21 January 2026: Information webinar on Advancing the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity to support the full enjoyment of all human rights, including the right to health and the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment
Healthy biodiversity and ecosystems are fundamental to both physical and mental health and are key determinants of the right to health. Biodiversity loss directly threaten livelihoods, security, and the health of humans, animals, and the environment, especially for indigenous peoples, local communities, woman, and others in vulnerable situations. Consequently, biodiversity loss undermines the realization of human rights, including the rights to life, health, food, water and sanitation, equality and non-discrimination, and to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment. A human rights–based approach enhances both biodiversity outcomes and the realization of the right to health, promoting access to information, meaningful participation, and access to justice, thereby fostering equity and ownership among rights-holders.
Objectives:
- Highlight the centrality of the right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health and its underlying determinants, in biodiversity governance and One Health implementation;
- Showcase how a human rights-based approach can drive improved, effective, and just biodiversity and public health outcomes;
- Strengthen understanding of the important connection between biodiversity, health and human rights from perspective of diverse stakeholders and rights-holders.
- Presentation: How the work on Biodiversity and Health under the CBD relates to human rights (Marianela Araya-Quesada, SCBD)
- Presentation: What are the implications of a human rights-based approach for biodiversity and health? (Khaled Hassine & Ben Schachter, OHCHR)
- Presentation: Mainstreaming One Health in the Americas (Daniel Buss, PAHO)
More information: The Global Action Plan on Biodiversity and Health
Notification 2025 - 151
25 March 2025: Information webinar on the Global Action Plan to Mainstream Biodiversity and Health Interlinkages
At its sixteenth meeting, the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity adopted a Global Action Plan on Biodiversity and Health, which includes a set of voluntary actions that can be implemented at various levels and on different scales, from international to national and from multisectoral to sector-specific, with cross-sectoral collaboration at the governmental level that allows for the participation of indigenous peoples and local communities, in addition to stakeholders, such as civil society and the private sector. The Global Action Plan builds on previous work undertaken under the Convention on Biological Diversity and is also intended to facilitate the realization of biodiversity and health co-benefits from the implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.
The Secretariat organized an Information webinar on the Global Action Plan to raise awareness about its importance for mainstreaming biodiversity and health interlinkages. The webinar also aimed to highlight the importance of biodiversity and health interlinkages for healthy people and a healthy environment, through presentations from various organizations and initiatives, which shared information on how the Global Action Plan could be useful for their respective fields of action.
This webinar was conducted with the generous support of the European Union.
More information: Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework
Notification 2025 - 023
