A comprehensive strategy for biodiversity at COP16: bringing all sectors together for a common goal

Key Points

In the run-up to COP16 to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the EESC:

• acknowledges that in the context of the current triple planetary crisis (climate change, pollution and biodiversity loss), it is becoming increasingly urgent to rethink our relationship with nature and to protect, and where necessary restore, the natural ecosystems on which human beings and the majority of their economic activities depend, including agriculture, forestry and fisheries. It is estimated that more than 50% of global GDP is dependent on nature and some 40% of jobs globally directly depend on healthy ecosystems;
• stresses that to be more effective, policies to foster biodiversity must become more coherent and comprehensive across sectors; be better integrated with the climate, environmental and food security agendas in the EU and globally; encompass not only the environmental but also the social and economic dimensions; and receive the necessary financial support;
• highlights the need for innovative and effective public, private and blended financial support for the most essential and sometimes vulnerable stakeholders (including small-scale farmers, indigenous people, etc.); a global financial architecture with a standardised reporting mechanism and new metrics that hold respect for planetary boundaries at their core; the realignment of investments toward low-carbon, resilient economies and thriving ecosystems as well as divesting financing from ‘environmentally harmful subsidies’;
• calls for the development of a ‘One Health’ approach, because the health of ecosystems, animals and people are interdependent, as they are part of the same natural ecosystem;
• stresses that implementing international agreements, such as the ones on climate and biodiversity, and identifying nature-positive climate actions, will require, at all levels, a more inclusive multi-stakeholder governance model that includes the systematic, deliberative, early and consistent participation of citizens and CSOs, including young people, the private sector, and academia, while ensuring scientific research, effective accountability mechanisms and fair access to justice and data;
• calls for an integrated, holistic strategy with ambitious long-term goals and plans – an EU 2050 Sustainable Development Agenda – to ensure a wellbeing economy operating within planetary boundaries. Instead of addressing the goals and targets separately, the EU needs a systemic, cross-sectoral and foresight-based approach to reduce policies complexity and make them more efficient;
• calls for the establishment of an office at the Commission for an Executive Vice-President for Future Generations, responsible for promoting long-term, holistic and systemic thinking, focusing on and mainstreaming wellbeing and biodiversity indicators going beyond GDP data.