FAQ.

The name of the project is: Post-2020 Biodiversity Framework. EU Support.

The next CBD COP that will take place in Kunming, China in October 2020 will be decisive towards setting a new Global Biodiversity Framework. We strongly believe that biodiversity is a human concern; and that maintaining a healthy planet means helping ourselves and safeguarding the wellbeing of coming generations.
While the implementation of the current Strategic Plan for Biodiversity is getting to its end in 2020, we already know that the Aichi targets set in 2010 will not be reached. Given this context, this initiative seeks to launch an informal consultation and collaborative work in order to help the CBD COP15 preparation process, to come up with a New Global Deal for Nature and People.

In early May 2019, the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES)¹ released a new Global Assessment, presenting the current state of biodiversity and ecosystem services and scenarios for our future. This report pointed out that the planet is no doubt on track for the 6th mass extinction, with 1 million species being already threatened. 75% of the land is altered, 66% of ocean ecosystems are increasingly damaged and 85% of wetlands are now lost. These degradations will have significant consequences on ecosystems and a direct impact on human well-being in all its aspects. This will also have economic and social repercussions: the resources we get from nature will decrease, in both developed and developing countries.

In October 2020, all the Parties of the CBD will have to take this report into account and vote on a new agreement that will have to be ambitious enough to save both nature and our civilizations.

¹IPBES: often described as the equivalent of IPCC for biodiversity; its objective is to gather international and regional scientific communities and to issue assessments and recommendations on biodiversity and ecosystem services, mainly for policy-makers but also to raise awareness https://www.ipbes.net/.

Our goal is to facilitate the comprehensive and participatory process leading to the adoption of an ambitious post-2020 global biodiversity framework that fosters commitment and implementation.

We want to engage with decision-makers, governmental officers and Parties to the CBD who will make a difference during international negotiations and during national decision-making processes.
But we will also cooperate with other key stakeholders:

• Cities, Subnational governments
• Youth groups
• Business and finance sectors
• Academia and Scientific Institutions
• Non-Governmental Organizations

Our claim is: Together towards a global Deal for Nature & People.
We support indeed an appeal to take into account the absolute necessities of safeguarding biodiversity for future generations. This will take the form of a New global Deal for Nature and People that will ensure real action by all stakeholders.

First by attending many international and regional meetings or summits on Climate and SDGs and promoting the biodiversity agenda.
Second, by Involving stakeholders in the field of climate action on the question of biodiversity loss
Coordination of agendas between climate/SDGs/biodiversity

The project is funded by the EU and is implemented by Expertise France. Expertise France is the French public agency for international technical assistance. We are working closely with the European Commission. However, we have a neutral position that only seeks to contribute to a 2020 agreement and that aims at addressing general concerns.

Our team is mainly based in Paris, France. We don’t have in-country teams, however, we work with national focal points of the CBD and other UN organizations, identified important stakeholders and
European delegations in targeted countries.

Our team is composed by 8 people:

• The team leader, Didier Babin, is a French-Canadian expert from the French Agricultural Research Centre for International Development (CIRAD). He has significant experience in biodiversity, ecosystem accounting and geography. Didier worked several years as a Senior Officer at the Secretariat of the CBD in Montreal and is now the President of the Man and Biosphere (UNESCO) French committee. His early professional career includes 15 years as a Researcher at the Environment and Society Department and several years as an International Expert. He holds a PhD in Geography and Spatial Planning.

• The deputy team leader, Hugo Rivera Mendoza is an Austrian-Guatemalan expert from the Austrian Environment Agency Umweltbundesamt (UBA). He has relevant experience in projects related to sustainable use of genetic resources in agriculture, international relations and policy making. Hugo has significant negotiations, operations management and analytical skills. He holds a master’s degree in Knowledge Transfer and Intercultural Communication.

• Jérémy Casteuble, project manager (EF HQ), provides full support and backstopping facilities for the project. His former experiences focused on NGO sector dealing with capitalization of experiences and multi-stakeholders dialogue facilitation process.

• The senior Communications expert, Corinne Brunois, is an independent French expert, she has significant experience in communications, nature conservation and sustainable Development;

• The Junior Communications expert, Jules Bismuth, an independent French expert who has a sound knowledge of international cooperation issues and technical skills in communication deliverables writing and editing as well as in digital communication including website and social media management.

• Maria-Rosa Ballivian, is the Projet assistant and former manager in the field or events. She has worked 10 years as hostess for hundreds of events as COP21 in Paris. She comes in to support our team whit her organization experience. She is a perfect match for the team and shares project essential values for the planet. Maria-Rosa is very interested in sustainable development issues as well as the well-being of future generations.

The 2 project officers:

• Elisabeth Chouraki, Project Officer for the project Post-2020 Biodiversity Framework. EU Support, she is in charge of cities, metropolises and subnational government mobilization towards a Global Deal for Nature and People, among other topics. She has managed projects in Disaster Risks Reduction, Civil Protection, Biosafety/Biosecurity and CBRN risks in Africa and Central Asia/Caucasus at Expertise France. Her professional experience includes scientific cooperation for the French Consulate in Sao Paulo (Brazil), and strategic watch at the European Parliament Research Service (Brussels). She holds a Master’s degree in European Affairs from Sciences Po Lille (France) and a Master of Laws in Environmental Law and Policy from the University of Kent (United Kingdom). Her working languages include French, English, Spanish, Portuguese and some Russian.

• Thomas Bobo, Project Officer for the project Post-2020 Biodiversity Framework . EU Support, he is in charge of youth mobilization and engagement towards a Global Deal for Nature and People. Thomas holds a Master’s degree in Geopolitics from Sciences Po Toulouse University in France and a Master’s degree in Middle-East and Mediterranean Studies from King’s College London. His early professional experience includes working for the United Nations in New York and the International Maritime Organization (IMO) in London.

Also worked in the team:

• Juliette Landry, former project intern specialized on international environmental management and cooperation, with a strong interest for biodiversity and ecosystems. She is a MSc candidate in International Environmental Management and Environmental Engineering from Tsinghua University (China) and Mines ParisTech (France). She holds a Master’s degree in International Relations and Chinese studies from the French National Institute for Oriental Languages and Civilizations (INALCO).

• Eleonore Mboumba wa a project assistant at the Sustainable Development Department of Expertise France. Before joining the project team, she supported the management of climate and adaptation projects such as Adapt’Action and Africa4Climate. Her professional career includes experiences at the French Embassy in Gabon and in the finance sector.

No, we are not EU officers. Expertise France (Paris) and UBA (Vienna) applied to a call for proposals and were chosen by the EU to implement this challenging project.

The project started in October 2018 for 3 years. It will end one year after the COP15, in September 2021.

We will focus our work on 20 priority countries. Based on a number of exchanges and analyses, countries have been selected based on the following criteria:

• Importance of biodiversity issues within the country (megadiverse);
• Opportunities and scope for stepping up the national efforts on biodiversity;
• Political opportunity and involvement in the post 2020 biodiversity framework definition process

On that point, COP14 in Sharm el Sheik and latest CBD regional meetings have been very important to understand the concerns, needs, expectations and the involvement opportunities by numerous countries around this initiative.

The budget is around 4.5M€. Around 3M€ will be dedicated to the organization of all the activities and associated costs. The rest of the budget will cover human resources, coordination, communication tools, travels, equipment etc.

Given a very crowded international agenda in relation to all the relevant topics, we chose to attend/support the events depending on:

• Relevance of the theme covered and its connection to our key challenges
• Attendance (participants list) targeted and the connection to the stakeholders we want to engage with;
• Location of the event and possible connection to key countries.
• Opportunity in relation to our programme of work;
• Partnership opportunities to ensure greater impact