Transboundary conservation has long been recognized as a powerful mechanism for achieving ecological connectivity, fostering regional cooperation, and promoting peace through nature. Since its establishment in 2014 at CBD COP12 under the Presidency of the Republic of Korea, the Peace and Biodiversity Dialogue Initiative (PBDI) has supported countries and protected area managers in strengthening transboundary conservation efforts through dialogue, capacity building, technical exchanges, and small-scale pilot initiatives.

The adoption of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF) has further reinforced the strategic relevance of transboundary conservation. Achieving Target 3 and ensuring ecological connectivity across landscapes and seascapes increasingly requires cooperation beyond administrative and political boundaries.

Over the past decade, PBDI has generated valuable experiences and networks. However, there remains a need to strengthen operational support, peer learning opportunities, and visibility of successful initiatives in order to accelerate implementation and scale impact.

To address this challenge, the CBD Secretariat, IUCN WCPA and NatureXpairs are exploring a strengthened partnership framework to support transboundary cooperation and conservation. This side event will provide an opportunity to showcase PBDI initiatives, gather feedback from practitioners and Parties, and present a renewed collaborative effort for transboundary conservation. In this context, the event will introduce the “From Armenia to Panama” project roadmap for updating the transboundary conservation guidance, outlining the key milestones of a collective stocktake of transboundary cooperation and the development of recommendations towards the IUCN World Congress on Protected and Conserved Areas.

OBJECTIVES

1. Highlight the contribution of transboundary conservation to the implementation of the KMGBF,
2. Showcase lessons learned and success stories from existing Peace Parks, Transboundary Conservation Areas, and PBDI-supported initiatives.
3. Present the PBDI operational framework and introduce the “From Armenia to Panama” project roadmap, outlining the key milestones of the transboundary cooperation stocktake and recommendation process.
4. Mobilise partners, donors and practitioners interested in contributing to the project and its developments.

The fisrt session will showcase, practical experiences from TBC initiatives (PBDI-supported or not). Speakers will be invited to focus on enabling conditions for cooperation, community engagement, ecological connectivity, governance challenges, lessons learned and remaining needs.

The second session will introduce the collaboration between the CBD Secretariat, IUCN WCPA and NatureXpairs to support the implementation of PBDI in the coming years. It will present the main components of this renewed effort, including the update of the IUCN WCPA guidance on transboundary conservation, the organisation of capacity-building workshops, peer-learning exchanges, and a global stocktake of transboundary cooperation experiences.
The session will also invite Parties, partners, practitioners and donors to contribute to the “From Armenia to Panama” project roadmap for the guidance update, which will structure the stocktake and recommendation process towards the IUCN World Congress on Protected and Conserved Areas.