What’s going on here?
Last week the UK published their National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP) which includes national ambitions and targets to demonstrate progress towards conserving nature in the UK and their overseas territories.
What does this mean?
NBSAPs outline a country’s plan to protect and restore biodiversity, and are important in mainstreaming nature into government decision-making and policies.
NBSAPs are a requirement for all nations which signed the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). Through this international agreement, the Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) was agreed, which contains 23 non-binding targets and is often referred to as the ‘Paris Agreement but for nature’. The GBF was signed in 2022 and includes the well-known “30 by 30” target: to protect and restore 30% of land and seas by 2030.
The NBSAP includes 23 established national targets which are fully aligned with the 23 Global Biodiversity Framework targets. Aside from 30 by 30, the targets cover key threats to biodiversity including:
- Reducing pollution; including agricultural and plastic pollution
- Mitigation, adaptation and disaster risk reduction to the impacts of the climate crisis
- Improving connectivity and access to green and blue spaces
- Invasive species management
- Sustainable consumption and reduction of food waste
Why should we care?
The targets cover a breadth of threats to biodiversity, and each one encompasses detailed commitments to meet them which are specific to the UK, England, Scotland, Wales and the British Overseas Territories. These may include, for example, implementing policies, monitoring ecosystems, and reducing threats to biodiversity (such as invasive species or a particular pollutant) by a specific level by a certain date.
The UK is a little late on this, as the deadline for NBSAPs was in time for COP16 in Colombia in October last year. They weren’t the only ones, as 80% of countries failed to meet their NBSAPs for the COP16 deadline.
Although several have by now been completed, there were concerns as countries which failed to meet their deadline included several G7 nations and 12 out of 17 megadiverse countries: nations which boast 70% of the world’s biodiversity. Some representatives also commented on the lack of capacity to meet the NBSAP requirements, or that national legislations or requirements made committing to certain targets more challenging. For example, Brazil explained that it was a very difficult and complex process to compile the information for a NBSAP for such an enormous country with 26 states.
On a similar wavelength, only 13 out of 195 signatories to the Paris Agreement have submitted their 2035 climate targets by the deadline of 10th of February this year. There is the concern that the trend of late submissions reflects lack of motivation and political leadership in the face of recognised urgency to defend and restore nature, which instead demands global cooperation.
Be Curious!
- Check out WWF’s NBSAP tracker to see the progress of different countries in publishing their NBSAPs.
- Find a summary of the 23 UK targets from the NBSAP
- Read the UK’s NBSAP at the UK Clearing House Mechanism.
- Read an analysis from the International Institute for Environment and Development on the consistent slipping of climate target deadlines
Featured Image: Thomas Elliott via Pexels.
