Category: Events

Members of the GBF Task Force were present at the CBD Biodiversity COP-16 during the last two weeks of October 2024. Details of side events and discussions we were engaged in are below:

21st October 2024

CBD COP-16 IUCN Pavilion Event: The common thread: Biodiversity data disclosure and Nature Positive contributions

22nd October 2024

CBD COP-16 IUCN Pavillion Event: Synergies for species: Accelerating ambitious action for species recovery

22nd October 2024

CBD COP-16 Side Event: The Global Strategy for Plant Conservation – guidance and insight into implementing the new complimentary actions

22nd October 2024

CBD COP-16 Side Event: BON in a Box as a tool for implementation and reporting on the monitoring framework

22nd October 2024

CBD COP-16 IUCN Pavilion Event: The relevance of Key Biodiversity Areas for the Biodiversity Plan

23rd October 2024

CBD COP-16 Nature Positive Pavilion Event: Are we missing half our sites of importance for biodiversity?

23rd October 2024

CBD COP-16 Side Event: Supporting implementation and monitoring of the KMGBF for species conservation

23rd October 2024

CBD COP-16 Side Event: Preventing Global Extinctions and Meeting Global Biodiversity Framework Targets: Alliance for Zero Extinction (AZE) Site Conservation

25th October 2024

CBD COP-16 Side Event: IUCN Global Guidance on Identifying, Reporting, Monitoring and Strengthening OECMs

25th October 2024

CBD COP-16 Side Event: Practical experience of mapping biodiversity priorities to support national implementation and monitoring of the GBF

25th October 2024

CBD COP-16 Pavilion Event: Genetic diversity indicators GEOBON Pavilion (event in Spanish)

26th October 2024

CBD COP-16 Pavilion Event: Genetic diversity indicators GEOBON Pavilion (event in English)

26th October 2024

CBD COP-16 IUCN Pavilion Event: Considering opportunities of new tools for conservation

27th October 2024

CBD COP-16 Science Policy Forum Event: Intergrating Science and Data for Effective NBSAPs and Community Engagement

An introduction to the STAR metric for business and policy

This webinar presents the Species Threat Abatement and Restoration (STAR) metric, and discusses how it can be used by policy makers and businesses.

STAR quantifies the potential contribution of actions to abate threats and restore habitat towards the reduction of global species extinction risk in any particular place. STAR is intended as a metric for setting and measuring progress towards science-based species conservation targets, for use by actors across all of society.

The underlying data, assumptions and calculation of STAR are explained, and global STAR results for terrestrials amphibians, birds and mammals are presented.

The webinar also provides an opportunity to ask questions about STAR and discuss its uses, and is an important route to consider current and future developments to ensure STAR meets user needs. 

You can find a recording of the webinar below:

Conserving genetic diversity through National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plans

Speaker: Sean Hoban

This webinar establishes that all countries can include genetic diversity as a vital component of biodiversity planning; can design targets, action and policy for genetic diversity; and can monitor and report on genetic diversity.

To do so, the webinar first gives an overview of how Parties, as well as non-state entities, can integrate genetic diversity into their National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plans (NBSAPS).  This part of the webinar includes ten simple suggestions based on a review of 21 recent NBSAPs (including 8 since the KM GBF) from around the world. 

Following this, a brief explanation of the genetic diversity indicators, including Headline Indicator A.4 is given. Next, the results from a pilot implementation of the headline indicator in nine countries including several megadiverse countries are discussed.  The results of the indicator show that genetic diversity is declining within many populations worldwide.  They also show that data are available and the indicators are affordable and feasible. 

You can find a recording of the webinar below:

Implementing actions to achieve Target 4 of the Global Biodiversity Framework

Speakers: Phil McGowan, Stuart Butchart, Francesca Ridley

To support focussed and effective implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiveristy Framework, especially in the light of the failure to make significant progress on the Aichi Biodiversity Targets by 2020, this webinar gives an overview of Goal A and Target 4 and considers what the negotiated wording of these elements mean in practice.

All Targets are important to achieve the species outcomes in Goal A. Target 4 establishes the need for targeted action in addition to reducing threats through actions under Targets 1-3 and 5-7 and identifies outcomes for species to address species extinctions, extinction risk, and population abundance to be achieved by 2050.

We show that focussed action can avert extinctions, as called for by Target 4. The science is available to support both the identification of the main threats driving extinction risk in a country (or other spatial scale) and to then identify species that require action under Target 4. We conclude the webinar by giving an overview of the newly developed STAR app which can contribute to supporting implementation of Target 4 by quantifying assessments of threats towards species and making this information easily accessible.

You can find a recording of the webinar below:

This presentation outlines the species-related ambitions and goals within the Global Biodiversity Framework and gives a broad overview of the requirements and needs to develop strategies for ensuring positive species outcomes. Please find the recording below.

This panel and Q&A forum was held as part of the World Species Congress in May 2024. The panel discussed pathways to more justice-informed conservation approaches in relation to global conservation policy and the newly agreed Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. You can find a recording of the panel below.

Please let us know your thoughts on justice-informed species conservation and the Global Biodiversity Framework by taking part in the survey below.

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JULY 1st, 2024 | 1.00PM

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JULY 2nd. 2024 | 4.00PM

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JULY 3rd, 2024 | 1.00PM

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The World Species Congress is taking place virtually across 24 hours on May 15 and includes a packed programme on species recovery efforts, global and local conservation policy, and actions to ensure the survival of wild species and ecosystems.

We are very excited to be hosting two events during the Congress. Phil McGowan and Alison Hutchinson will be running sessions in the morning, so please do join us! You can find the  Agenda here.

Talk 1: Justice-informed species conservation and the Global Biodiversity Framework

Alison will present a Q&A forum with Ragnhild Sollund (University of Oslo), Dany Celermajer (University of Sydney), and Carlos Andrés Baquero-Díaz (New York University). The panel will discuss pathways to more justice-informed conservation approaches in relation to global conservation policy and the newly agreed Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.

Talk 2: The Strategy Needed to Achieve Target 4 of the Global Biodiversity Framework

Phil will present on the species elements of the Global Biodiversity Framework, which emphasises the need for urgent management actions to ensue the recovery of threatened species.  The presentation will outline the species-related ambitions and goals within the Framework and give a broad overview of the need to develop strategies to ensure positive species outcomes.

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By registering for the congress, you’ll have access to:

• the 24-hour live stream
• live chat discussions with presenters post-presentation
• downloadable resources, tools, and strategy frameworks
• next steps in training and collaboration, taking your conservation work to the next level

This webinar was hosted by the IUCN Species Survival Commission to discuss the links between the Global Biodiversity Framework and the SSC Network and presented the species-focussed ambitions within Goal A and Targets 4, 5, and 6.

Speaker line-up:

Together these talks clarify the concepts and terms within each target and highlight routes for effective management approaches and policy interventions by drawing on the presenters’ extensive and diverse expertise developing resources, national reports, and toolkits.

Take a look at the recording below:

Presentation Overview:

Phil McGowan, from Newcastle University and chair of the IUCN SSC GBF Task Force, starts off the webinar with an overview of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and highlights how the SSC Post-2020 Biodiversity Targets Task Force (now the SSC GBF Task Force) was instrumental in ensuring a focus on the need for targeted recovery actions for threatened species during the negotiations for Target 4.

Sean Hoban, a memeber of the IUCN SSC GBF Task Force and the Coservation-Genetics Specialist Group, then zooms in on Target 4’s focus on genetic diversity and species management actions and discusses the guidance and support tools available to track progress on the genetic component of Target 4.

Anastasiya Timoshyna, who co-chairs the IUCN SSC Medicinal Plant Specialist Group and is the European Programme Director at TRAFFIC, then introduces Target 5 (sustainable, safe, and legal wildlife use). She also outlines the 5-Dimensional sustainability assessment framework, along with other measures, that can assist in regulating and measuring the sustainability of wildlife use.

Aileen Mill, also of Newcastle University and a member of the IUCN Invasive Species Specialist Group, then guides us through Target 6 (managing and reducing the impact from invasive species) and gives a sneak preview of the Invasive Alien Species Toolkit which is currently under development.