Convention on Biological Diversity | Workshop 

How can young people take an active role in international biodiversity decision-making?

Background

The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) is an international treaty that strives to conserve biodiversity, promote its sustainable use and the fair access and benefit-sharing arising from its genetic resources. It establishes guidelines and principles for the international governance of biodiversity, providing an actionable framework that individual nations can determine how to implement for themselves. The Conference of the Parties (COP) is the main governing body that develops the framework by building consensus among the parties.

This year is the 15th COP and China holds the presidency. Due to the pandemic, COP15 will be held in two sessions – the first will be online from 11 – 15 October and the second will be hosted in Kunming, China from 24 April – 8 May 2022. In Kunming, the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework will be agreed and then implemented by countries across the world over the next 10 years. This is an update to the earlier Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020 and Aichi Targets, which were set in 2010, Japan.

The post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework has the potential to transform the global outlook on biodiversity and help secure the right of today’s and future generations to “live in harmony with nature”. Living in harmony with nature by 2050 is the vision of the Framework Theory of Change. This could be achieved through urgent action to transform economic, social and financial models, which will stabilise biodiversity loss and allow natural ecosystems to recover. Young people can take an active role in the negotiation process of the CBD by advocating for ambitious targets that tackle the issues we care about and give us the opportunity to be involved in implementation.

About the workshop

This workshop aims towards explaining the Biodiversity Framework and provides an opportunity to learn more about international negotiations on biodiversity, including how we can advocate for approaches to address the biodiversity and climate crises and find ways to support implementation.

We will share insights about how the CBD has been implemented to date and break down the key themes that will be negotiated at the upcoming COP. As young people, it is fundamental to advocate for the preservation and regeneration of the biodiversity that our and future generations depend on. To do that, it is important to know where we fit into this debate and discover together on how we best can influence them.

Building on this, we will provide an opportunity to co-create the YEE position on biodiversity issues for the CBD, jointly assessing our priorities and identifying any gaps.

Are you a member organisation to Youth and Environment Europe? Then register for our event here.

Deadline for registration is 5th October 2021 [5pm CEST].