Regional governments launch a Biodiversity Coalition

During the Fourteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD COP14), held from the 17th to the 29th of November in Sharm El-Sheikh (Egypt), with the participation of 196 countries, the Advisory Committee of Sub-National Governments, under the leadership of eight regional governments from different continents, launched the Sub-National Coalition for Action on Biodiversity. This is an invitation from regional governments to Parties to accelerate towards the goal of achieving, by 2020, the Aichi Targets for Biodiversity and also to go even further.

The Coalition is a milestone for at least three reasons. The first is that, beyond formal declarations, it is a proposal for action, accompanied by a plan with concrete activities and objectives, to be achieved by COP 15. The second is that it is an invitation from the regional level to the Parties, demonstrating the capacity for initiative, leadership and commitment of intermediate governments. The third is that the initiative brings together regional governments that are leaders in biodiversity, acting together under the catalytic role of nrg4SD as coordinator of the Advisory Committee of Subnational Governments.

With its Action Plan, the Coalition pursues a number of objectives. It wants to lead the development of regional action plans on biological diversity, aligning them with the action plans of central governments. The aim is the exchange of good practices and decentralized cooperation to support the implementation of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020. The aim is to integrate biodiversity conservation and the practices of economic sectors within the framework of the 2030 Agenda and the SDG 15 (Life on Earth). Ultimately, the plan actively engages with planning, monitoring and evaluation systems at both the regional and central levels.

The Coalition launch event, introduced by nrg4SD's General Secretary Natalia Vera, was sponsored by the Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), Cristiana Paşca Palmer. Also participating were the governor of Aichi Prefecture (Japan), the special envoy of the Province of Quebec (Canada), the Secretary of State for the Environment of Sao Paolo (Brazil) and the host of this COP14, the governor of South Sinai (Egypt). In her speech, Cristiana Paşca Palmer stated that "regional governments play a fundamental role in achieving the objectives of the 2011-2020 Strategic Plan for Biodiversity, because they manage urban-rural links and because they can articulate positive economic incentives and a more ecological regulation for companies”.

Already in the framework of COP14, nrg4SD and ICLEI, held with the support of the CBD the sixth Global Summit on Diversity of Local and Regional Governments, which took place on the 23rd and 24th of November, with a broad representation of members of nrg4SD.  

Finally, with respect to the negotiations held at COP 14, the constituency of local and regional governments succeeded in including a mention of these levels as parties to be consulted and considered in the post-2020 process.