Regional Consultation on the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework for Latin America and the Caribbean

Trinidad and Tobago as a Party to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) was invited to participate in the Regional Consultation on the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework for Latin America and the Caribbean which took place in Montevideo, Uruguay during the period May 14^th - 17^th, 2019. Trinidad and Tobago was represented at this Consultation by Dr. David Persaud, Environmental Manager, Environmental Policy and Planning Division, Ministry of Planning and Development.

In 2020, the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the CBD at its fifteenth meeting (COP-15) is expected to consider for adoption, the post-2020 global biodiversity framework as a stepping stone towards the 2050 Vision of "Living in Harmony with Nature".  The process adopted by Parties to develop the post-2020 global biodiversity framework contains a set of principles to guide its implementation and organisation of work. It also sets out a comprehensive consultation process, including provisions for global, regional and thematic consultation meetings.

The Latin American and Caribbean Regional Consultation was structured to be an open and transparent process to allow the exchange of views and interaction among the major stakeholders. Accordingly, there were approximately eighty (80) participants that took part in the discussions including representatives from Governments, Academia, Private Sector, Non-Government Organisations, Indigenous Peoples, Regional Gender Organisations representing youth and women, UN Agencies (FAO and UNDP), GEF Secretariat, World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and the World Bank.

One of the major areas of concern expressed at the Consultation was the lack of “international political will” to address the biodiversity crisis. The global decline in biodiversity will have impacts on agriculture productivity, food security and the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. The 2010 Global Biodiversity Target was not achieved and there is strong evidence to suggest that the 2020 Aichi Biodiversity Targets will also not be achieved. The lessons learnt with the negotiations with the Paris Agreement that brought focus and priority by world leaders and the global media to address climate change is instructive, and should be translated to strengthen the political will to address biodiversity issues. In this regard, special sessions focusing on biodiversity are to be including in upcoming meetings of world leaders including the UN General Assembly and G7.

At the Consultation, some regional Governments were advocating that similar to the Paris Agreement, the post 2020 global biodiversity framework should not be a voluntary commitment but be legally binding. Other participants disagreed with such a proposal, indicating that biodiversity issues are different from climate change and such commitments should be voluntary. A number of participants expressed the view that the lack of achievement of the 2020 Aichi Biodiversity Targets was as a result of the great difficulty in translating the global targets into indicators that could be mainstreamed, integrated and implemented nationally. Some of the global targets were not transferable nationally, especially for small islands with limited land space and competing demands for land use.

In order to address this concern, it was suggested that countries be provided the opportunity under the post-2020 global biodiversity framework to submit its national contribution toward the achievement of global biodiversity targets. This will allow countries to indicate which of the global targets are realistic and achievable nationally. It was suggested that these national contributions towards the post-2020 global biodiversity target be termed – “National Determined Contribution Towards the Protection of Nature”. The Regional Consultation process was the first steps towards the development and eventual adoption of a Post 2020 Global Biodiversity Framework at COP-15 to take place in China in 2020.