Cooperation and Partnerships

Cooperation and Partnerships // Organizations and Stakeholders
Thursday // 2.1.2024

Organizations and Stakeholders

The objectives of the CBD are of direct relevance to other organizations and stakeholder groups. These bodies can play a crucial role in implementing the provisions of the CBD, either directly through their own activities and research, or indirectly by helping to build capacity within governments and other institutions to better meet their CBD commitments. Relevant organizations and stakeholders can also help shape CBD processes and policies by contributing information and expertise to meetings.

Goal 4 of the Strategic Plan seeks broader engagement across society in the implementation of the Convention and is supported by a more specific Objective 4.4: “ key actors and stakeholders, including the private sector, are engaged in partnership to implement the Convention and are integrating biodiversity concerns into their relevant sectoral and cross-sectoral plans, programmes, and policies.”

A list of relevant organization and stakeholder group partners will shortly be made available, organized by:
  • United Nations and other Intergovernmental organizations
  • Non-governmental organizations and civil society
  • Indigenous organizations
  • Scientific and technical assessment bodies
  • Industry and the private sector
  • Children and youth organizations

Examples of collaboration
United Nations and other intergovernmental organizations

One way in which the CBD works within the United Nations system and with other intergovernmental organizations is in contributing to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG). The CBD has taken a number of actions to integrate biodiversity issues in initiatives supporting the MDG, including:

  • co-organizing with the Equator Initiative, UNDP, UNEP-WCMC and others a meeting on “Biodiversity after Johannesburg: the critical role of biodiversity and ecosystem services in achieving the United Nations Millennium Development Goals” (2003)
  • co-organizing with UNDP and others a meeting on “2010-The Global Biodiversity Challenge” to articulate a framework for action for addressing the internationally agreed target of reducing the current rate of biodiversity loss by 2010.
  • Developing a cross-cutting initiative on biodiversity for food and nutrition with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the International Plant Genetic Resources Institute to contribute to achieving target 2 of MDG 1 (reducing hunger).
    Non-governmental organizations and civil society
    One important way that NGOs cooperate with the CBD is in sharing data sets and biodiversity indicators for use in the implementation of, and monitoring of progress towards, the Convention’s objectives and the 2010 target. For example, the World Wide Fund for Nature, together with UNEP-WCMC has developed, as part of its Living Planet Report, the ‘Living Planet Index’ as an indicator of the state of the world’s natural ecosystems. Plantlife International is developing a database on Important Plant Areas, to assist in meeting the targets of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation

The CBD also cooperates closely with NGOs as part of its programme of work on Protected Areas. The World Commission on Protected Areas, with the IUCN Programme on Protected Areas acting as secretariat, established a Task Force in 1999 to organise a focused contribution of the Commission to the CBD on protected areas and the provisions of Article 8. BirdLife International, Conservation International, Flora and Fauna International, The Nature Conservancy, Wildlife Conservation Society, WWF, and World Resources Institute made a joint NGO statement and joint NGO commitment at COP-7 to support the implementation of a strong programme of work on protected areas.

Indigenous organizations
Indigenous and local communities attach considerable importance to the Convention, which they view as a key instrument for advancing the recognition, preservation and promotion of their traditional knowledge. As well, traditional knowledge can make a significant contribution to sustainable development, providing valuable information to the global community and a useful model for biodiversity policies. Consequently, indigenous representatives have been invited to participate fully in the CBD’s cross-cutting initiative on traditional knowledge, innovations and practice. Descriptions of some of the indigenous groups that work with the CBD are listed here.

Scientific and technical research and assessment bodies
Ongoing assessment processes can make a valuable contribution to the work of the Convention. Although assessments vary in the extent to which they consider biodiversity, and also in the extent to which they compile new data, these processes draw together and analyse information that can be used to assess progress in achieving the 2010 target.

The most comprehensive global assessment to date has been the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA), providing scientific information concerning the consequences of ecosystem change for human well-being and options for responding to those changes. The MA also prepared a synthesis report for the CBD on Biodiversity and Human Well–being, presenting an overview of biodiversity across the wider assessment, organized around six questions initially posed by the CBD to the MA. Other global assessments of the state of the environment include the UNEP Global Environmental Outlook, and the CBD’s own Global Biodiversity Outlook.

Other assessments focus on particular ecosystems or resources, such as water (Global International Waters Assessment, World Water Assessment Programme), forests (FAO/UNECE Forest Resources Assessment), drylands (Land Degradation Assessment in Drylands), plant and animal species and genetic resources (FAO State of the World’s plant and Animal Resources, IUCN Red List of Threatened Species) and protected areas (World Database on Protected Areas).

Industry and the private sector
Important links exist between biodiversity and business. There are opportunities for, and potential benefits and risks of cooperation needs to be undertaken with the goal of securing private sector involvement in the achievement of the objectives of the Convention, and of the GBF targets. To this end, Since 2010 the Secretariat has supported the Global Partnership for Business and Biodiversity for an active and consistent collaboration aiming at promoting sustainable development. The Secretariat also has made efforts into building relationships with different business associations and private sector entities engaged in the global goal to halt and reverse biodiversity loss all over the world.

Children and youth organizations
The deterioration of the environment is one of the main concerns of young people around the world as it has direct implications on their lives both now and in the future. Sustainability attracts youth through its emphasis on intergenerational equity and youth groups have been following the evolution of the biodiversity negotiations for a long time and were for example at the origin of the 2002 Youth Declaration to the Convention on Biological Diversity, The Hague, Netherlands.

To this end, in February 2006, the Executive Secretary made a call to youth in the spirit of the 2002 Declaration in which youth expressed its desire to make its voice and grave concerns heard on the international biodiversity agenda. The Message to Children and Youth of the World calls youth to action and underlines the openness of the Convention to work with and for youth. This call was reiterated along with an invitation to create Youth CBD Clubs in a presentation given to youth by the Executive Secretary in 2006 (French).

As demonstrated through their contributions to the World Summit on Sustainable Development, and through various forums, up to the latest Conference of the Parties to the Convention, young people are strong advocates for environmental preservation.

Amongst various activities of the Convention related to Children and Youth, and under the Global Initiative on Communication, Education, and Public Awareness (CEPA), the Secretariat initiated, for example, school visits around the International Day for Biological Diversity to selected schools in the Montreal area.