With the participation of representatives from the governments of Egypt, where COP 14 took place, and China, where COP15 will take place and the new global Biodiversity framework will be defined, the event debated how non-state actors can support the urgency of action and ambition in the post-2020 global biodiversity framework. This engagement, to inform, inspire and show voluntary commitments, is the main function of Action Agenda of the Convention on Biological Diversity.
Manuel Vidal, moderator, former minister of Peru and WWF advisor, began the panel by being emphatic: “We cannot achieve our objective if it is not done collectively”. Collaboration was the key word of the event. It was commented that the Leaders Pledge for Nature shows that there is political will in relation to the promotion and conservation of biodiversity.
Marina Grossi opened the panel by highlighting the importance of Brazil within the global context, given our great diversity of species, and how actions to combat climate change can be better combined with initiatives to reverse the loss of biodiversity. “The year 2020 emphasized that our survival is directly linked to the preservation and appreciation of our natural resources.”
The subject of value chain management came to the fore and it became clear that the protection effort, with monitoring and tracking technologies, must be combined with actions to promote good practices and remuneration for the populations that use the “standing forest ” for their livelihood, remembering the three pillars of the convention: Conservation; Sustainable Use and Benefit Sharing.
Geraldine Vallejo, director of the Kering sustainability program, a French holding company based in Paris, highlighted the importance of understanding the importance of natural capital. He also mentioned the role of regenerative agriculture in maintaining biodiversity, a debate that is also being deepened in the Cebds Food Systems GT, which plans to take a position at the UN Food System Summit, one of the largest global events on the subject. Vallejo, was emphatic “it’s not just about protecting, we have to regenerate nature. Furthermore, we have to have metrics.”
The panel also addressed the topic of finance for biodiversity and included the participation of Vicki Benjamin, CEO of Karner Blue Capital, a company that discusses strategies to finance the protection of biodiversity and highlighted the need to have a set of data capable of representing the biodiversity on a monetary scale.
The panel also discussed the topic of science-based targets and methodologies for tracking commitments. They are very important to know which commitments are good in terms of baseline and time. Collecting information is not enough, said Erin Billman, executive director of the Science Based Targets Network. The processing of this data is necessary to define what it means to be Nature-positive, expression that has gained prominence in the last year.
The event was also attended by the Climate Champion of COP 26 in Glasgow, Gonzalo Muñoz; Neville Ash, director of the United Nations Environment Programme, and Carlos Rodrigues of the Global Environmental Facility. Referring to the convention's Vision for 2050, it was remembered that we need to live in harmony with nature. This is a challenge among actors. Our commitment depends on collaboration. Private sector, government and civil society will not be able to work alone, said Neville Ash,
Director of UNEP-WCMC.
Actions to reduce the factors of biodiversity loss and change towards positive results for nature, even in this decade, is the challenge that was posed. “We must accelerate nature’s ability to restore our well-being”, added Gonzalo Muñoz. “We have global financial resources, political commitment, legal frameworks to implement actions, science and international support”, added Carlos Rodriguez in an optimistic tone.
It is time to give even more prominence to the role of non-governmental actors and act in line with what CEBDS has accomplished in recent years, such as the initiative of Brazilian Business Commitment to Biodiversity it's yours Statement from the Brazilian business sector which has as one of its seven thematic axes the “valuation and preservation of biodiversity as an integral part of business strategies”.
The event, which was opened and led by the Executive Secretary of the CBD, Elizabeth Mrema, also highlighted that we need to be connected with voluntary actions, but also public policies.
