The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF) has set ambitious global targets, but a significant gap remains between these commitments and their effective implementation at national level. While countries are updating their National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs), translating global targets into coherent, enforceable legal and regulatory frameworks remains a key challenge. Legal gaps, fragmented governance, and limited institutional capacity often hinder implementation, including the effective use of biodiversity finance instruments. In this regard, this side event aims to explore how legal frameworks can bridge the gap between global biodiversity commitments (KMGBF) and national implementation and enable effective governance.

In particular the side event aims to showcase how the Sustainable Wildlife Management (SWM) Programme’s Legal Hub, through its innovative cross-sectoral Legal Diagnostic Tools (LDTs), can support Parties in reviewing and strengthening their national legal and policy frameworks relevant to biodiversity conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. The Legal Hub provides users across sectors with access to, and a better understanding of existing national laws and regulations through targeted questions aligned with the principles of relevant Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs), in particular the CBD and selected targets of the KMGBF.

The event will demonstrate how the application of the LDTs enables a targeted and evidence-based assessment of the extent to which national legal and institutional frameworks contribute to the implementation of CBD objectives and selected targets of the KMGBF. By applying an integrated cross-sectoral perspective — including wildlife, forestry, land use and agrifood systems — the LDTs help identify interactions across sectors and detect strengths, gaps and inconsistencies affecting policy coherence and biodiversity governance.

The results of this analysis can support cross-sectoral collaboration as well as the revision and implementation of NBSAPs, by helping countries identify priority areas for regulatory reform in a structured and comparable manner. They can also provide a practical resource for governments, private sector actors, financial institutions and other stakeholders to better understand regulatory expectations and support responsible business practices, sustainable supply and value chains, and biodiversity-aligned investment, while helping ensure consistency with biodiversity objectives, relevant safeguards, the rights and livelihoods of Indigenous Peoples and local communities, and national commitments under the CBD and the KMGBF.

The event will provide an overview of the SWM Legal Hub followed by the direct experience of CBD government focal points on the use made of the Legal Hub to strengthen national legislation on biodiversity. It will also showcase how FAO supports Members to develop appropriate governance mechanisms, including legal and institutional frameworks, to mainstream biodiversity into their national policies, strategies and legislation in all relevant areas under its mandate.