In this issue:
No PMRR without equity
Statement by Third World Network - As with all items on the agenda, the issues of planning, monitoring, reporting and review have to be situated within equity considerations.
It is impossible to meet deadlines when enabling conditions such as the provision of financial resources, capacity building and technical support, are not there for developing country Parties. Otherwise, the reporting burdens on them are unbearable.
Developing countries and in particular megadiverse countries carry a heavy load in the implementation of the KMGBF, yet they are not receiving the support that was committed when the framework was adopted, neither in a timely manner.
We remind Parties that the ambition of the KMGBF must be matched by commensurate means of implementation. Goal D and Target 19a, in particular, are an integral part of the KMGBF.
This is regrettable and needs to change urgently, with only 4 more years to hit the milestone of 2030 that was envisioned in the framework. As implementation keeps being delayed, we lose biodiversity worldwide at alarming rates and human rights of biodiversity custodians and environmental human rights defenders are violated every day.
Specialized International ABS instruments and Biopiracy Risks
Nithin Ramakrishnan, Third World Network - Agenda Item 8 of SBI-6 touches the very core of Access and Benefit-Sharing (ABS) law - addressing resource extraction and biopiracy. Genetic resources and the Digital Sequence Information (DSI) derived from them are subject to State sovereignty and to the rights of Indigenous Peoples and local communities, particularly where such resources originate from their lands, waters, and territories. The Nagoya Protocol recognizes these rights and provides a framework for Parties and communities to realize them by enacting and operationalizing ABS regimes.
Measuring What Matters
Nele Mariën, Friends of the Earth International - After more than 30 years of CBD implementation, after the failure of the first strategic plan, and halfway through the implementation of the GBF, a painful reality needs to be acknowledged: biodiversity keeps declining at alarming rates, and our collective efforts have not reversed this trend.
Addressing Debt as a Root Cause of Biodiversity Loss
Nele Marien, Friends of the Earth International - Discussions on resource mobilisation are once again front and centre, with debt-for-nature swaps often presented as part of the solution. Framed as a “win-win” — restructuring sovereign debt in exchange for conservation commitments — they appear to ease fiscal pressures while generating biodiversity finance. Yet evidence analysed in The Green Trap of Debt-for-Nature Swaps by Friends of the Earth International shows that the reality falls short of this promise.