Financial Mechanism and Resources

T10 (Production Areas): How to Use GEF Funding

This page aims to provide information regarding the sustainable management of areas under agriculture, aquaculture, fisheries and forestry, for recipient Parties and relevant stakeholders, including how to access funding of the Global Environment Facility in this regard. It is a work in progress and will be updated as necessary.

There has been a substantial expansion of efforts to promote sustainable agriculture, forestry and aquaculture over recent years, including through farmer-led agroecological approaches. The use of fertilizers and pesticides has stabilized globally, though at high levels. Despite such progress, biodiversity continues to decline in landscapes used to produce food and timber; and food and agricultural production remains among the main drivers of global biodiversity loss.

• Reported actions in agriculture included: Promoting sustainable soil management; Rehabilitation and restoration of degraded habitats; Promoting research on crop efficiency and resilience; Support and promotion of organic agriculture and agro-forestry; Encouraging agricultural diversification; Improved watershed management; Actions to promote and subsidize the use of climate- resilient crops; Incentives to incorporate modern practices into agricultural systems; Promotion of improved irrigation techniques; Encouraging lower fertilizer use; Improvement of ex situ conservation and seed banks.
• Reported actions in forests included: Decentralization of forest management; Improving forest governance frameworks and capacity-building; Promoting restoration; Encouraging forest certification; Updating and reviewing forestry licenses; Compensating or incentivizing landowners not to cut forests; Promoting silvicultural practices that also help with poverty alleviation.
• Reported actions in aquaculture included: Improving the management of aquaculture through technological innovations and modernization; Promotion of certification schemes and environmental standards.

A third of marine fish stocks are overfished, a higher proportion than ten years ago. Many fisheries are still causing unsustainable levels of bycatch of non-target species and are damaging marine habitats. Reported actions in fisheries were: Better assessment of fish stocks; Development of regulatory measures, including for issues related to illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, fishing practices and equipment; Better monitoring of fishing vessels and by-catch; Regulations on fish size; Seasonal or periodic fishing bans; Establishment of marine protected areas; Restoration of fish habitat; Promotion and support of community ownership and management of fisheries.

Financial support of the Global Environment Facility

GEF-financed projects related to production services

• Food Systems
• Amazon, Congo, and Critical Forest Biomes
• Blue Green Islands
• BDFA: Objective One
• IWFA: Objectives One and Two
• LDFA: Objective One

Guidance to the financial mechanism

The Conference of the Parties has invited the Global Environment Facility to support: Projects which implement the Convention’s programme of work on agricultural biodiversity, and that assist with the implementation of the Plan of Action for the International Initiative for the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Pollinators. (Decision X/24, annex, para. 4.17; XIII/21, annex II, para. 10); and Projects focusing on the identified national priorities, as well as regional and international actions that assist the implementation of the expanded work programme on forest biological diversity considering conservation of biological diversity, sustainable use of its components and fair and equitable sharing of the benefits from genetic resources in a balanced way, underscoring the importance of ensuring long-term conservation, sustainable use, and benefit-sharing of native forests, and the use of the clearing-house mechanism to include activities that contribute to halting and addressing deforestation, basic assessments and monitoring of forest biological diversity, including taxonomic studies and inventories, focusing on forest species, other important components of forest biological diversity and ecosystems under threat. (Decision X/24, annex, paragraph 4.16; XIII/21, annex II, para. 6)

Guidance to Parties

Agriculture

• Develop national plans or strategies for the conservation and sustainable use of agricultural biodiversity and promote their mainstreaming and integration in sectoral and cross-sectoral plans and programmes, and implement agricultural policies that contribute to the maintenance of biodiversity, and discourage those agricultural practices that are causing biodiversity loss; (X/34, para. 7; IX/1, para. 13, para. 16(c), para. 17(c); VII/3, para. 10; V/5, annex, programme element 4; III/11, para. 15)
• Develop, as appropriate, policy frameworks for land use that reflect the national biodiversity objectives, that inform -making at different scales and levels of governance to, inter alia, promote sustainable increases in the productivity and diversification of production of existing agricultural land and rangeland while enhancing ecosystem services and functions, including those services and functions that contribute to agricultural production (such as pollination, pest control, water provision and erosion control), while also protecting, restoring and sustainably using biodiversity and promoting connectivity in the landscape; (XIII/3, para. 28)
• Promote and support, as appropriate, sustainable agricultural production, that may include increases in productivity based on the sustainable management of ecosystem services and functions, diversification of agriculture, agro-ecological approaches and organic farming, through the enhanced use of a diverse range of well-adapted crops and livestock, and their varieties and breeds, and of associated biodiversity in agricultural systems, including pollinators, pest-control organisms and soil organisms that promote nutrient cycling, thereby reducing the need for or replacing chemical inputs; (XIII/3, para. 30; XIII/3, para. 36; X/34, para. 2; V/5, annex, programme element 3; X/34, para. 17)
• Identify and promote sustainable agricultural practices, integrated landscape management of mosaics of agriculture and natural areas, as well as appropriate farming systems that will reduce possible negative impacts of agricultural practices on biological diversity and enhance the ecological functions provided by biological diversity to agriculture, and promote the transformation of unsustainable agricultural practices into sustainable production practices adapted to local biotic and abiotic conditions, in conformity with the ecosystem or integrated land use approach; the use of farming practices that not only increase productivity, but also arrest degradation as well as reclaim, rehabilitate, restore and enhance biological diversity; mobilization of farming communities including indigenous and local communities for the development, maintenance and use of their knowledge and practices in the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity in the agricultural sector with specific reference to gender roles; (III/11, para. 17; IX/1, para. 9; IV/6, para. 4; X/34, para. 19)
• Promote, support and remove constraints to on-farm and in situ conservation of agricultural biodiversity through participatory decision-making processes in order to enhance the conservation of plant and animal genetic resources, related components of biodiversity in agricultural ecosystems, and related ecosystem functions; (IX/1, paras. 10-11; VI/5, para. 22)
• Provide a comprehensive analysis of status and trends of the world's agricultural biodiversity and of their underlying causes (including a focus on the goods and services agricultural biodiversity provides), as well of local knowledge of its management; (V/5, annex, programme element 1)
• Promote opportunities for indigenous and local communities, and local stakeholders to participate in the development and implementation of national biodiversity strategies, action plans and programmes for agricultural biodiversity, and promote the effective participation of indigenous and local communities, farmers, pastoralists, animal breeders and other stakeholders, including those whose livelihoods depend on the sustainable use and conservation of agricultural biodiversity, when applying the ecosystem approach to agriculture; (IX/1, para. 15, 16(a), 17(a)-(b))
• Recognize the importance of the traditional knowledge of indigenous peoples and local communities for the sustainability of agriculture that is aligned with their world view (cosmovisión) and upholds diversification and ecological rotation and agroforestry, and promote community and family farming, alongside agroecology, with a view to promoting sustainable production and improving nutrition; (XIII/3, para. 27)
• Use an appropriate mix of regulatory and incentive measures aligned with national biodiversity objectives, including the elimination, phasing out and reform of incentives harmful to biodiversity in order, inter alia, to reduce habitat loss, degradation and fragmentation and to increase the efficiency of use of water, fertilizer and pesticides and to avoid their inappropriate use, and to encourage public and private sources of finance to be channeled into practices that improve the sustainability of production while reducing biodiversity loss, and to promote and support the restoration of ecosystems that provide essential services in a way that provides for the needs of indigenous peoples and local communities, does not cause harm to other ecosystems, and consistent with national legislation and international obligations; (XIII/3, para. 32)
• Reduce loss and waste at all stages of production and consumption in the food system, including reducing post-harvest losses, transforming and/or treating residues of processed raw materials; (XIII/3, para. 33; VIII/23A, annex, para. 3.15)
• Maintain genetic diversity of resources for food and agriculture and their landraces/farmers’ varieties and wild relatives as a key pathway to achieving sustainable productivity and nutritional gains, in particular in centres of genetic diversity, and support farmers in in-situ conservation of traditional and local varieties, races and breeds and efforts to conserve crop wild relatives as means to ensure food security and nutrition and support traditional lifestyles; (XIII/3, para. 35, 41; IX/1, para. 18-19; X/34, para. 8; VII/3, para. 13)
• Raise public awareness in support of sustainable farming and food production systems that maintain agricultural biodiversity, incorporating the awareness of the importance of the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity in agricultural production processes whilst meeting the demands for food and other products; (IX/1, para. 16(b); V/5, para. 10; VIII/23A, annex, para. 4.1-4.2)
• Document the observed impacts and consider the projected impacts of climate change, on agricultural biodiversity, to use the information in cross-sector planning in agricultural areas; (IX/1, para. 26, 27)
• Promote and support, as appropriate, the development, transfer, use and scaling up of technological innovation and traditional knowledge, as well as innovative tools and strategies, that are sustainable and biodiversity friendly, that help increase the positive effects and reduce the negative effects of agriculture on biodiversity; contributing to, among other benefits, the integrated, efficient and sustainable management of energy, water and soil resources; (XIII/3, para. 31; VIII/23A, annex, para. 3.10)
• Promote further research and development on increasing sustainable productivity based on ecosystem services and functions directly or indirectly relevant to agriculture, and identify management practices, technologies and policies that promote the positive and mitigate the negative impacts of agriculture on biodiversity, and enhance productivity and the capacity to sustain livelihoods; (XIII/3, para. 29; IX/1, para. 34; V/5, annex, programme element 2)
• Undertake further research, within the mandate of V/5 section III, on the impacts of genetic use restriction technologies, including their ecological, social, economic and cultural impacts, particularly on indigenous and local communities; (VIII/23C, para. 2(b), 2(c); VIII/23C, para. 4; V/5, para. 23, 24, 26; VI/5, para. 18-19)
• Promote adaptive management approaches for the development and uptake of improved soil biological management practices, technologies and policies that enhance soil health and ecosystem function, and that contribute to sustainable land use; (VIII/23B, annex, activity 2.3; 14/1, para. 14(e))
• Mainstream soil biodiversity and ecosystem management in agricultural and land management programmes and policies; (VIII/23B, annex, activity 3.1, 2.1)
• Develop, apply and adapt indicators and tools for assessment and monitoring of soil health and ecosystem functioning for global, regional, and national use; (VIII/23B, annex, activity 2.2)
• Mobilize targeted participatory research and development in order to enhance understanding of soil biodiversity functions and ecosystem resilience in relation to land use and sustainable agriculture, and identify and develop datasets on soil biodiversity at national level that are important for agriculture; (VIII/23B, annex, activity 1.1, 1.2, 1.4, 2.4, 2.5)
• Enhance public awareness, education and knowledge on integrated soil management and agro-ecological approaches; (VIII/23B, annex, activity 1.3)
• Promote collaboration with respect to soil erosion and water management as it impacts upon soil biodiversity. (VIII/23B, annex, activity 3.2, 3.4)
• Promote the participation of indigenous and local communities in both the elaboration and implementation of management plans that relate to soil biodiversity; (VIII/23B, annex, activity 3.5)
• Promote enhanced capabilities to manage pollinator diversity at local level by promoting partnerships among and between farmers, researchers, extension workers and food processors, inter alia, through the establishment of local‑level forums for farmers, and other stakeholders to evolve genuine partnerships, including training and education programmes. (VI/5, annex II, para. 3.3)
• Strengthen national institutions to support taxonomy of bees and other pollinators, and support the development or adaptation of relevant systems of information, early warning and communication to enable effective assessment of the state of pollinator diversity and threats to it, in support of national strategies and action plans, and of appropriate response mechanisms; (VI/5, annex II, para. 2.1-2.3, 4.2-4.3)
• Promote awareness about the value of pollinator diversity and the multiple goods and services it provides for sustainable productivity, amongst producer organizations, agricultural cooperatives and enterprises, and consumers, with a view to promoting responsible practices, and include considerations of pollinator diversity, and related dimensions of agricultural biodiversity, including host plant diversity, at species, ecosystem and landscape levels, consistent with the ecosystem approach, in formal educational programmes at all levels, including in agricultural, biological and environmental science courses and curricula and in primary and secondary schools; (VI/5, annex II, para. 3.1, 4.4)
• Integrate considerations of pollinator diversity, and related dimensions of agricultural biodiversity, including host-plant diversity, at species, ecosystem and landscape levels, consistent with the ecosystem approach, into biodiversity strategies and action plans, and into planning processes in the agricultural sector, and identify and promote possible improvements in the policy environment, including benefit-sharing arrangements and incentive measures, to support local-level management of pollinators and related dimensions of biodiversity in agricultural ecosystems; (IX/1, para. 21; VI/5, para. 11 and annex II, para. 3.2, 4.1)
• Assess the economic value of pollinators, including evaluation, in economic terms, of different crop-pollinator-pollination systems for optimal use of pollinators in sustainable agricultural systems, through economic analysis of data from various crop-pollinator-pollination systems; (VI/5, annex II, para. 1.2)
• Promote methods of sustainable agriculture that employ management practices, technologies and policies that promote the positive and mitigate the negative impacts of agriculture on pollinator diversity, including, for example, the protection of natural habitats, within agricultural landscapes, as sources of wild pollinators for crop improvement; the development of guidelines for policy makers and farmers; and the development of model-testing protocols for the introduction of non-native pollinators and to assess impacts of agrochemicals and other technologies on pollinators and pollinator activities; (VI/5, annex II, para. 2.3)
• Monitor the status and trends of pollinators, assess the state of scientific and indigenous knowledge on pollinator conservation, and promote the development of identification keys for bee genera; (VI/5, annex II, para. 1.1, 1.3, 1.4, 3.4)
• Respect traditional knowledge and Farmers’ Rights to the preservation of seeds under traditional cultivation; (VIII/23C, para. 2(a))
• Strengthen mechanisms for the conservation and sustainable use of seeds through both formal and informal systems at the local national, regional and global levels; (IX/1, para. 12)
• Identify and promote crop diversification for biodiverse food crops to be used for food and nutrition; species currently underutilized or of potential value to human food and nutrition, including those important in times of crisis, and their conservation and sustainable use; genetically diverse and species-rich home gardens, agroforestry and other production systems that contribute to the in situ conservation of genetic resources and food security; wild resources, including those that support bushmeat and fisheries, including maintaining viable stocks of wild species for sustainable consumption by local and indigenous communities; important biodiversity at all levels associated with agricultural, forestry and aquaculture systems; medicinal species relevant for food and nutrition; (VIII/23A, annex, para. 3.2-3.6, 3.8)
• Support all forms of food production of indigenous and local communities, in accordance with Article 8(j) and related provisions of the Convention; (VIII/23A, annex, para. 3.7)
• Protect and promote biodiversity friendly markets by addressing regulatory issues. (VIII/23A, annex, para. 3.9)
• Promote conservation and sustainable use of crop and livestock genetic diversity, including wild relatives of domesticated animals and plants, to broaden the genetic base of cultivated crops to, increase food production and improve the nutritional value of food while taking into account the environmental impact of agriculture; (VIII/23A, annex, para. 3.1, 3.12)
• Develop and document knowledge on the links between biodiversity, food and nutrition, and the value of biodiversity for food and nutrition, non-conventional biodiversity-based products including processing, native plants or animals, local races, wild relatives of cultivated or domesticated species regarding important traits for agriculture, and establish standards of identification and quality of daily admissible ingestion; (VIII/23A, annex, element 1, 3.11, 3.13, 3.14)
• Address the question of nutrient loading, and especially nitrogen deposition; (X/34, para. 14; IX/1, para. 40)

Forestry

• Promote the integration of national forest programmes with national biodiversity strategies, applying the ecosystem approach and sustainable forest management and integrate biological diversity conservation and sustainable use into forest and other sector policies and programmes; (V/4, para. 8; VI/22, para. 28; IX/5, para. 1(c), 1(i); VI/22, para. 29; VI/22, annex, programme element 1, goal 4, objective 1(g) and programme element 2, goal 1, objective 2; IV/7, para. 3; VII/1, para. 9; V/4, para. 9)
• Integrate the ecosystem approach and sustainable forest management into policies and practices and promote and implement sustainable forest management and the ecosystem approach to maintain forest biodiversity and ecosystem functions, in all types of forests, promote forest restoration and minimize deforestation and forest degradation including addressing climate change; (VIII/19A, para. 3; IX/5, para. 1(k); VI/22, annex, programme element 1, goal 1)
• Develop, support and promote programmes and initiatives that address the sustainable use of timber and non-timber forest products, and address unregulated and unsustainable use of forest products and resources (including unsustainable hunting and trade of bushmeat, and their impacts on non-target species); (IX/5, para. 1(b); VI/22, annex, programme element 1, goal 4, objective 1(b))
• Encourage sustainable forest management to achieve biodiversity outcomes, including by promoting sustainable consumption and production of forest products; (XIII/3, para. 56)
• Prevent and mitigate losses due to fragmentation and conversion to other land uses, including agriculture, green areas in urban spaces, livestock and tourism; (XIII/7, para. 6; VI/22, annex, programme element 1, goal 2, objective 6)
• Promote national and international research on agroforestry to promote the conservation and sustainable use of both forest and agricultural biodiversity; (IX/5, para. 1(n))
• Promote forest management practices that further the conservation of endemic and threatened species; (VI/22, annex, programme element 1, goal 3, objective 2)
• Encourage the use and supply of alternative sources of energy to prevent forest degradation due to the use of firewood by local communities; (VI/22, annex, programme element 1, goal 4, objective 2(b))
• Strengthen forest law enforcement and governance at all levels and take effective legislative and non-legislative measures to promote legally and sustainably sourced forest products, to combat illegal logging and associated trade, to prevent harvesting of forest products and resources in violation of national legislation, including timber and non-timber forest products, bushmeat, wildlife, and forest biological resources and related trade; (VI/22, para. 30 and annex, programme element 1, goal 4, objective 2(c) and programme element 2, goal 1, objective 3(c); XIII/3, para. 53, 57; VIII/19A, para. 3; IX/5, para. 1(l))
• Evaluate and reform legislation to include clear definition of illegal activities, to establish effective deterrents, to prevent imports of forest products from illegal sources and to implement systems for the verification of legal compliance, and encourage and support the development and implementation of tracking and chain-of-custody systems for forest products to seek to ensure that these products are legally harvested; (XIII/3, para. 57; VI/22, annex, programme element 2, goal 1, objective 4)
• Promote, establish and maintain and/or develop adequate and effective connected national or regional forest protected area networks, giving priority to existing ones, and, where appropriate, apply spatial and land-use planning tools to identify areas of particular importance to the sustainable use and conservation and restoration of forest biodiversity, including in buffer zones; (XIII/3, para. 55; IX/5, para. 1(h); VI/22, annex, programme element 1, goal 3, objective 3; V/4, para. 10)
• Develop appropriate measures and regulations to secure a permanent forest area sufficient to allow for the conservation and sustainable use of forest biological diversity, and resolve land tenure and resource rights and responsibility, in consultation with all relevant stakeholders including for indigenous and local communities, in order to promote the conservation and sustainable use of forest biodiversity; (VI/22, annex, programme element 2, goal 1, objective 3(a), 3(b))
• Promote multidisciplinary scientific research to better understand the impacts of climate change, including mitigation and adaption activities, and environmental degradation on ecosystem resilience, conservation and sustainable use of forest biodiversity and impacts on the livelihoods of indigenous and local communities, with a view to maximizing positive impacts and avoiding negative impacts of climate change, including mitigation and adaption activities, on forest biodiversity; in particular those forests most vulnerable to climate change; (IX/5, para. 1(j))
• Promote the maintenance and restoration of biodiversity in forests in order to enhance their capacity to resist to, and recover from and adapt to climate change, and give due consideration to the conservation and sustainable use of natural forests and native vegetation and avoiding the potential negative impacts of afforestation of non-forest biomes as well as the potential of forest genetic diversity to address climate change, maintain forest ecosystems resilience and lead to the discovery of new timber and non-timber forest resources; (IX/5, para. 2(c); VI/22, annex, programme element 1, goal 2, objective 3; XIII/7, para. 6)
• Ensure that possible actions for reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation provide benefits for forest biodiversity and to indigenous and local communities, and address both, direct and indirect, positive and negative impacts that the production and use of biomass for energy, in particular large-scale and/or industrial production and use, might have on forest biodiversity and on indigenous and local communities; (XIII/3, para. 49; IX/5, para. 2(a), 2(b))
• Promote forest restoration, including reforestation and afforestation, in line with sustainable forest management and the ecosystem approach, to restore ecosystem services in degraded secondary forests and in forests established on former forestlands and other landscapes, including in plantations; (IX/5, para. 2(g); VI/22, annex, programme element 1, goal 3, objective 1)
• Prevent the introduction of invasive alien species that threaten ecosystems, and mitigate their negative impacts on forest biological diversity; (VI/22, annex, programme element 1, goal 2, objective 1)
• Encourage the integration of forest biodiversity consideration into strategies and policies to reduce pollution to promote the reduction of pollution levels that adversely affect forest biodiversity, and reduce the negative impact of pollution such as acidification and eutrophication related to deforestation and forest degradation on forest biodiversity; (IX/5, para. 2(f); VI/22, annex, programme element 1, goal 2, objective 2)
• Authorize the release of genetically modified trees only after completion of studies in containment, including in greenhouse and confined field trials, addressing long–term effects as well as thorough, comprehensive, science-based and transparent risk assessments to avoid possible negative environmental impacts on forest biological diversity, and considering the potential socio-economic impacts of genetically modified trees as well as their potential impact on the livelihoods of indigenous and local communities; (VIII/19B, para. 2; IX/5, para. 1(r)-1(z))
• Promote practices of fire prevention and control to mitigate the impacts of unwanted fires on forest biological diversity and systems for risk assessment and early warning, monitoring and control, and enhance capacity for prevention and post-fire forest biodiversity restoration at the community, national and regional levels, and develop strategies to avoid the negative effects of sectoral programmes and policies which could induce uncontrolled forest fires, and prevention plans against devastating fires and integrate them into national plans targeting the biological diversity of forests; (VI/22, annex, programme element 1, goal 2, objective 4)
• Develop and promote management methods that restore or mimic natural disturbances such as fire, wind-throw and floods, to mitigate effects of the loss of natural disturbances necessary to maintain biodiversity in regions where these no longer occur; (VI/22, annex, programme element 1, goal 2, objective 5)
• Incorporate forest biological diversity and other forest values into national accounting systems and seek to estimate such figures for subsistence economies, and develop mechanisms to ensure that monetary and non-monetary costs and benefits of forest biodiversity management are equitably shared between stakeholders at all levels; (IX/5, para. 1(e); VI/22, annex, programme element 1, goal 4, objective 1(d) and programme element 2, goal 2, objective 1(a), 1(b), 1(c), 1(i))
• Elaborate and implement economic incentives promoting forest biological diversity conservation and sustainable use, eliminate or reform perverse incentives, in particular subsidies that result in favoring unsustainable use or loss of forest biological diversity, and provide market and other incentives for the use of sustainable practices, develop alternative sustainable income generation programmes and facilitate self-sufficiency programmes of indigenous and local communities; (VI/22, annex, programme element 2, goal 2, objective 1(d), 1(e), (f))
• Increase broad-based awareness of the value of forest biological diversity amongst public authorities and makers, workers, owners of forest land, logging contractors, and consulting firms, sustainably produced forest products among consumers, the potential contribution of traditional forest-related knowledge to conservation and sustainable use of forest biological diversity, the impact of forest-related production and consumption patterns on the loss of forest biological diversity and the goods and services it provides; (XIII/3, para. 51; IX/5, para. 1(q); VI/22, annex, programme element 2, goal 3)
• Ensure that programmes and measures taken for the conservation and sustainable use of forest biodiversity, including non-timber forest products, support efforts to eradicate poverty and improve livelihoods; (IX/5, para. 2(d), 2(h))
• Strengthen participation of women, indigenous peoples and local communities in the sustainable use and conservation of forest biological diversity, especially but not limited to the sustainable use and conservation of non-timber resources, and values, and to resolve land rights and land use disputes in order to sustainably manage forest biodiversity; (XIII/3, para. 52; IX/5, para. 1(m); VI/22, para. 32; VI/22, annex, programme element 1, goal 4, objective 3(a), 3(b))
• Implement effective measures to protect traditional knowledge and values in forest laws and planning tools, and support activities of indigenous and local communities involving the use of traditional forest-related knowledge in biodiversity management; (VI/22, annex, programme element 2, goal 1, objective 3(d) and programme element 1, goal 4, objective 3(c)-3(f), 1(a); IX/5, para. 1(d))
• Support regional cooperation and initiatives on sustainable use of timber and non-timber forest products and services, and on transboundary forest ecosystems and populations of species, to address regional forest degradation and deforestation and reduce the loss and degradation of other ecosystems; (14/1, para. 14(c); VII/1, para. 5; VI/22, para. 18, 20, 33, and annex, programme element 1, goal 4, objective 1(c))
• Develop knowledge on forest ecosystem services, and implement, as appropriate, innovative tools for securing such services, such as Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES), consistent and in harmony with the Convention and other relevant international obligations; (IX/5, para. 2(e))
• Encourages forest enterprises and forest owners to integrate the sustainable use, conservation and restoration of biodiversity into the development and use of forest management plans, voluntary sustainability standards and/or of voluntary certification schemes, tools and guidelines or other voluntary mechanisms, and facilitate and support a responsible private sector committed to sustainable harvesting practices and compliance with domestic laws through effective development and enforcement of laws on sustainable harvesting of timber and non-timber resources; (IX/5, para. 1(f); XIII/3, para. 53; VI/22, annex, programme element 1, goal 4, objective 1(h))
• Develop codes of conduct for sustainable forest practices in logging companies and the wood-processing sector to improve biodiversity conservation, and encourage implementation of voluntary third-party credible forest certification schemes that take into consideration relevant forest biodiversity criteria and that would be audited, taking into consideration indigenous and local community rights and interests; (VI/22, annex, programme element 1, goal 4, objective 1(f) and programme element 2, goal 1, objective 4(d); IX/5, para. 1(o), 1(p))
• Develop legislation, administrative or policy measures on access and benefit-sharing for forest genetic resources and associated traditional knowledge; (VI/22, annex, programme element 1, goal 5 and programme element 2, goal 1, objective 3(e))
• Develop and apply environmental and socio-economic impact assessment methods as appropriate prior to land-conversion decisions; (VI/22, annex, programme element 2, goal 1, objective 3(h))
• Strengthen collaboration at national and regional levels between national focal points of forest-related conventions and instruments to increase consistency among the various levels of policies that affect forest biodiversity; (X/36, para. 2, 3, 13, 15; VIII/19A, para. 7; IX/5, para. 2(i); VI/22, annex, programme element 1, goal 4, objective 1(e))
• Conduct key research programmes on the role of forest biodiversity and ecosystem functioning, and improve the understanding of the various causes of forest biological diversity losses; (VI/22, annex, programme element 3, goal 3, and programme element 2, goal 1, objective 1)
• Improve enforcement and monitoring of sustainable forest management and the sustainability of timber trade, and evaluation of the impacts of policies, programmes, plans, projects and strategies relating to forest activities, and improve the infrastructure for data and information management; (14/1, para. 14(e); IX/1, paras. 4-5; XIII/3, para. 54; IX/5, para. 1(g); VI/22, annex, programme element 3, goal 4)
• Develop effective and equitable information systems and strategies and promote implementation and monitoring of those strategies for in situ and ex situ conservation and sustainable use of forest genetic diversity; (VI/22, annex, programme element 1, goal 4, objective 4)
• Develop national forest classification systems and maps, and specific forest ecosystems surveys in priority areas for conservation and sustainable use of forest biodiversity, and improve knowledge on and methods for the assessment of the status and trends of forest biological diversity; (VI/22, annex, programme element 3, goal 1-2)

Aquaculture and Fisheries

• Develop and implement fishery management plans to control pressure on resources and habitats, ensure stock replenishment and prevent loss of biodiversity/habitats, taking into account user’s rights, zoning (including setting of no take zones), drawing on traditional and science-based knowledge; (VIII/1, annex, priority action 4.2.1.6; VIII/27, para. 21; XII/5, annex, para. 5(b); XIII/3, para. 7; V/3, annex, C; Convention on Wetlands (CBD/SBI/3/6/Add.3, 16 February 2021); Convention on Migratory Species (CBD/SBI/3/6/Add.3, 16 February 2021))
• Develop and implement national and regional programmes for the sustainable management of aquaculture as well as for the control of aquatic invasive species, and address the impacts of unsustainable aquaculture and promote sustainable aquaculture practices ensuring opportunities for the participation of indigenous and local communities. (VIII/1, annex, priority action 4.2.1.9; VIII/27, para. 23)
• Adopt relevant best management practices and legal and institutional arrangements for sustainable mariculture, and develop effective site-selection methods, in the framework of integrated marine and coastal area management, taking into account the special needs and difficulties encountered by stakeholders in developing countries; use selective fishing gear in order to avoid or minimize by-catch in cases where seed are collected from nature and selective methods in industrial fisheries to avoid or minimize by-catch; ensure that fish stocks used for fish meal and fish oil are managed in such a way as to be sustainable and to maintain the trophic web; (VII/5, para. 45(b)(f)(k)(l); VII/5, para. 46)
• Adopt the use of relevant methods and techniques for avoiding the adverse effects of mariculture on marine and coastal biological diversity, and develop controlled low-cost hatchery and genetically sound reproduction methods, made available for widespread use in mariculture, in order to avoid seed collection from nature, where appropriate; (VII/5, para. 44, 45(e))
• Apply environmental impact assessments, or similar assessment and monitoring procedures, on mariculture developments, water-development projects, aquaculture and watershed activities, including agriculture, forestry and mining, and best predictions with well-designed sampling schemes that can adequately distinguish the effects of anthropogenic activities from natural processes; (VII/4, annex, goal 3.3(a); IV/4, annex I, para. 9(g); VII/5, para. 45(a))
• Develop appropriate genetic resource management plans at the hatchery level and in the breeding areas, including cryopreservation techniques, aimed at biodiversity conservation; (VII/5, para. 45(d))
• Identify and implement appropriate and practical management measures for multispecies reef fisheries to reduce unsustainable fishing practices, and sustainably manage populations of key reef fish and invertebrate species targeted by export-driven fisheries or by the aquarium and curio trades, through appropriate and practical measures; (XII/23, annex, para. 8.1d-8.1e)
• Introduce new, or strengthen existing, national regulations and management measures, including the application of the ecosystem approach to fisheries and aquaculture, including biodiversity in cold-water areas, to address unsustainable fishing practices, including overfishing, illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing and destructive fishing practices, and ensure effective enforcement; minimizing the detrimental impacts of fishing practices; mitigating and managing by-catches sustainably and reducing discards, in order to attain a sustainable exploitation level of marine fishery resources and thereby contributing to a good environmental status in marine and coastal waters; (XII/23, annex, para. 8.1c; XIII/3, para. 69; XIII/3, para. 66; X/29, para. 13(g), 54, 55; XIII/11, annex II, para. 5.2(a))
• Provide access for small-scale artisanal fishers to marine resources and markets, as appropriate; (XIII/3, para. 72)
• Prevent the introduction of invasive alien species and restore, where appropriate, indigenous wild-capture fisheries stocks in preference to other aquaculture developments, and promote use of native species and subspecies in mariculture to avoid accidental introduction of alien species and their parasites; (VII/4, annex, goal 1.4 and goal 2.2, activity 2.2.2; IX/4B, para. 27, 18; IV/4, annex I, para. 9(b); VIII/27, para. 24; VII/5, para. 45(g))
• Establish or strengthen existing mechanisms of governance of fisheries, including policies for fishing capacity management and reduction, including measures and regulations with a view to promoting the conservation and recovery of endangered species, and ensure compliance with frameworks on unsustainable fishing gears and practices that severely impact vulnerable marine and coastal ecosystems, taking into account sustainable customary resource use of indigenous and local communities; (14/1, para. 14(d); X/28, para. 8; X/29, para. 56; XIII/3, para. 71; VIII/1, annex, priority action 4.2.1.2)
• Encourage the development of self-sufficient private enterprise and private-public partnerships to supply substitutes, such as sustainably produced/­sustainably-harvested chicken, fish and other domestic livestock, in urban settlements which are sufficiently large (and have a large enough customer base); (14/7, annex, para. 38(b); VIII/1, annex, priority action 5.1.1.5)
• Conduct national assessments to determine the level of unsustainable fishing practices, assess the consequences of mariculture for marine and coastal biological diversity and promote techniques which minimize adverse impact; (XII/23, annex, para. 8.1a; IV/5, annex, programme element 4)
• Promote the use of gears and techniques that minimize by-catch of non-target species, develop an updated assessment of fishing gears and practices, assess and promote new techniques to help alleviate fishing pressures on coastal ecosystems; (VIII/1, annex, priority action 4.2.1.3-4.2.1.5)
• Encourage the development and implementation of environmentally friendly and socially fair and equitable voluntary schemes, certification systems and codes of conduct of marine biodiversity-based products; (IX/4B, para. 23; VIII/1, annex, priority action 4.2.1.7)
• Prioritize the recovery and sustainable management of reef species with key ecological functions, in particular herbivorous reef fish populations; (XII/23, annex, para. 8.1f)
• Promote the establishment of marine no-take zones to enhance replenishment of fishery resources; (VIII/1, annex, priority action 4.2.1.8)
• Establish marine protected areas for conservation and management of biodiversity as the main objective and, when in accordance with the management objectives for protected areas, as fisheries management tools; (X/31B, para. 24)
• Consider the use and/or establishment of gene banks for fish and other species; (IV/4, annex I, para. 9(f)(iv))
• Take measures as appropriate and consistent with their national and international obligations, based for example on risk assessment, to control the movements of fish between water bodies and drainage basins; (VIII/27, para. 57)
• Develop effective methods for effluent and waste control, and minimize the use of antibiotics through better husbandry techniques in mariculture; (VII/5, para. 45(c), 45(j))
• Implement effective measures to prevent the inadvertent release of mariculture species and fertile polyploids, including, in the framework of the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, living modified organisms (LMOs), and use proper methods of breeding and proper places of releasing in order to protect genetic diversity; (VII/5, para. 45(h)-(i))
• Consider traditional knowledge, where applicable as a source to develop sustainable mariculture techniques; (VII/5, para. 45(m))
• Promote community-based measures, including community rights-based management, to manage fisheries sustainably; (XII/23, annex, para. 8.1b)
• Develop and implement socioeconomic incentives to encourage coastal communities, including indigenous and local communities, to play a central role in conservation and sustainable use of coral reefs and closely associated ecosystems, including through, inter alia, the use of tax benefits or other economic incentives for sustainable fishing, conservation agreements that reward users who forego unsustainable activities, and community-based conservation trust funds supported by fees from ecotourism and fines for unsustainable use; (XII/23, annex, para. 9c)
• Gather and use gender-disaggregated data, and engage women’s groups already active in related sectors such as agriculture, fisheries, and forestry; (XII/7, annex, para. 9)

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