This 16th webinar edition held on Thursday, 17 September 2020, reflected on the SBSTTA and SBI special virtual sessions, as well as the GBO-5 release. The updated GBF was discussed, noting changes that have been made and their implications for local and subnational governments. Furthermore, information were presented on the Redesign2020 platform launch and UN75.
Key speakers included:
- Ingrid Coetzee – Senior Manager, Biodiversity and Nature-based Solutions, ICLEI’s Cities Biodiversity Center
- Renata Gomez – Biodiversity Programme Manager at Regions4 and Coordinator of the CBD Advisory Committee on Subnational Governments and Biodiversity and the Regions4 Biodiversity Learning Platform
- Tamlyn Duncan – Professional Officer, Biodiversity and Nature-based Solutions, ICLEI Africa
- Yunus Arikan – Head of Global Policy and Advocacy, ICLEI World Secretariat
The Group of Leading Subnational Governments towards Aichi Biodiversity Targets (GOLs) lead by Aichi Prefecture reported welcoming the recognition of the city management and subnational planning level in securing transition pathways to sustainable ecosystems that underpin human life.
“Out of the 8 key transitions to sustainable pathways and necessary conditions to achieve the 2050 Vision for Nature and People identified in GBO-5, 4 directly speak to the mandate and work done by cities and subnational governments: food systems, cities & infrastructure, climate action and One Health. ” Ingrid Coetzee, Senior Manager, ICLEI CBC
Key findings from the new Global Biodiversity Outlook GBO-5 directly connect to cities’ key role calling for thedevelopment of green infrastructure and space creation for landscapes to improve health and reduce cities ecological footprint. They also make the teleconnections between urban systems and their nearby sustainable ecosystems, recognizing that human life depends on the latter.
Regions 4 reported speaking on behalf of the Advisory Committee for Local and Subnational Governments, to welcome SBSTTA and SBI pre-sessions as an opportunity to take the floor and share local and subnational governments ambitions for the GBF. ICLEI’s head of advocacy also addressed the pre-sessions as instrumental to keep political momentum until COP15 in the Covid-19 context. He stressed how this awareness-raising to decision-makers was as rebuilding and redesigning our landscapes requires city planning investments that can often scare.
“Cities & subnational governments can contact their national CBD delegations to suggest how the post-2020 biodiversity framework updated zero draft could better capture their ambitions and sign the Edinburgh Declaration.”, Renata Gomez, Biodiversity Programme Manager Region 4
Just as the co-chairs are about to update the new GBF process and the updated zero draft with opportunities for intervention, the updated draft version of the zero draft still leaves grounds for improvement in relation to local and subnational governments involvement, in particular as the reference to local and regional levels has been removed from the target related to outreach, awareness and uptake.
These webinars help echoing and organizing the voice of local and subnational governments in the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) for advancing the Action Agenda for Nature and People and in the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) development process.
Register now to the next Post 2020 webinars:
8th October 2020 at: 10am CAT and 3pm at CAT
5th November 2020 at: 10am CAT and 3pm CAT
3rd December 2020 at: 10am CAT and 3pm CAT
Watch ICLEI’s Post 2020 webinars here
Check ICLEI’s Local and Subnational Engagement Platform here
