Relaunching the international ambition for biodiversity

Key messages

• To once again merely postpone these objectives, which were set 10 years ago, to the end of the next decade without achieving them, would be a sign that the Convention on Biological Diversity is powerless.
   
• Renewing the system of objectives implies the evaluation of what they have brought to biodiversity policy in the countries that have adopted them.
   
• Giving strength to the future objectives will only be possible through a more precise allocation of responsibilities for each country, and thus a form of individualization of targets.
   
• The ingredients for the success of the Paris Agreement are analysed here. To draw inspiration for biodiversity from these findings will particularly require the linking of global ambitions with the commitments of states and non-state actors.
   
• The Convention on Biological Diversity is not the only focus of international action for biodiversity. Other legal instruments could be initiated, for example regarding pesticides, and linked to the CBD that could serve as a "matrix" of international commitments.