Priorities for protected area expansion so nations can meet their Kunming‐Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework commitments

Underprotected Marine Protected Areas in a Global Biodiversity Hotspot

Pollution derived from hazardous chemicals and waste has emerged as a critical yet comparatively underexamined driver of global biodiversity loss. Increasing evidence demonstrates that exposure to persistent organic pollutants, heavy metals, pesticides, mismanaged waste, etc., adversely affects species survival, ecosystem function, and genetic diversity. However, the scientific and policy responses to these stressors remain fragmented across multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs) and global governance processes. This assessment studies the role of the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm (BRS) Conventions, the Global Framework on Chemicals (GFC), and other international agreements in supporting the implementation of the Kunming–Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF), with a focus on mechanisms to prevent, monitor and mitigate pollution impacts on biodiversity.The analysis draws upon the 2025 joint BRS-GFC report on their contributions to the GBF targets, a comparative policy mapping against GBF indicators and ongoing collaborative work between biodiversity and chemicals and waste MEAS and International frameworks. In parallel, current work under the GFC’s measurability process is reviewed, examining proposed methodological approaches and indicator frameworks designed to quantify biodiversity benefits arising from improved chemicals and waste management. Particular attention is given to integrative approaches for identifying priority chemicals of concern, assessing exposure pathways and ecosystem-level impacts, and aligning regulatory and technical interventions across multiple actors.Findings indicate that these international frameworks directly support the GBF implementation, particularly interventions related to mitigating pollution impacts, promoting sustainable production and consumption, enhancing knowledge and capacity for informed decision-making, and management and conservation efforts. Moreover, the emerging measurability framework under the GFC provides a basis for developing harmonized global indicators capable of capturing reductions in chemical pressures and associated positive biodiversity outcomes. Furthermore, collaboration with the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) demonstrates the potential for cross-regime policy coherence through shared guidance development, integrated technical assistance, and coordinated negotiation inputs.This assessment underscores the importance of integrating chemicals and waste governance into biodiversity policy processes and highlights opportunities for improved scientific collaboration, data harmonization, and implementation coordination. Strengthened alignment across MEAs, reinforced by coherent indicators and shared policy instruments, may significantly enhance the effectiveness of global efforts to halt and reverse biodiversity loss driven by pollution.

To meet the objectives of the Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) Target 3 to effectively conserve and manage at least 30 per cent of terrestrial, inland water, coastal and marine areas by 2030, the number of high-quality sites that are important for biodiversity will need to increase. Other Effective Area-based Conservation Measures (OECMs) are increasingly recognised globally and are expected to play a significant role towards meeting GBF Target 3. Following a decision adopted by the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in 2018, the assessment of new OECM candidate sites can be achieved by applying an IUCN site-level tool published in 2023 based on eight criteria. The criteria do not specify a minimum size for OECM candidate sites. Here we suggest that the CBD Parties consider a metric on the fragmentation level of an OECM candidate site's larger territorial unit to help define the minimum size of this site, and we apply the metric to a case study in the EU. We believe this would be a realistic and practical approach and would give incentives for CBD Parties to assess potential new OECM sites even in highly fragmented territorial units.

Progress towards international targets for protected area coverage in mountains: A multi-scale assessment

The objective and scope of this paper are to present how an Oil&Gas Company (the Company) has furthered its biodiversity ambition by joining the Act4Nature initiative. This initiative is led by a French multi-sectorial and CEO lead industry association called Enterprises for the Environment (Entreprises pour l'Environnement, EPE). In 2017, EPE's biodiversity commission launched the Act4Nature initiative, which offers a ‘frame of reference’ for a biodiversity ambition through a combined generic and specific set of biodiversity commitments for businesses. One of the key aims of Act4Nature, is to provide a contribution towards the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) efforts to combat global biodiversity loss. The 2018-2020 period are important years for global biodiversity strategic protection efforts as the CBD has set itself the short-term goal of developing a post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF), building on its 2010-2020 Targets (said the "Aichi" targets) and as a stepping-stone towards its 2050 Vision Living in Harmony with Nature. However, the CBD has indicated that the Aichi targets will likely not be met in their entirety. This was echoed by the United Nation Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) 2019 report indicating that global biodiversity loss is occurring at unprecedented levels. In this context, the need for voluntary Business biodiversity commitments is even more pressing, relevant and expected from stakeholders. Importantly, the CBD recognises the important role of business, including oil and gas, in combating biodiversity loss. In terms of methods, the Act4Nature biodiversity commitments were developed through an intense nine months stakeholder engagement process, involving Company staff, EPE members and partners, which included Biodiversity Foundations, NGO and key French governmental authorities responsible for biodiversity. The Act4Nature initiative includes 10 key common, generic and aspirational, commitments that were developed through a consensus-based approach of EPE members, including the Company. These members represent very diverse business activities, including utilities, agro-food industry, luxury apparel, glass products, energy, automotive etc., which poses an understandable challenge for reaching a consensus. In addition, to the common commitments each member company was requested to submit company specific commitments. The Company provided six such commitments, both operational and aspirational, some of which existed before the initiative. The opportunity arose, as part of the Company's engagement contributions, to mainstream the Ipieca-IOGP Biodiversity & Ecosystem Services (BES) Fundamental Management Practices in the Act4Nature common commitments. Thus, this allowed for alignment with the O&G industry's biodiversity & ecosystem services fundamental practices concerning biodiversity governance, stakeholder engagement, baselines, impact assessment, the Mitigation Hierarchy and reporting. In parallel to this external engagement process, the Company conducted an impact analysis of the commitments on its business strategy and governance during which the Company CEO was fully engaged. The impact analysis ensured the feasibility of this new ambition whilst offering the Company the opportunity to further its biodiversity related management to additional domains such as the supply chain, nature-based solutions and climate change impacts to biodiversity. The paper provides some early examples of operational implications, both challenges and benefits, deriving from the implementation of these commitments at business segment and site level, to move away from the business as usual scenario. In terms of outcomes and results, the Company's CEO adhered to the Act4Nature initiative on the 10th of July 2018, accelerating biodiversity good practices mainstreaming across the Company, improved integration of biodiversity into the Group's environmental road map and upgrading of its dedicated biodiversity action plan. The new biodiversity aspiration allows reducing biodiversity related risks and increasing benefits, improving employee and external stakeholder perception and improve opportunities such as attracting new partners. The Group may also benefit from differentiating itself from its competitors and improving its business opportunities whilst creating shared value for Society as a whole. This paper is providing guidance and return on experience on developing public biodiversity commitments for Oil &Gas Companies.

Priorities to Advance Monitoring of Ecosystem Services Using Earth Observation

In the face of the ongoing biodiversity crisis, questions are arising regarding the success, or lack thereof, of biodiversity offset schemes, where biodiversity losses from human development are compensated by producing equitable gains elsewhere. The overarching goal of offsetting is to deliver no net loss (NNL) of biodiversity. Assessing whether offsetting does indeed deliver NNL is, however, challenging because of a lack of clear and reliable information about offset schemes. Here we consider barriers in tracking NNL outcomes, outline criteria of public offset registers to enable accessible and credible reporting of NNL, and show how existing registers fail to satisfy those criteria. The lack of accessibility and transparency in existing registers represents a fundamental gap between NNL targets and a valid tracking system, which challenges the impetus to enact the transformative changes needed to reverse biodiversity decline.

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) established to be achieved by 2030 are an ensemble of 17 goals to address global environmental and social economic concerns [1]. SDG 15 concerns the protection of terrestrial ecosystems to halt biodiversity loss. Target 15.9 states that by 2020, ecosystem and biodiversity values should be integrated into national and local planning, and is related to Aichi Biodiversity Target 2 of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020, which also involves integrating biodiversity values into national accounting and reporting systems [2]. The importance of maintaining ecosystem integrity is becoming widely recognized, not only to halt biodiversity loss, but also to preserve Nature’s benefits to human well-being, and has been included in many other targets such as the EU 2020 Biodiversity Strategy’s target 2, which requires the restoration of at least 15% of degraded ecosystems as well as the establishment of green infrastructures to enhance ecosystem services (ES) [3]. The Green Infrastructures (GI) framework is used as a policy tool and promotes the multi-functional use of landscapes to improve biodiversity conservation and benefits to society. It is formulated as a “strategically planned network of natural and semi-natural areas” [4] and is based on three main pillars: key habitats for target species, connectivity and ES [5]. As part of ERA-PLANET’s GEOEssential project (Essential Variables workflows for resource efficiency and environmental management), our study aims at demonstrating how the GI framework can be implemented at any geographical area or time-period through reproducible modeling workflows from field data to Essential Variables (EV) data products and policy relevant indicators to monitor and inform advances towards environmental targets. A proof of concept workflow was already set in place for computing the indicator 15.1.2: Proportion of important sites for terrestrial and freshwater biodiversity that are covered by protected areas, by ecosystem, while other workflows will follow. The execution platform is the GEOEssential Virtual Laboratory, a cloud-based virtual platform which enables access to, and execution of workflows for the ecosystem science community of practice and even more. REFERENCES: 1. UNSD, 2016. Sustainable Development Goals Report. https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/report/2016/ (accessed 18 May 2018). 2. CBD Secretariat, 2010. The Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020, and the Aichi Biodiversity Targets. Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity, Nagoya. 3. European Commission, 2011. Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions - Our life insurance, our natural capital: an EU biodiversity strategy to 2020, Brussels. 4. European Commission, 2013. Green infrastructure (GI) - Enhancing Europe’s Natural Capital, Brussels. 5. Liquete, C., Kleeschulte, S., Dige, G., Maes, J., Grizzetti, B., Olah, B., & Zulian, G., 2015. Mapping green infrastructure based on ecosystem services and ecological networks: A Pan-European case study. Environmental Science & Policy, 54, 268–280.

Research that connects the effects of urbanization on biodiversity and ecosystem services is lacking. Ants perform multifarious ecological functions that stabilize ecosystems and contribute to a number of ecosystem services. We studied responses of ant communities to urbanization in the Lake Tahoe basin by sampling sites along a gradient of urban land development. We sampled ant communities, measured vegetation characteristics, quantified human activities, and evaluated ant-community responses by grouping ants into service-providing units (SPUs), defined as a group of organisms and their populations that perform specific ecosystem services, to provide an understanding of urbanization impacts on biodiversity and their delivery of ecosystem services. Species richness and abundance peaked at intermediate levels of urban development, as did the richness of 3 types of ant SPUs (aerators, decomposers, and compilers). With increasing land development aerator and decomposer ants significantly declined in abundance, whereas compiler ants significantly increased in abundance. Competing models demonstrated that precipitation was frequently among the strongest influences on ant community structure; however, urban development and human activities also had a strong, negative influence on ants, appearing in most models with DeltaAIC(c) < 2 for species richness and abundance patterns of SPUs and generalists. Response diversity was observed within SPUs, which suggests that the corresponding ecosystem services were maintained until development reached 30-40%. Our data provide evidence that ecosystem functions, such as water infiltration and soil productivity, may be diminished at sites subject to greater levels of urbanization and that conserving ant communities and the ecosystem services they provide could be an important target in land-use planning and conservation efforts.

The Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF), agreed by signatory states of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in December 2022, is the latest and most ambitious plan to date to halt and reverse global biodiversity loss. Target 3 aims to conserve at least 30% of land, inland water and marine ecosystems in protected and conserved areas by 2030 (the 30 × 30 target). This target contains many elements and this chapter discusses the most important ways in which the GBF will influence conservation. Nine issues are identified: (1) the level of ambition inherent in the 30% target itself; (2) inclusion of inland waters in the wording, reflecting particularly severe threats to freshwater biodiversity; (3) increased ambition for protection of coastal and marine areas, including the high seas; (4) emphasis on a new conservation mechanism, ‘other effective area-based conservation measures’ (OECMs); (5) Inclusion of indigenous and traditional territories as a third category within 30 × 30; (6) the importance of effectiveness; (7) coupled with equitable management; (8) integration of protected areas and OECMs into wider landscapes and seascapes; and (9) additional emphasis on the rights of indigenous peoples and local communities. The politics behind the decisions taken at the CBD meeting are analysed.

The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, adopted in 2022, provides a framework for the effective implementation of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) through four goals and 23 targets. Target 3 (known as the ‘30x30 target’) calls on Parties to conserve at least 30% of terrestrial, inland waters, and coastal and marine areas by 2030. Target 3 is incentivising government agencies and other actors to advance diverse kinds of inclusive, equitable and effective area-based conservation. These guidelines are designed to promote good practices relating to identifying, reporting, monitoring and strengthening OECMs. They are intended for use by a wide range of rightsholders and stakeholders to promote understanding of whether a site meets the CBD criteria for identifying an OECM, how to report OECM data at the national and global levels, and how to monitor and strengthen OECMs.

Investments to reverse biodiversity loss are economically beneficial

trialspecies,therelativemeritsofdifferentapproachesto ensure the long-term persistence of those species remain highly contentious. Most would agree, however, that both establishing protected areas and exercising some form of restraint on extraction of forest resources are among the most effective of all viable conservation measures. Deforestation, wildfires, logging, and hunting are among the leading drivers of species losses in tropical forests, and de facto or de jure protection from these threats can be conferred by either effective enforcement of regulations or physical remoteness. Attempts to assess conservation success of protected areasatlargescaleshaverestedprimarilyonconventional use of remote sensing to quantify spatial or temporal differences in rates of change in land cover due to deforestation and wildfires, rather than on empirical demographic or community-level metrics (Gaston et al. 2008). Q2 However, the former approaches fail to detect most types of subcanopy anthropogenic disturbances that also result, directly or indirectly, in species losses (Peres et al. 2006). Moreover, the effects of habitat loss and degradation on population extirpations and declines are nonlinear, so vegetation cover alone is rarely a robust proxy for the viability of terrestrial biotas. Remotesensing data show vast tracts of apparently intact tropical forests, but in reality levels of hunting and other forms of extraction in these areas are often unsustainable (Peres & Lake 2003). Fundamental questions yet to be answered include whether ostensibly intact protected areas retain full complements of forest species and how the extent of cryptic patterns of disturbance is related to human population density in both protected and unprotected areas. I considered the global to regional emergence of sustainable-use reserves, emphasizing the world’s largest tropical forest region, Amazonia. Sustainable-use reserves often have intermediate levels of disturbance, so I examined the degree of use of natural resources by resident communities and used human population density as a proxy for level of extraction. In both protected and unprotected areas, I also estimated responses of game vertebrate assemblages to hunting on the basis of the relative biomassextractedfromasubsetoftheforestfauna.Iused analysesofcovariance(ANCOVA)toexaminetheassociationbetweenhumandensityandgamebiomassharvested across different reserve categories. Finally, I considered the long-term capacity of sustainable-use forest reserves to maintain populations of all resident species.

Marine protected areas and fisheries restricted areas in the Mediterranean: assessing “actual” marine biodiversity protection coverage at multiple scales

In the heart of Malaysia's commitment to biodiversity conservation, lies a comprehensive strategy encapsulated in the National Policy on Biological Diversity (NPBD) 2022-2030. With five ambitious goals, the policy is a guiding light for the nation, steering stakeholders towards a future where the rich tapestry of ecosystems, species and genetic diversity flourishes. The correlation between this national policy and the global biodiversity framework under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) is evident, providing a robust framework for sustainable development.