Context: Recently, the Global Biodiversity Outlook (GBO) 5 report was leaked before its official release. Let’s look at the highlights of the report.
About GBO report

• The GBO is the flagship publication of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).
• It is a periodic report that summarizes the latest data on the status and trends of biodiversity and draws conclusions relevant to the further implementation of the Convention.
• It summarizes progress made towards achieving the objectives of the Convention, such as the Aichi Targets and identifies key actions to achieve these.

Key highlights of the Report

• GBO-5 is an overview of the state of nature. It is a final report card on the progress made by countries in achieving the Aichi Biodiversity Targets.
• What the world needed was a shift from business-as-usual, the report said. This transformation needed to take place in all human activities that were interlinked with natural resources.
• This shift was crucial, the report added as natural resources would continue to decline and the world would not be able to meet the UN-mandated Sustainable Development Goals.

The GBO-5 suggested some shifts that need to be implemented to achieve the 2050 Vision for Biodiversity. These include:

• Transition within land and forests: The report called the restoration of all forests that had been degraded. It also urged restoring local ecosystems.
• Sustainable agriculture: Farmers would have to reduce the use of chemicals and instead focus more on agroecological farming practices, the report said.
• Sustainable food systems: The report urged people to eat healthier, plant-based food and less meat. It also called for a focus on the problem of food wastage within the supply chain and household.
• Climate action: The report called for nature-based solutions to reduce climate change
• One health: Agricultural and urban ecosystems, as well as wildlife, should be managed in an integrated manner, it said.

Failure to meet the targets

None of the 20 ‘Aichi Biodiversity Targets’ agreed on by national governments through the CBD has been met, according to the report. The world was supposed to meet these targets by 2020. Whatever little progress has been made, has to do with the following:

• Aichi Biodiversity Target 1 (Creating awareness about the value of biodiversity)
• Aichi Biodiversity Target 11 (17 per cent of terrestrial and inland water areas and 10 per cent of coastal and marine areas, to be effectively and equitably managed)
• Aichi Biodiversity Target 16 (Access to genetic resources and the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from their utilization)
• Aichi Biodiversity Target 17 (Creation, adoption and implementation of an effective, participatory and updated national biodiversity strategy and action plan)
• Aichi Biodiversity Target 19 (Improvement and dissemination of knowledge, the science base and technologies relating to biodiversity).

Additional Facts
Convention on Biological Diversity

• The CBD, known informally as the Biodiversity Convention, is a multilateral treaty.
• The Convention has three main goals including the conservation of biological diversity (or biodiversity); the sustainable use of its components; and the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from genetic resources.

It has two supplementary agreements:

• Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety: An international treaty governing the movements of living modified organisms (LMOs) resulting from modern biotechnology from one country to another
• Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilization (ABS)
• All UN member states—with the exception of the United States—have ratified the treaty.