Side Event at CBD Geneva Meetings Explores Landscape Approaches & National Biodiversity Plans

On 18 March 2022, UNU-IAS co-organised a side event at the 2022 Geneva Meetings of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), focusing on integrating landscape approaches into National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs).

In opening remarks Keiichi Nakazawa (Director, Biodiversity Strategy Office, MOEJ) announced that Japan was developing its second NBSAP. The new strategy will emphasise the importance of integrated approaches to ensure healthy ecosystems, maintain and enhance ecosystem services, and promote sustainable socioeconomic activities.

Suneetha Subramanian (Research Fellow , UNU-IAS) presented an outline of a new NBSAPs manual that is under development by UNU-IAS and the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES) with the support of the Secretariat of the CBD (SCBD). The manual will be a tool to support policymakers in integrating landscape approaches in NBSAPs. The side event gathered opinions and suggestions to ensure the manual meets the needs of CBD Parties and other organisations.

Isabela Hernandez (Delegate, Dominican Republic) and Terence Hay-Edie (UNDP) highlighted the GEF Small Grants Programme as a longstanding initiative that has helped countries apply landscape approaches at the local level, and integrate them into regional and national policies.

Jessika Carvajal (Delegate, Colombia) shared the success story of Colombia’s mangrove forests restoration, which was enabled by a national restoration policy.

The panellists agreed that the development of NBSAPs with landscape approaches should involve various stakeholders, including scientists and academics. Marcel Kok (PBL Netherlands) added that landscape planning could be a mechanism for national planning that facilitated cooperation between ministries.

The event was held alongside the Third Meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Implementation (SBI-3), organised in partnership with IGES, UNDP, and the Ministry of Environment, Government of Japan.