Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)
The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) is an international treaty aimed at conserving Earth's biodiversity and promoting the sustainable use of biological resources. Opened for signature in 1992 and entering into force in 1993, the CBD has gained nearly universal membership with 196 participating nations by 2024. The treaty focuses on three main objectives: the conservation of biodiversity, the sustainable use of its components, and the fair sharing of benefits arising from genetic resources. It encompasses a broad range of biodiversity-related concerns, distinguishing itself from earlier treaties that tended to target specific habitats or species.
The CBD recognizes the significant interplay between biodiversity and climate change, acknowledging that the loss of biodiversity can be exacerbated by climate change and vice versa. Ongoing discussions within the CBD framework have led to initiatives aimed at understanding and addressing these interconnections, including the establishment of collaborative efforts with other climate-focused conventions. Overall, the CBD serves as a comprehensive framework for nations to develop strategies for biodiversity protection while responding to the challenges posed by climate change.
Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)
DATE: Opened for signature June 5, 1992; entered into force on December 29, 1993
The CBD seeks to conserve Earth’s biodiversity and biological resources. Climate change can affect the rate of biodiversity loss, which in turn affects the capacity of human and nonhuman biological systems to adapt to the effects of climate change.
PARTICIPATING NATIONS: 1992: Albania, Canada, Maldives, Marshall Islands, Mauritius, Monaco, Seychelles; 1993: Antigua and Barbuda, Armenia, Australia, Bahamas, Barbados, Belarus, Belize, Burkina Faso, China, Cook Islands, Czech Republic, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Denmark, Ecuador, European Community, Fiji, Germany, Guinea, Japan, Jordan, Mexico, Mongolia, Nauru, Nepal, New Zealand, Norway, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Philippines, Portugal, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Spain, Sweden, Tunisia, Uganda, Uruguay, Vanuatu, Zambia; 1994: Argentina, Austria, Bangladesh, Benin, Bolivia, Brazil, Cameroon, Chad, Chile, Colombia, Comoros, Costa Rica, Cote d’Ivoire, Cuba, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Dominica, Egypt, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Estonia, Ethiopia, Finland, France, Gambia, Georgia, Ghana, Greece, Grenada, Guyana, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Italy, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kiribati, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Luxembourg, Malawi, Malaysia, Micronesia (Federated States of), Myanmar, Netherlands, Nigeria, Pakistan, Paraguay, Republic of Korea, Romania, Russian Federation, Samoa, San Marino, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Slovakia, Sri Lanka, Swaziland, Switzerland, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Venezuela, Vietnam; 1995: Algeria, Bhutan, Botswana, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Guatemala, Guinea-Bissau, Honduras, Israel, Jamaica, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Latvia, Lesotho, Mali, Morocco, Mozambique, Nicaragua, Niger, Oman, Panama, Republic of Moldova, Singapore, Solomon Islands, South Africa, Sudan, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Ukraine, Uzbekistan; 1996: Bahrain, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Congo, Croatia, Cyprus, Dominican Republic, Eritrea, Haiti, Ireland, Lithuania, Madagascar, Mauritania, Niue, Poland, Qatar, Rwanda, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Slovenia, Suriname, Syrian Arab Republic, Turkmenistan, United Republic of Tanzania, Yemen; 1997: Burundi, Gabon, Liechtenstein, Namibia, The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Turkey; 1998: Angola, Tonga; 1999: Malta, Palau, Sao Tome and Principe; 2000: Azerbaijan, Liberia, United Arab Emirates; 2001: Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Saudi Arabia; 2002: Afghanistan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kuwait, Serbia, Tuvalu; 2004: Thailand; 2006: Montenegro; 2007: Timor-Leste; 2008: Brunei Darussalam; 2009: Iraq, Somalia; 2014: South Sudan; 2015: Andorra, State of Palestine
Background
Conservation biologists do not always agree on a common definition of biological diversity, or biodiversity. The term, however, generally refers to the breadth of variation of life on Earth at all levels of biological organization. It includes the genetic diversity within species, the species diversity within ecosystems, and the diversity of ecosystems on the planet.
Other, more specialized biodiversity protection treaties predate the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). These include, for example, the Ramsar Convention and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). The CBD, however, is the first such broad and overarching biodiversity treaty. Prenegotiations on the treaty began in 1987 under the auspices of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). The resulting negotiated text was opened for signature in 1992 in Rio de Janeiro at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, where over 150 countries signed it. By 2024, the CBD had near universal membership, with 196 party nations, according to the United Nations.
Summary of Provisions
The CBD’s forty-two articles contain many provisions broadly aimed at encouraging member countries to develop national plans for protecting biodiversity and for integrating biodiversity and sustainable use into sectoral or cross-sectoral plans, programs, and policies. The CBD’s rules and norms overlap with those of the earlier biodiversity agreements, but they are much broader in scope. Other biodiversity protection treaties tend to focus on the protection of specific habitats (for example, the Ramsar Convention focuses on wetlands) or a specific group of species (for example, the Convention on Migratory Species focuses on species that migrate from one geographical location to another). The CBD encompasses all such conservation objectives and expands them. This breadth of focus is clearly articulated in the three stated goals of the convention: biodiversity conservation, sustainable use of biodiversity components, and equitable sharing of biodiversity benefits.
Significance for Climate Change
Discussions about the links between biodiversity loss and climate change are not new to the CBD forum. This linkage has been a topic of discussion since 1998, when the Fourth Conference of the Parties (COP-4) to the CBD passed a decision recognizing the effect of climate change on coral bleaching. The relationship between the CBD and climate change has remained on the CBD agenda since that time, resulting in various scientific and technical papers on the issue and four key decisions relating to specific CBD work programs.
Discussion of climate change within the CBD forum also led to the creation of the Joint Liaison Group between the CBD, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), and the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD). The scientific and technical reports that have emerged from the CBD process have discussed various aspects of the biodiversity-climate change relationship. They have emphasized that climate change is an increasingly important driver of biodiversity loss and have identified other aspects of the relationship between biodiversity loss and climate change. For example, although some reports emphasize these issues more than others, they discuss the role that biodiversity conservation can play in climate change mitigation and adaptation, as well as the capacity of ecosystems to adapt to changing climates.
The CBD Conference of the Parties has passed five key decisions related to the relationship between the CBD and climate change. These decisions have addressed issues including the risks climate change presents to coral reefs (Decision V/3) and forests (Decision V/4), measures to help mitigate and adapt to climate change (Decision VII/15), and attempts to promote synergy among activities related to biodiversity conservation and climate change adaptation and mitigation (Decision VIII/30). The most comprehensive decision on this topic was taken at COP-9 in May 2008. Among other things, the conference established a new ad hoc technical expert group to develop scientific and technical advice on biodiversity as it relates to climate change.
Finally, the CBD secretariat, along with those of the UNFCCC and UNCCD, has participated in the Joint Liaison Group. Created in 2001 by parallel decisions by the CBD, UNFCCC, and UNCCD, the Joint Liaison Group provides a forum for information exchange, particularly as it relates to enhancing synergies between the three conventions.
Bibliography
Campbell, Lisa M., Shannon Hagerman, and Noella J. Gray. “Producing Targets for Conservation: Science and Politics at the Tenth Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity.” Global Environmental Politics 14.3 (2014): 41–63. Academic Search Complete. Web. 20 Mar. 2015.
"Convention on Biological Diversity." United Nations, 2024, www.un.org/en/observances/biological-diversity-day/convention. Accessed 11 Dec. 2024.
Gitay, Habiba, et al., eds. Climate Change and Biodiversity. Technical Paper 5. [Geneva, Switzerland]: Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 2002.
Le Prestre, Philippe G., ed. Governing Global Biodiversity: The Evolution and Implementation of the Convention on Biological Diversity. Burlington, Vt.: Ashgate, 2002.
Lovejoy, T., and L. Hannah, eds. Climate Change and Biodiversity. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 2005.
Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity. Interlinkages Between Biological Diversity and Climate Change: Advice on the Integration of Biodiversity Considerations into the Implementation of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and Its Kyoto Protocol. CBD Technical Series 10. Montreal: Secretariat of the CBD, 2003.