Governments, through the Convention on Biodiversity (CBD), have set ambitious targets under the Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) to reduce  biodiversity loss by 2030 and move toward a full recovery by 2050.  Given the accelerated degradation of habitat and species and of ecosystem services, dedicated efforts by all actors in society to achieve these global targets is essential: it may provide the only chance for many threatened species to survive, and it is crucial to enable people to thrive.  Turning the target-setting into reality is the difficult task at hand, even more so as governments consider how those efforts will be financed.  The GBF has established ambitious financial targets to ensure the financing of biodiversity and it is imperative that governments, donors and the global community work diligently to further develop the appropriate financing mechanisms.   An important player in the financing equation is the private sector.

While governments are working to protect biodiversity and their natural capital, they are also concerned with economic development. Governments need to attract investment to generate resources to support development and create jobs, while also needing to balance those investments with the goal of halting and reversing biodiversity loss.   That can be challenging, for various reasons, but fortunately there are pathways for success in creating that balance between desired development goals with biodiversity conservation objectives.   This session plans to highlight some of those pathways.

The Wildlife Conservation Society-led Program, Conservation, Minimization of impacts, and compensation of Biodiversity (COMBO), has been operating since 2016 with funding primarily from the French Government (Agence Française de Développement and Fonds Français pour l’Environnement Mondiale), with additional funding from Norway (NORAD) and other funders. COMBO is implemented in six countries and with several partners, including Biotope, BIOFUND, Guinee Ecologie, the University of Queensland and the Myanmar Biodiversity Fund  The objective of COMBO is to reconcile economic development with the conservation of biodiversity and ecosystem services through support for development and implementation of policies aimed at achieving no net loss, and preferably a net gain, of biodiversity – a goal aligned with global ambitions for biodiversity conservation.  This means ensuring that companies avoid and minimize negative impacts to the greatest extent possible, restore impacted areas, and then provide long-term financing to improve and protect biodiversity to compensate for significant residual impacts on biodiversity.  The outcome for biodiversity and people should be at least neutral or preferably better than before the development project and all its mitigation measures. The mitigation hierarchy (avoid, minimize, restore, compensate/ offset) is increasingly promoted in legislation and creates requirements for businesses to address their impacts while planning to achieve a net gain through investment in conservation.  The program has been operating primarily in Africa but has extended to Asia in recent years.   In countries without such legislation some companies have committed to following IFC standards which have the potential to deliver similar net gain results at the project-level.  However, although those project level outcomes are laudable, they fall short of a comprehensive solution to the drivers of biodiversity loss.  Without legislation that binds all companies to achieving biodiversity net gain, GBF targets may not be attainable.

This session will focus on the successful development and implementation of legislation, and supporting systems, in Mozambique, Uganda, and other countries where legislation is under development requiring project developers to achieve positive outcomes for biodiversity.  In these countries, activities are underway  to develop metrics that support goals for meeting established targets and net gain,  to build capacity within government and civil society to ensure compliance with the regulations, and to establish the funding mechanisms that can ensure that the  associated investment  contributes to protected area financing as well as to enhance benefits from nature to communities and landowners.   The program is working closely with conservation trust funds (CTFs) as vehicles to help manage and channel funding from project developers for conservation outcomes in the countries.  

The session will involve the participation of diverse stakeholders (e.g. government, civil society, private sector) to demonstrate the catalytic role that regulation can play in addressing impacts on biodiversity and providing long-term funding to meet national conservation objectives, and ultimately help achieve global biodiversity targets.  It will demonstrate the importance of collaboration among different actors, including governments, business and civil society to meet biodiversity conservation challenges. It will also demonstrate the importance of building the necessary enabling environment  over the long-term, including  robust government regulations, data infrastructure and institutional capacity, to facilitate the contribution of business to assist governments with financing and meeting their conservation targets. 

Target Audience

The primary audience is governments who are attending COP and who would benefit from understanding the benefits of effective legislation requiring adherence to the mitigation hierarchy and investments to achieve biodiversity outcomes aligned with national and global targets.   Donors represent another target audience as donor funds will be required to assist governments in developing legislation and creating the institutional structures and enabling environment to deliver the desired outcomes.  Civil Society is another target as organizations need to know that such laws are possible and effective in delivering benefits to nature if they are applied and compliance is ensured.   Civil Society can have an important role in this process.  Finally, businesses need to understand their crucial role in delivering  net gain in biodiversity, following the mitigation hierarchy, and contributing to overall conservation outcomes.

Proposed Program  

Note:  Final program to be finalized

Welcome:  WCS

Session:   Introduction to the COMBO program

Creating Not Net Loss and Net Gain Regulations - Setting Requirements for Conservation Action -   TBD: (Governments of Uganda, Mozambique, Guinee, Madagascar).

Session:   Biodiversity data, metrics and infrastructure  to support  Net Gain biodiversity policy and GBF targets

Session –  Applying PS6 Standards to Achieve Net Gain in Biodiversity - 

Session –  The Role of Conservation Trust Funds in Supporting Implementation of Net Gain Activities