The world faces the twin crises of climate change and biodiversity loss. Efforts to address biodiversity loss and climate change are inextricably linked and cannot be carried out independent of one another. To successfully address both emergencies, a range of stakeholders – including international conventions, national policymakers, and non-state actors – must tackle biodiversity loss and climate change in a coordinated, cohesive, and urgent manner.
However, biodiversity and climate action have historically been carried out in isolation. Countries detail their efforts to address these emergencies through national climate plans (NDCs) and national biodiversity strategies (NBSAPs). Yet international conventions that guide these plans – and national policymakers developing and implementing them – often work in silos.
How can governments integrate action on climate and nature? To explore answers to this question, Climate Focus developed a report that overviews how conventions, national policymakers, and non-state actors can strengthen synergies between countries’ NDCs and NBSAPs.
Released at COP28 in Dubai, the report identifies several key entry points for synergies between climate and biodiversity strategies:
- Guidance for developing, implementing and monitoring national strategies from the United National Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).
- Global processes for taking stock of climate and biodiversity action, which are the Global Stocktake of the Paris Agreement and the Global Review of the Global Biodiversity Framework.
- National policy planning and development processes, which can better work together tp ensure that climate and biodiversity strategies are mutually reinforcing.
- Defining targets and measures in the development of NDCs and NBSAPs that work towards biodiversity and climate goals in tandem – such as many nature-based solutions – while carefully assessing benefits and risks and developing strategies to address trade-offs.
- Implementing and monitoring national plans to fairly and efficiently allocate resources.
- Potential catalysts for synergies such as public-private initiatives assist countries in developing, implementing, and tracking their climate and biodiversity goals.
The report also identifies several priority actions needed to better link NDC and NBSAP development and implementation, including recommendations related to:
- Integrating national climate and biodiversity policy planning processes within sectoral strategies
- Prioritizing and pooling financial resources for policy measures such as nature-based solutions that can contribute to both climate and biodiversity objectives
- Ensuring greater representation and resources for Indigenous Peoples and local communities to act on climate change and biodiversity through holistic approaches
Climate Focus developed this report in collaboration with WWF. Watch the launch of the report at COP28.
