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Summit on Biodiversity -- 30 September 2020*

The Summit on Biodiversity will be convened under the theme “Urgent Action on Biodiversity for Sustainable Development.” The Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) will assist the President of the General Assembly in the preparation of the Summit.

The Summit on Biodiversity will be convened by the President of the General Assembly at the United Nations Headquarters in New York on the first and second days of general debate of the Assembly, on 30 September 2020*.  The meeting takes place on the margins of the opening of the 75th session of the UN General Assembly. Heads of state and government are expected to be in attendance.

The Summit will provide a unique opportunity to demonstrate ambition to accelerate action on biodiversity for sustainable development, and thereby give momentum to the development and eventual adoption of an effective post 2020 global biodiversity framework at the fifteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention (COP 15). The post-2020 global biodiversity framework is meant to be ambitious, not only in the goals and targets set, but also in providing the means, financial and otherwise, to achieve those goals, and in the mechanisms put in place to review progress.

The Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity encourages Parties to prepare for the Summit, and to ensure participation at the highest possible level and the inclusion in delegations of representatives of parliamentary institutions, local governments, civil society, including non-governmental organizations, indigenous peoples and local communities, community organizations, faith-based organizations, academia, philanthropic foundations, youth and the private sector.

 

For a summary of the Summit click here.

 

* Correction: A previous version of this webpage referred to Notification Ref.: SCBD/OES/EM/DC/IS/88838 with announced Summit dates that have now changed to 30 September 2020

 

More Information:
Resolution A/RES/74/269 

Updated information on the Summit

Biodiversity Numbers -- Fact Sheet

What can be done to protect and preserve biodiversity -- Fact Sheet

ADDITIONAL INTERESTING INFORMATION

The Summit on Biodiversity will consist of an opening segment, a plenary segment for general discussion, two Leaders’ Dialogues and a closing segment.

The Leaders’ Dialogues will be held under the following themes:

  • “Addressing biodiversity loss and mainstreaming biodiversity for sustainable development” (Dialogue 1) and
  • “Harnessing science, technology and innovation, capacity-building, access and benefit-sharing, financing and partnerships for biodiversity” (Dialogue 2).