protected areas and their self-financing capacity, and enabling the participation of local communities and non-state actors in biodiversity conservation.

At COP16, Parties also adoped a common template for "Core reporting elements for commitments by actors other than national governments" which is to capture in a more systematic manner the contributions from Non-State Actors (Decision 16/32). In its position paper, IUCN highlighted that it is necessary not only to document the commitments from non-State actors but also to hold them accountable for their implementation. IUCN supported having standardized templates for reporting those commitments. IUCN noted however, that the information thus collected cannot remain a collection of commitments if it is to make a valuable contribution to the enhanced multidimensional approach to planning, monitoring, reporting and review. It should be analysed and considered as part of the elements of the global review of collective progress that, while being a Party-led process, would be incomplete without accounting for the contributions of the whole of society.

A global review of collective progress in the implementation of the GBF will take place at COP17 in 2026, which is expected to provide additional guidance and renewed political momentum to achieve the GBF targets by 2030.