Notification 2015-099

Dear Madam/Sir, I am pleased to inform you that the President of the United Nations General Assembly has circulated the draft outcome document of the United Nations Summit for the adoption of the post-2015 development agenda, entitled “Transforming Our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”. You will find the outcome document at the following address: https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/post2015/summit. The document, developed over the three years following the Rio+20 Conference in 2012, will be transmitted to the seventieth session of the General Assembly for its consideration and adoption during the Summit, to take place from 25 to 27 September 2015 in New York. The outcome document includes the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), with their targets, as well as a preamble, a declaration, a section on means of implementation and a section on follow-up and review. Biodiversity and ecosystems feature prominently in the outcome document. Importantly, the SDGs reflect all three of the objectives of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) – conservation, sustainable use, and access and benefit sharing of genetic resources. In addition, the SDGs are consistent with and include nearly all of the Aichi Biodiversity Targets. Together, Goals 14 and 15 provide extensive targets on marine and terrestrial biodiversity and ecosystems. Biodiversity and ecosystems are also integrated in key goals, including: Goal 1 on poverty eradication, Goal 2 on food security and sustainable agriculture, Goal 6 on sustainable water management, Goal 8 on economic growth, Goal 9 on resilient infrastructure, Goal 11 on cities and human settlements, and Goal 12 on sustainable consumption and production. Target 2.5 calls on countries to promote access to and fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from the utilization of genetic resources and associated traditional knowledge. A direct linkage of biodiversity to poverty eradication is made in Target 15.9, which calls for the integration of ecosystem and biodiversity values into national and local planning, development processes, poverty reduction strategies and accounts. The section on the means of implementation of the final outcome document also reflects the approach of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020, with paragraph 63 stating that “cohesive nationally owned sustainable development strategies, supported by integrated national financing frameworks, will be at the heart of our efforts”. In addition, in paragraph 82 of the follow-up and review section, the document makes an important connection to other processes, noting that “Effective linkages will be made with the follow-up and review arrangements of all relevant UN Conferences and processes”. This mandate will allow to ensure that the review of the implementation of the SDGs takes into account any decisions adopted by the CBD Conference of the Parties at its fifteenth meeting in 2020 in relation to the final review of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020. The implementation phase of the SDGs will provide tremendous opportunities to mainstream biodiversity in key national priorities and, at the same time, will help countries achieve the objectives of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020 and its Aichi Biodiversity Targets. The Secretariat will continue to work in partnership with other entities, including governments, other UN bodies, and stakeholders to develop effective steps to ensure that biodiversity is well reflected as efforts now turn to implementation. Your Government may wish to consider including references to biodiversity in the statement to be delivered by your Head of State at the United Nations Summit for the adoption of the post-2015 development agenda. This could be under the form of a call to all nations to effectively implement the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020 and its Aichi Biodiversity Targets in support of the SDGs and/or to link their efforts to implement the SDGs to the achievement of the Strategic Plan. It could also applaud the efforts of, or invite, governments, international organizations and their partners to work together closely to mainstream biodiversity at all levels. It could also urge governments, international organizations and their partners to continue their efforts to conserve and sustainably use biological diversity and to halt biodiversity loss. I am pleased to transmit to you, as an annex to this letter, an analysis of the linkages between biodiversity and the post-2015 development agenda, and the ongoing work of the CBD Secretariat. Thank you in advance for your collaboration and efforts in making the adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development a milestone for the Convention on Biological Diversity. Please accept, Madam/Sir, the assurances of my highest consideration.

Executive Secretary

To: CBD National Focal Points