Biodiversity-related Conventions Research Articles

Global biodiversity-related conventions on facilitating biodiversity conservation in Vietnam

Global biodiversity-related conventions have positively influenced nature conservation in Vietnam. Adherence to international policies and strategies is one of the critical motivations for reducing biodiversity loss. As highlighted in Aichi Target 11, protected areas are central for this effort and Vietnam is not an exception. In this study we reflect on and suggest how this Target can be most effectively pursued in Vietnam. Of which, besides remaining the status of special-use forests, uplifting protection forests, especially focusing on forest areas which are in rich biodiversity condition, to special-use forests category should be a priority.

50 Years on, w(h)ither the Ramsar convention? A case of institutional drift

Wetlands have declined in area and quality at an accelerating pace in the last 50 years. Yet, the last 50 years is when international attention has been focussed on wetlands through the Ramsar Convention. An analysis of how the convention has evolved over the past 50 years suggests it has been drifting away from its original mandate in a maladaptive manner, and this drift is a problem for achieving its original objectives. A review of the strategic plans of the convention revealed two key conditions for institutional drifting and the associated lack of success. The first condition lies in its unique situation as a non-UN convention, which reduces the convention’s visibility and interactivity with other biodiversity-related conventions, agencies, or programmes. The second condition is an increasing number of conventions dealing with biodiversity issues, all forcing the Ramsar Convention to seek different roles in an increasingly competitive institutional landscape. A more effective future for the convention arguably lies in reasserting its original mandate, but with cognisance of the changed environmental pressures of the twenty-first century. While this would narrow its increasingly broad focus, such a reorientation will allow wetlands and waterfowl to start a track to recovery, backed by active and focused Contracting Parties in a renewed international convention on wetland conservation, management, and sustainable use.

Enhancing synergies between action on ocean acidification and the post-2020 global biodiversity framework.

Ocean acidification is a substantial emergent threat to marine biodiversity and the goods and services it provides. Although efforts to address ocean acidification have been taken under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), a far greater potential to do so exists by finding synergies between biodiversity conservation efforts and ocean acidification action. The ongoing process to develop a post-2020 global biodiversity framework offers an opportunity to ensure that opportunities for addressing ocean acidification are capitalized on and not overlooked. I argue that to achieve this, the following are needed: a technical integration of ocean acidification across the targets to be included in the post-2020 framework and a reframing of the issue as a biodiversity problem so as to highlight the synergies between existing biodiversity work and action needed to address ocean acidification. Given that the post-2020 framework is intended to establish the global biodiversity agenda for the coming decades, integration of ocean acidification will set a precedent for the other biodiversity-related conventions and encourage greater uptake of the issue across the wider international community. My approach is of direct relevance to those participating in the negotiations, both from a CBD Party perspective and the perspective of those advocating for a strong outcome to protect marine biodiversity and marine socioecological systems. My discussion of framing is relevant to those working beyond the CBD within other biodiversity-related conventions in which goals to address ocean acidification are sorely lacking.

Improving collaboration in the implementation of global biodiversity conventions.

Eight conventions make up the biodiversity cluster of multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs) that provide the critical international legal framework for the conservation and sustainable use of nature. However, concerns about the rate of implementation of the conventions at the national level have triggered discussions about the effectiveness of these MEAs in halting the loss of biodiversity. Two main concerns have emerged: lack of capacity and resources and lack of coherence in implementing multiple conventions. We focused on the latter and considered the mechanisms by which international conventions are translated into national policy. Specifically, we examined how the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020 and the associated Aichi Biodiversity Targets have functioned as a unifying grand plan for biodiversity conservation. This strategic plan has been used to coordinate and align targets to promote and enable more effective implementation across all biodiversity-related conventions. Results of a survey of 139 key stakeholders from 88 countries suggests streamlining across ministries and agencies, improved coordination mechanisms with all relevant stakeholders, and better knowledge sharing between conventions could improve cooperation among biodiversity-related conventions. The roadmap for improving synergies among conventions agreed to at the 13th Convention on Biological Diversity's Conference of Parties in 2016 includes actions such as mechanisms to avoid duplication in national reporting and monitoring on conventions and capacity building related to information and knowledge sharing. We suggest the scientific community can actively engage and contribute to the policy process by establishing a science-policy platform to address knowledge gaps; improving data gathering, reporting, and monitoring; developing indicators that adequately support implementation of national plans and strategies; and providing evidence-based recommendations to policy makers. The latter will be particularly important as 2020 approaches and work to develop a new biodiversity agenda for the next decade is beginning.

The Ecosystem Approach Under the Convention on Biological Diversity: A Legal Research Agenda

The ecosystem approach can be considered the landmark regulatory strategy of the Convention on Biological Diversity and other biodiversity-related conventions. But legal scholarship is surprisingly thin with regard to the status and implications of the ecosystem approach. This article discusses the evolution of the ecosystem approach under the Convention on Biological Diversity, and analyses its inter-related components, including its role in ensuring mutual supportiveness among biodiversity-related conventions, as well as with international human rights law. The article concludes by identifying overarching legal questions for future research.

International targets and environmental policy integration: The 2010 Biodiversity Target and its impact on international policy and national implementation in Latin America and the Caribbean

International environmental policy has evolved from a focus on single issues to more integrated approaches under the framework of sustainable development. This transition has been accompanied by a growing use of targets among international organisations. Targets have long been used in industry and corporate planning, but some have questioned their relevance in the ambit of environmental and sustainable development policy. This paper addresses the question of whether international targets help advance environmental policy integration in international governance. It explores whether the international target of significantly reducing the rate of biodiversity loss by 2010, adopted by the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in 2002, enabled co-ordination and coherence in international biodiversity governance. The effects of the Target on the cluster of biodiversity-related conventions and their implementation in countries of Latin America and the Caribbean are examined. The analysis is based on official documents and interviews with secretariat officials, international experts and national focal points conducted between September 2011 and April 2012. A claim is made that the 2010 Biodiversity Target was, in essence, a conservation goal that did not fully honour the CBD's sustainable development mission. The Target triggered increased co-operation in the biodiversity cluster without bringing greater alignment of policies and implementation activities around the CBD's sustainability principles. The study suggests that, if targets are to advance EPI among international institutions, they need to be appropriated by relevant stakeholders and supported by implementation strategies that secure their continuous commitment.

Regime Complexes and National Policy Coherence: Experiences in the Biodiversity Cluster

Regime complexes or overlapping regimes relating to a common subject matter create a problem of policy coherence at the national level. Recent research has observed a positive correlation between regime complexes and policy coherence: improved regime integration enables greater policy coherence and vice versa. Nevertheless, the co-evolution of regime complexes and policy coherence has not been fully studied analytically and empirically. This paper explores the co-evolution thesis in the context of international biodiversity governance, with a focus on the cluster of biodiversity-related conventions and their implementation in countries of Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). It shows that global synergies in the biodiversity cluster have advanced more rapidly than the co-ordination of implementation activities in LAC countries. Vertical linkages have not been strong enough to bridge that gap. The paper concludes that more symmetrical evolutions require deliberate cross-level management

The Integration of Multilateral Environmental Agreements: Lessons from the Biodiversity-Related Conventions

It is a well-worn truism that modern international environmental law has developed at an astonishing rate. From humble beginnings, an expansive cohort of instruments and actors has emerged to address a wide variety of ecological threats. Nevertheless, concerns have been consistently raised by commentators, activists, and institutions that this sprawling network has advanced largely at the expense of structural coherence. Indeed, as observed by the Governing Council of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), ‘[w]hereas the creation of the various legally-binding conventions and protocols on the environment constitutes an outstanding achievement on the part of the international community, it also raises the need for continuing policy coherence among the various instrumentalities that exist in this area at both the inter-agency and intergovernmental levels.’ Improving global environmental governance therefore represents both a significant challenge and a pressing concern for the international community. These practical difficulties are attributable largely to the inherent nature of international environmental law making. The emergence of such treaties is often the product of disparate political motivations, pressures on certain valued natural resources, regulatory reactions to specific events, and the catalyzing effect of periodic inter-governmental processes to establish overarching global goals. Consequently, environmental treaties have tended to emerge in a relatively unco-ordinated and ad hoc manner. In the early 1990s, the phenomenon of ‘treaty congestion’ was identified as afflicting the environmental treaties that emerged in the wake of the 1972 UN Conference on the Human Environment. While this term remains obscure from a legal perspective, it may be broadly

A pale reflection of political reality: Integration of global climate, wetland, and biodiversity agreements

Avoiding dangerous climate change, conserving biodiversity, and sustaining water resources are three of the greatest environmental challenges facing humanity: their expression and management are inextricably linked. National governments have adopted multilateral environmental agreements to respond to these issues by providing mandates for action, setting higher environmental standards, mobilizing resources, and sharing knowledge. This article examines whether three relevant, global conventions—the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Convention on Biological Diversity, and the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands—are being implemented as effectively and efficiently as possible by managing conflicts and enhancing positive synergies among them through integrative mechanisms. Systematic analysis of the conventions identifies many conflicts between measures adopted under the UNFCCC and the two biodiversity-related conventions, as well as unrealized positive synergies. Detailed assessment of integrative mechanisms reveals isolated examples of good practice. More commonly, integrative measures were not being used, particularly by the UNFCCC. After more than a decade of attempts to expand interconvention collaboration and harmonization, I conclude that voluntary efforts need to be replaced by financial incentives or governance reforms if perverse impacts are to be avoided and these agreements are to be better implemented.

A pale reflection of political reality: Integration of global climate, wetland, and biodiversity agreements

Avoiding dangerous climate change, conserving biodiversity, and sustaining water resources are three of the greatest environmental challenges facing humanity: their expression and management are inextricably linked. National governments have adopted multilateral environmental agreements to respond to these issues by providing mandates for action, setting higher environmental standards, mobilizing resources, and sharing knowledge. This article examines whether three relevant, global conventions—the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Convention on Biological Diversity, and the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands—are being implemented as effectively and efficiently as possible by managing conflicts and enhancing positive synergies among them through integrative mechanisms. Systematic analysis of the conventions identifies many conflicts between measures adopted under the UNFCCC and the two biodiversity-related conventions, as well as unrealized positive synergies. Detailed assessment of integrative mechanisms reveals isolated examples of good practice. More commonly, integrative measures were not being used, particularly by the UNFCCC. After more than a decade of attempts to expand interconvention collaboration and harmonization, I conclude that voluntary efforts need to be replaced by financial incentives or governance reforms if perverse impacts are to be avoided and these agreements are to be better implemented.