The Sixth Science Policy Forum for Biodiversity and The ninth International Conference on Sustainability Science, COP16
26 & 27 October 2024, COP 16, Cali, Colombia
COP16: 6th Science Policy Forum for Biodiversity and 9th ICSS
Building upon a preceding online events on April and May 2024, IUBS with the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (SCBD), the University of Tokyo – Institute for Future Initiatives (IFI) and the Alexander von Humboldt Institute and the Smithsonian Institution on behalf of the Consortium of Scientific Partners (CSP) are jointly hosting the Sixth Science-Policy Forum for Biodiversity and the Ninth International Conference on Sustainability Science, coordinating closely with all the partners to organize 2 days sessions.
The Sixth Science-Policy Forum aims to strengthen the policy–science–society interface that supports objective and well-informed decision-making to facilitate the implementation of the Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF). Through panel discussions, and knowledge-sharing exchanges, we seek to build on previous Science-Policy Forums to harness the collective wisdom and expertise necessary to address the complex challenges facing the world’s biodiversity and sustainable development.
Objectives of the sessions
Deepen the understanding of the integral role science, technology, and innovation play in the implementation of the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework.- Develop actionable recommendations to mitigate biodiversity loss, promote sustainable management, and foster revolutionary change, aligned with the 2050 Vision.
- Facilitate the exchange of knowledge and experiences, while highlighting scientific solutions to advance the execution of the GBF.
- Identify and bridge current gaps, fostering collaborations among the scientific community, policymakers, and stakeholders to generate effective solutions and support the Parties’ requirements.
- Promote interdisciplinary dialogue and collaboration to integrate various knowledge systems and practices into sustainable biodiversity management strategies, recognizing their significance in enhancing resilience and sustainability.
- Reflect upon and generate key messages about the role of nature and biodiversity in the consolidation of Stable and Lasting Peace scenarios.
Sessions, quick links
- Sustainability & biodiversity: Food & agriculture
- Sustainability & biodiversity: Securing food & biodiversity
- Science-based integrated forest management for enhanced biodiversity, human well-being and climate change resilience
- Achieving 30 x 30 protected areas (terrestrial)
- Integration of traditional knowledge in knowledge systems
- Global networks advances opportunities for enhancing national monitoring systems and indicators of the Biodiversity Plan
- Biodiversity & Climate Change
- Integrating Science and Data for Effective NBSAPs and Community Engagement
- Biodiversity change and Technology, AI, & data: challenges and opportunities
- Perspectives on the One Health approach: what’s next in linking environmental, biodiversity, and human health sectors in the planetary crisis era?
- Sustainability and NCP in the biodiversity plan: accounting for value systems.
- 9 ICSS What is the role of Nature in post-disaster, post-conflict recovery processes?
- A scientists’ view on Digital Sequence Information and Access and Benefit Sharing
- Environmental Peace: Pathways to Foster Just Transitions Towards Sustainability
- Moving beyond disclosure to accelerate actions and investments for nature
Venue:
- 26 October: La Macarenna Room
- 27 October: La Macarenna Room/ Sea Flower Room
Organizers of the event:
The main organizers are:
- International Union of Biological Science, (IUBS)
- The University of Tokyo, Institute for Future Initiatives (IFI)
- Consortium of Scientific Partners (CSP) with Alexander von Humboldt Institute and the Smithsonian Institution
- Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity, (SCBD)
Programme at a glance:
Saturday 26 October 2024
La Macarenna Room
9:00 – 10:00 | |
10:00 – 11:30 | Plenary session: “Interlinkages for Biodiversity, Science and Sustainability: Why three decades later does it matter more than ever?” |
11:30-11:45 | Coffee Break |
11:45-13:15 | SESSION 1: Transforming Agri-food Systems for People and Nature: from a new narrative to a new reality. Best cases and pathways for transformative change. |
13:15-14:15 | Lunch |
14:15-15:00 | SESSION 2: Scaling up best cases and moving from a narrative to reality. (continuation session 1) |
15:00-15:15 | Coffee Break |
15:15-16:45 | SESSION 3: Science-based integrated forest management for enhanced biodiversity, human well-being and climate change resilience (Targets 1, 8, 10, 14) |
16:45- 18:15 | SESSION 4: Achieving 30 x 30 protected areas (terrestrial)(Target 3) |
Sunday 27 October 20214
08:30 – 09:55 | SESSION 5: Integration/cooperation between traditional knowledge with other knowledge systems for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity.(Targets 22, 3, 9, 14) La Macarenna Room | |
09:55- 10:10 | Coffee Break | |
| La Macarenna Room | Sea Flower Room |
10:10 – 11:40 | SESSION 6: Global networks advances opportunities for enhancing national monitoring systems and indicators of the Biodiversity Plan. | SESSION 7: Biodiversity & Climate Change (Target 8) |
11:40 – 13:10 | SESSION 8: Science for NBSAPs – Integrating Science and Data for Effective NBSAPs and Community Engagement (Targets 20 and 21) | SESSION 9: Biodiversity Change and Technology, AI, and Data: Challenges and Opportunities. (Targets 20 & 21) |
13:15 – 14:00 | Lunch | |
| La Macarenna Room | Sea Flower Room |
14:00 – 15:25 | SESSION 10: Perspectives on the One Health approach: what’s next in linking environmental, biodiversity, and human health sectors in the planetary crisis era? | SESSION 11: Sustainability and NCP in the biodiversity plan: accounting for value systems. (Targets 11 & 14) |
15:25 – 16:50 | SESSION 12: 9 ICSS – What is the role of Nature in post-disaster, post-conflict recovery processes? | SESSION 13: A scientists’ view on Digital Sequence Information and Access and Benefit Sharing |
16:50 – 18:15 | SESSION 14: Environmental Peace: Pathways to Foster Just Transitions Towards Sustainability | SESSION 15: Moving beyond disclosure to accelerate actions and investments for nature (Targets 15 & 19) |
18:15 – 18:30 | Closing Remarks La Macarenna Room | |
Short description of the sessions
- Session 1Sustainability & biodiversity: Food & agriculture – Transforming Agri-food Systems for People and Nature: from a new narrative to a new reality. Best cases and pathways for transformative change.Post 2020 Biodiversity Framework – Expertise France, Alliance Bioversity CIATTargets: 1-23More and more often, the dominant narratives on the relationship between agriculture, food systems and sustainable development are perceived as inadequate: they either focus on maximizing agricultural output – the productivist approach – or on prioritizing the preservation of biodiversity over economic impacts – the ecologist approach. That is why, as a follow-up session to the Montpellier Global Days, a group of experts participated in the collective identification of the key elements of a new narrative supporting the transformation of agri-food systems for people and nature. By emphasizing the interconnectedness of agri-food systems and biodiversity, a new narrative can help reconcile these objectives.
Can this narrative become a reality? If so, how? These participatory sessions will focus on scaling up ambitious and transformative cases that indigenous peoples and local communities are putting forward.
- Session 2Scaling up best cases and moving from a narrative to reality (follow up session 1)
Post 2020 Biodiversity Framework – Expertise France, Alliance Bioversity CIAT
Targets: 1-23
How can you scale it up? How can this become the norm? What do we need to be able to get there?
Workshop restitution and report from the work groups.
- Session 3
Science-based integrated forest management for enhanced biodiversity, human well-being and climate change resilience
IUBS, IUBS US Committee.
Targets: 1, 8, 10, 14
This sessions will focus on
● Identifying thematic and geographic priorities to accelerate the use of data in GBF implementation plans
- Session 4
Achieving 30 x 30 protected areas
IUBS, IGES
Target 3
Protected areas have been the main strategy to cope with biodiversity conservation. However, to conserve biodiversity and nature contributions to people and/or ecosystem services, this is not enough. Targets to conserve biodiversity within the CBD have increased from 10 to 17%, and, during COP 15 it has been set a new and challenging target of 30% to be established by 2030.
This new target implies the inclusion of a broader concept of conservation areas, for different purposes that cope also with biodiversity conservation. Indigenous lands, small and large conservation areas not necessarily designated as protected areas, contributing to connectivity and sustainable management of natural ecosystems, will have to come to add for this target.
Aside from coverage, effective management is an important and key issue that comes along with governance and inclusiveness and respect for local, rural and indigenous populations.
Worldwide, the 30 x 30 target is raising a number of questions, in rich biodiversity countries as in other latitudes. Some of the questions that will be addressed in this session are: Does the target conflict with development targets? Land sharing versus land sparring? Post-colonial effects of global ideas imposing land-use on traditional communities? How can we assure effective conservation? Do indigenous lands count? How to finance it? What participatory processes can assure integrated planning and assure acceptance?
- Session 5
The integration of indigenous and local knowledge systems, which are a cumulative body of social and ecological knowledge, practices and beliefs, pertaining to the relationship of living beings, including people, with one another and with their environments, have evolved by adaptive processes and handed down through generations by cultural transmission is a fundamental piece for sustainability. Such knowledge can provide information, methods, theory and practice for sustainable ecosystem management. However, some challenges arise when trying to integrate this knowledge to western science.
From the experiences, challenges and suggestion, we will provide a summary of options on how to operationalize the integration for co-creation of knowledge and how it can be influential, integrated into policies for management and conservation of biodiversity (ecosystems, spp, genes).
Questions could be around: How is traditional/local knowledge relevant for science and well being?
- Session 6
- Session 7
- Session 8
Supporting the knowledge needs of the Global Biodiversity Framework at scale requires an innovative, coordinated approach toward biodiversity data, tools and analytics capable of accelerating a step-change in how scientific data, information and knowledge is managed. Integrating digital, taxonomic and genetic information available only from scientific collections, such as those maintained by museums, is critical to filling knowledge gaps. Leveraging tools and networks that integrate open biodiversity data from collections provides opportunities to enrich and improve currently available data, address its gaps and biases, assess progress on numerous GBF indicators, and shape actions to halt and reverse biodiversity loss.
This event will present state-of-the-art technological and data-driven approaches to applying biodiversity collections data in research and decision-making, showcasing examples of how collections, genetic research, and citizen science can enhance NBSAPs and provide unique insights toward achieving global biodiversity targets. Coordination efforts between collecting institution networks also facilitates standards and protocols for knowledge management that supports national capacities for biodiversity planning and implementation, thereby strengthening the connection between government decision-makers and the holders and providers of biodiversity data.
Through a series of practical discussions on technical tools, training and capacity needs, this session will build on the outputs and recommendations discussed in the Science Policy Forum on Integrating Science and Data for Effective NBSAPs and Community Engagement. Participants and attendees will benefit from identifying key actions and opportunities for more effective integration of the open biodiversity data under Target 21.
- Session 9
Despite decades of effort, we continue to lack sound scientific information on many species especially invertebrates. This critical shortcoming continues to block progress towards understanding, protecting, restoring ecosystems in a world dominated by climate change, biodiversity changes, and human activities. New technology, such as GPS, high-definition cameras, AI technology, UAVs, acoustic sensors, genotyping, and crowdsourcing, and high-resolution imagery through participatory/citizen science platforms are now producing massive data streams that could help to fill this gap but our ability to extract insight from these data lags substantially behind our ability to collect it. The key to unlocking the potential of these data will be new machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) methods, which are already beginning to have significant impacts on research across ecology and conservation.
The goal of this session is to synthesise the current state of technology and technology applications within biodiversity science, address key challenges that stand to gain from technology advancement, explore emerging technological developments that have the potential to meet those challenges, and to examine the impact of technology on biodiversity loss.
- Session 10
- Session 11
- Session 12
- Session 13
- Session 14
- Session 15
As global sustainability goals increasingly prioritize biodiversity, businesses across all sectors must recognize that their operations are intrinsically linked to the health of ecosystems. Whether it’s securing operating licenses in industries like mining and energy, sourcing biological materials for the manufacture of cosmetics and pharmaceuticals, or managing financial risks related to biodiversity loss and climate change, a company’s success is closely tied to the ecosystems it depends on.
Moreover, ecosystems with rich biodiversity are more resilient to natural disasters, providing essential services such as food, water, and shelter. Businesses not only benefit from these services but also face risks if biodiversity is not managed effectively. Therefore, maintaining a strong record in biodiversity and sustainability management is not just a regulatory or ethical responsibility—it is a strategic imperative for maintaining a competitive edge.
This session will also explore how businesses can translate successful climate strategies into the nature agenda, identifying key links between climate and nature actions, not only around “nature-based solutions” but also accounting for positive impacts to nature in business and investment. By sharing practical examples of how businesses manage these intertwined challenges, the panel will offer insights into maximizing contributions to global sustainability goals, ultimately fostering long-term business resilience and growth.
Related:
- 1st Science Policy Forum for Biodiversity, Brazil (2006)
- 2nd Science Policy Forum for Biodiversity, Germany (2008)
- 3rd Science Policy Forum for Biodiversity, Mexico (2016)
- 4th Science Policy Forum for Biodiversity, Egypt (2018)
- 5th Science Policy Forum for Biodiversity, online (2021)
- 5th Science Policy Forum for Biodiversity, Canada (2022)
- 6th Science Policy Forum for Biodiversity, online (2024)
- IUBS Activities