Implementation of the Convention on Biological Diversity and Its Contribution to Sustainable Development

A/RES/73/234View PDF

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

A Resolution of the General Assembly, under agenda item 20f Convention on Biological Diversity, published in 2019.

What other versions does this mandate have?

14 versions · 2013–2025

This is an older version — the most recent is A/RES/80/140

Year	Symbol	Title	Word length	Text similarity
2025	A/RES/80/140	Implementation of the Convention on Biological Diversity and its contribution to sustainable development	5,932	72%Compare
2024	A/RES/79/208	Implementation of the Convention on Biological Diversity and its contribution to sustainable development	5,938	82%Compare
2023	A/RES/78/155	Implementation of the Convention on Biological Diversity and its contribution to sustainable development	5,919	52%Compare
2022	A/RES/77/167	Implementation of the Convention on Biological Diversity and its contribution to sustainable development	6,811	46%Compare
2022	A/RES/76/207	Implementation of the Convention on Biological Diversity and its contribution to sustainable development	6,043	91%Compare

What subjects does this mandate have?

5 subjects

Biological Diversity Conferences Resources Conservation Sustainable Development Technology Transfer

What’s in this document?

40 operative paragraphs

Takes note of the report of the Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity;³¹

³¹A/73/255, sect. III.

Looks forward to the outcomes of the fourteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, which met in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, from 17 to 29 November 2018, as well as the ninth meeting of the Conference of the Parties serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the Cartagena Protocol and the third meeting of the Conference of the Parties serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the Nagoya Protocol, all under the proposed theme “Investing in biodiversity for people and planet”, and recognizes that the outcomes of the meetings will contribute to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development;³²

³²Resolution 70/1.

Takes note with appreciation of the Sharm el-Sheikh Declaration, adopted at the high-level segment of the fourteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention;

Welcomes the initiative of Egypt to promote a coherent approach to addressing biodiversity loss, climate change and land and ecosystem degradation;

Takes note with appreciation of the commitment made by the parties at the high-level segment of the fourteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention, inter alia, to:

Accelerating efforts to implement the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011–202011 and achieve the Aichi Biodiversity Targets, including by implementing the decisions of the Conference of the Parties and the Cartagena and Nagoya Protocols, as appropriate, and by providing and mobilizing international and national resources, thereby contributing to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development;

Supporting the development and implementation of a post-2020 global biodiversity framework, building on the Aichi Biodiversity Targets and the lessons learned from the implementation of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011–2020 and aligned with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, with a level of ambition and practicality that will facilitate the transformational changes needed to achieve the 2050 Vision for Biodiversity, as noted in the conclusions of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice;

Promoting, prior to the fifteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties, voluntary biodiversity contributions by parties and other actors towards achieving the 2050 Vision for Biodiversity;

Engaging indigenous peoples and local communities, women, youth, civil society, local governments and authorities, academia, the business and financial sectors and other relevant stakeholders to support action towards the 2050 Vision for Biodiversity and to provide momentum for the implementation of the post-2020 global biodiversity framework;

Decides to convene a summit on biodiversity at the level of Heads of State and Government, within existing resources, before the fifteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention, in 2020, in order to highlight the urgency of action at the highest levels in support of a post-2020 global biodiversity framework that contributes to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and places the global community on a path towards realizing the 2050 Vision for Biodiversity;

Looks forward to the fifteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention, as well as the meetings of the Conference of the Parties serving as the Meetings of the Parties to the Protocols to the Convention, which will be held in China in the fourth quarter of 2020, as well as the sixteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties and the meetings of the Conference of the Parties serving as the Meetings of the Parties to the Protocols to the Convention, which will be held in Turkey in the fourth quarter of 2022;

Welcomes the entry into force of the Nagoya-Kuala Lumpur Supplementary Protocol on Liability and Redress to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety24 on 5 March 2018;

Also welcomes the entry into force of the Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from Their Utilization to the Convention on Biological Diversity22 on 12 October 2014;

Takes note with appreciation of the Cancun Declaration on Mainstreaming the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Biodiversity for Well-being, adopted at the high-level segment of the thirteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity;³³

³³United Nations Environment Programme, document UNEP/CBD/COP/13/24.

Welcomes the commitment of parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity to take specific actions, tailored to national needs and circumstances, and in line with other relevant international agreements, in agriculture, forestry, fisheries and tourism, bearing in mind the impact of these sectors on biodiversity, in various direct and indirect ways;

Recognizes that integrating biodiversity considerations into sectoral and cross-sectoral policies, plans and programmes at all levels is critical for harnessing the benefits of enhanced synergies and policy coherence;

Encourages the respective parties, in close collaboration with relevant stakeholders, to take concrete measures towards achieving the objectives of the Convention on Biological Diversity1 and the Protocols thereto, the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety23 and the Nagoya Protocol, requests the parties, in close collaboration with relevant stakeholders, to coherently and efficiently implement the obligations and commitments under the Convention and the Protocols, and in this regard emphasizes the need to comprehensively address at all levels the difficulties that may impede their implementation;

Recognizes that the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity can significantly contribute to disaster risk reduction and to reducing the adverse impacts of climate change, including by adding resilience to fragile ecosystems and making them less vulnerable;

Urges the parties to the Convention to facilitate the transfer of technology for the effective implementation of the Convention in accordance with article 16 and other relevant provisions of the Convention, in this regard takes note of the strategy for the practical implementation of the programme of work on technology transfer and scientific and technical cooperation developed by the Ad Hoc Technical Expert Group on Technology Transfer and Scientific and Technological Cooperation, as well as of decision XI/2, entitled “Review of progress in implementation of national biodiversity strategies and action plans and related capacity-building support to parties”,³⁴ and also takes note of the relevant decisions adopted by the Conference of the Parties at its twelfth meeting in this regard;27

³⁴See United Nations Environment Programme, document UNEP/CBD/COP/11/35, annex I.

Notes with appreciation the efforts made by the secretariat of the Convention, parties to the Convention and the Global Environment Facility, as the financial mechanism of the Convention, in conjunction with United Nations funds and programmes and the specialized agencies, as well as other entities, in organizing capacity-building workshops to support countries in the updating of national biodiversity strategies and action plans, with a view to enhancing capacity and addressing the need for human, technical and financial resources to implement the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011–2020 and the Aichi Biodiversity Targets, adopted by the Conference of the Parties to the Convention at its tenth meeting, in particular for developing countries;

Recognizes with concern the limited progress in the achievement of the Aichi Biodiversity Targets and the implementation of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011–2020 by the parties to the Convention, and, given the limited time remaining, calls upon all parties to accelerate and scale up efforts to implement them, acknowledging the contribution of such efforts to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals;

Notes with concern the limited progress made in mainstreaming article 8 (j) of the Convention and related provisions into various areas of work under the Convention, including capacity development and the participation of indigenous peoples and local communities in the work of the Convention;

Encourages parties to promote the mainstreaming of gender considerations, taking into account the 2015–2020 Gender Plan of Action under the Convention on Biological Diversity,17 in developing, implementing and revising their national and, where appropriate, regional and subnational biodiversity strategies and action plans and equivalent instruments in implementing the three objectives of the Convention, and recognizes the need to enhance cooperation on capacity-building in order to support parties in this process;

Calls upon Governments and all stakeholders to take appropriate measures to mainstream consideration of the socioeconomic impacts and benefits of the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity and its components, as well as ecosystems that provide essential services, into relevant programmes and policies at all levels, in accordance with national legislation, circumstances and priorities;

Reaffirms the importance of continuing to pursue more efficient and coherent implementation of the three objectives of the Convention, and calls upon parties and stakeholders to strengthen international cooperation measures for the fulfilment of obligations contained in the Convention;

Highlights the importance of parties raising high-level political engagement for the achievement by 2020 of the Aichi Biodiversity Targets and the related Goals and targets of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development;

Invites all parties, relevant departments of the Secretariat, the specialized agencies, funds and programmes of the United Nations system and the regional commissions to continue contributing to the achievement of the objectives of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011–2020;

Reaffirms the need for a comprehensive and participatory process towards developing proposals for the follow-up to the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011–2020, fully in line with decision XIII/1³⁵ and other relevant decisions of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention;

³⁵See United Nations Environment Programme, document UNEP/CBD/COP/13/25.

Recognizes that parties to the Convention have reiterated that resources, financial, human and technical, need to be provided and mobilized from all sources, and that this should be balanced with the effective implementation of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011–2020, stresses the need for further consideration of the evaluation of all resources mobilized in terms of the biodiversity outcomes achieved, in this regard welcomes the decision of the parties to the Convention on an overall substantial increase in total biodiversity-related funding for the implementation of the Strategic Plan from a variety of sources, including national and international resource mobilization and international cooperation and the exploration of new and innovative financial mechanisms, as appropriate, and takes note of the decisions of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention at its thirteenth session, including the request to the Executive Secretary to prepare a stocktake and updated analysis of financial reports received in order to provide a more comprehensive picture of the global overall progress towards the global targets;

Invites countries that have not yet done so to ratify or accede to the Convention;

Invites parties to the Convention to ratify or accede to the Nagoya Protocol, and invites the Executive Secretary of the Convention and the Global Environment Facility, within its mandate as the financial mechanism of the Convention, in collaboration with relevant organizations, to continue to support capacity-building and development activities to support the ratification and implementation of the Protocol;

Also invites parties to the Convention to consider, as appropriate, ratifying or acceding to the Cartagena Protocol;

Invites parties to the Cartagena Protocol to consider, as appropriate, ratifying or acceding to the Nagoya-Kuala Lumpur Supplementary Protocol on Liability and Redress to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety;

Takes note of the work done by the Ad Hoc Open-ended Intersessional Working Group on Article 8 (j) and Related Provisions, and in this regard invites the secretariat of the Convention, through the Secretary-General, to report on the progress made when reporting on the implementation of the present resolution to the General Assembly;

Stresses the importance of mainstreaming biodiversity in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development as part of national implementation plans for the Sustainable Development Goals, in particular all biodiversity-related Goals and targets;

Takes note of the outcome of the sixth plenary meeting of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, held in Medellin, Colombia, from 17 to 24 March 2018, which aimed to provide policy-relevant information on biodiversity and ecosystem services to assist decision makers, including through its regional and subregional assessments of biodiversity and ecosystem services and its thematic assessment of land degradation and restoration;

Stresses the importance of the engagement of the private sector and other relevant stakeholders, as well as indigenous peoples and local communities, in the implementation of the three objectives of the Convention and in the achievement of the biodiversity targets, invites them to align their practices more explicitly with the objectives of the Convention, including through partnerships, in accordance with national legislation, circumstances and priorities, in this regard stresses the importance of the ongoing work of the Global Partnership for Business and Biodiversity, and notes other related and complementary initiatives;

Notes the ongoing work of the Joint Liaison Group of the secretariats and offices of the relevant subsidiary bodies of the Convention on Biological Diversity, the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification in Those Countries Experiencing Serious Drought and/or Desertification, Particularly in Africa,³⁶ and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change10 (the Rio conventions) and the Liaison Group of Biodiversity-related Conventions, acknowledges the importance of improving coherence in the implementation of those conventions, recognizes the importance of enhancing synergies among the biodiversity-related conventions, without prejudice to their specific objectives, in this regard notes the contribution of the United Nations Environment Assembly, as reflected in its resolution 2/17 of 27 May 2016,³⁷ and encourages the conferences of the parties to the biodiversity-related multilateral environmental agreements to consider strengthening efforts in this regard, taking into account relevant experiences and bearing in mind the respective independent legal status and mandates of those instruments;

³⁶United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 1954, No. 33480.

³⁷See Official Records of the General Assembly, Seventy-first Session, Supplement No. 25 (A/71/25), annex.

Calls upon the relevant organizations of the United Nations system, within their respective mandates and resources, to ensure that no one is left behind and no country is left behind in the implementation of the present resolution;

Requests the Secretary-General to submit to the General Assembly, at its seventy-fourth session, a report on the implementation of the present resolution, including on progress in the implementation of the Convention and the Aichi Biodiversity Targets and difficulties encountered in the process of their implementation, and decides to include, under the item entitled “Sustainable development”, the sub-item entitled “Convention on Biological Diversity” in the provisional agenda of its seventy-fourth session, unless otherwise agreed.

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

What other versions does this mandate have?

What subjects does this mandate have?

What’s in this document?

Table of contents