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Update on recent progress on the monitoring framework for the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework

Recognizing the importance of monitoring for halting and reversing the loss of biodiversity, in 2022, the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) adopted a monitoring framework along with the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. The monitoring framework includes headline and binary (qualitative, question based) indicators which Parties to the Convention are encouraged to use when they report on their progress in implementation. The monitoring framework also contains a set of optional component and complementary indicators. The COP also established an Ad Hoc Technical Expert Group on Indicators (AHTEG) to advise on the further operationalization of the monitoring framework (see decision 15/5).

The AHTEG developed guidance available in two documents: Guidance on needs related to implementing the monitoring framework of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (CBD/SBSTTA/26/INF/19) and Guidance on using the indicators of the monitoring framework of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (CBD/SBSTTA/26/INF/14). To facilitate uptake and foster discussion on the guidance of the AHTEG, the Secretariat organized a series of 17 webinars between April and June of 2024.  The guidance of the AHTEG was also shared at a workshop held on 11 May 2024 in Nairobi.

The guidance is relevant to countries as they develop national targets to respond to the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and will also be relevant for the preparation of the seventh and eighth national reports to the Convention. The national reports are due by 28 February 2026 and 30 June 2029, respectively. Among the topics covered in the documents are:

  • metadata for each headline and binary indicator in the monitoring framework for the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework;
  • recommendations on disaggregations of the indicators, including through alignment of national ecosystem data with the Global Ecosystem Typology level 2 and 3, and for reporting on geospatial indicators disaggregated by ecosystem functional group;
  • guidance related to using other indicators in the framework;
  • identification of and mechanisms for filling gaps; and
  • identification of research and capacity needs.

Both guidance documents are currently being revised in light of a peer review process carried out in response to a request from the 26th meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific Technical and Technological Advice (SBSTTA) (see the SBSTTA Recommendation CBD/SBSTTA/26/L.10). This draft recommendation contains some unresolved issues that will be discussed by the COP at its sixteenth meeting (COP-16).

Overall, there has been important progress recently on the monitoring framework for the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and this will be a key agenda item for the consideration of the COP-16 which is to be held in Cali, Colombia from 21 October to 1 November 2024.

Article contributed by Jillian Campbell, Kieran Mooney and Lisa Janishevski, Convention on Biological Diversity.