Story | 09 May, 2019

Enhancing progress towards Aichi Target 11

In April, the Secretariat to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (Bundesamt für Naturschutz, BfN) held a meeting of the Global Partnership on Aichi Target 11, in order to stimulate and coordinate action towards the delivery of Aichi Target 11.

The meeting entitled: “Stocktaking, Coordination and Development of Monitoring Plan meeting for Achieving Aichi Biodiversity Target 11 by 2020”, was held from 24 – 27 April 2019, on the island of Vilm, Germany.

Aichi Biodiversity Target 11 calls for the conservation of “at least 17% of terrestrial and inland water areas and 10% of coastal and marine areas, especially areas of particular importance for biodiversity and ecosystem services, ” through effectively and equitably managed, ecologically representative and well-connected systems of protected areas and other effective area-based conservation measures, and integrated into the wider landscape and seascape.”

As reported in the latest Protected Planet report, governments are close to achieving the global coverage target of protection of 17% of land and 10% of the sea.

Proportional coverage of protected areas in the land and ocean Proportional coverage of protected areas in the land and ocean. Source: UNEP-WCMC and IUCN. 2018. Protected Planet: The World Database on Protected Areas (WDPA), July 2018 version, Cambridge, UK: UNEP-WCMC and IUCN. Photo: IUCN

In an effort to ramp up progress and reporting towards Target 11, the CBD Secretariat has established a Global Partnership on Aichi Target 11. The Partnership, consisting of Parties, other governments, relevant partners, regional agencies, bilateral and multilateral funding agencies,  is intended to work through a decentralized approach, towards agreed coordinated actions.

The meeting of members of the Partnership in Vilm discussed next steps to enhance progress – identifying specific actions in geographical regions. The participants reviewed region-by-region progress and identified gaps in the delivery of national priority actions, as well as opportunities for gap filling. The priority actions include greater throughput of management effectiveness assessments, identification of KBAs, development of tools to assist governance assessments, implementation of the IUCN Green List of Protected and Conserved Areas, development of guidance for reporting actions to the World Database on Protected Areas, and dissemination of guidance on the identification and reporting of OECMs. The role of Protected Planet® for providing information on progress was described. A full meeting report detailing the meeting participants and outcomes will be available in due course, and shared via this newsletter.

With only two years remaining to achieve the Aichi Biodiversity Targets, the Target 11 Partnership may prove to be a useful platform for organisations to work together for a last push towards the Target. The Partnership aspires to stimulate the regional implementation of the Target and to better align the activities of the partners, including donors. IUCN, as a member of the Partnership, is hopeful that the Partnership will accelerate the delivery of elements of Target 11 by 2020, and help to frame future targets in the post-2020 global biodiversity framework.

For more information, please contact Natasha Ali: natasha.ali@iucn.org