WWF calls for ambitious, consensual framework to halt biodiversity loss

The international community should agree on establishment of a new and transformative framework to strengthen conservation of biodiversity in the light of threats fueled by human actions and the climate crisis, senior officials from World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) said on Sunday.

Marco Lambertini, the Director-General at WWF International, stressed that a global consensus was urgent to facilitate establishment of a landmark pact to reinvigorate protection of species and speed up nature positive growth.

"We need a science-based, ambitious and measurable framework to reverse habitat loss, and put us on a path towards carbon neutrality," Lambertini said at a briefing on the sidelines of the fourth meeting of the open-ended working group on the post-2020 global biodiversity framework underway in Nairobi, the Kenyan capital.

The Nairobi meeting, according to Lambertini, should rise above partisan interests to agree on a text that could open a new chapter in global efforts to reverse unprecedented loss of species.

He noted that biodiversity loss had not only created an ecological crisis but had worsened poverty, food insecurity, water scarcity and declining health outcomes for grassroots communities.

Convened by the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the June 21-26 meeting in Nairobi is fine tuning the final draft of a global framework to re-engineer conservation of species in the next decade.

The post-2020 global biodiversity framework is expected to be adopted at the second and final part of the 15th conference of parties (COP15) to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity meeting slated for Dec. 5 to 17 in Montreal, Canada.

Lin Li, the Director of Global Policy, and Advocacy at WWF International, said that governments, industry and civil society organizations should settle for a consensual, ambitious and adequately resourced framework in the Nairobi meeting to heal the planet, spur inclusive and green growth.

According to Lin, the community of nations had an opportunity between now and December, to agree on a new pathway for conserving natural habitats as a means to attain their net zero targets.

Lin called for political commitment, finance mobilization and robust multi-stakeholder engagement to speed up implementation of a post-2020 global biodiversity framework.

Addressing key drivers of species loss including harmful farming practices, pollution and unsustainable production and consumption should inform establishment of the decade-long global biodiversity framework, said Guido Broekhoven, the Head of Policy, Research and Development at WWF International.

In addition, the framework should advance repurposing of economic models to ensure they were nature positive besides strengthening climate resilience of local custodians of biodiversity hotspots, added Broekhoven.