What is the CBD?

The United Nations (UN) Convention on Biological Diversity, also known as the 'CBD', creates global standards, strategies and mechanisms for the conservation of biodiversity at a global scale, and allows countries to meet, dialogue and (ideally) collaborate!

The CBD is a type of Multilateral Environmental Agreement (MEA) and is one of eight legally binding international agreements between several states, that focus on environmental issues.

Others you may have heard of are:

The Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)
The Convention on Migratory Species (UN CMS)

The CBD was established in 1992 in Rio de Janeiro and has a COP* every two years.

*COP simply means ‘Conference of Parties’ and is the governing body of an international convention. At COP, parties meet to determine goals and guidelines, and review progress on targets. The number refers to the number of times that conference has taken place e.g COP28 is the 28th meeting!

There are 196 parties to the convention (or countries which are signed up) with only the USA and Vatican City State not signing. Parties are legally required to create and enforce national strategies to achieve the goals and agreements of the convention.

The convention has 3 main objectives:

Conservation of biological diversity
Sustainable use of biological diversity
Fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from the use of these resources

Parties are currently working towards a 10 year plan (2020-2030) called the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (also known as KMGBF, GBF or the Global Biodiversity Framework).
This plan consists of 23 targets for 2030 and 4 goals for 2050 - click on the links to read these!

Youth Engagement at the CBD:

Youth attend COPs as a major stakeholder group, meaning we have official seats in the room and can voice our opinions. Some of the ways we are engaged in the CBD are:

Interventions
Lobbying
Tracking
Press conferences
Side events and Parallel events
Youth Spaces (pavilion, summit)
Youth Coordination meetings
Partnerships and alliances

You can read about GYBN UK's experience at the CBD COP16 in 2024 in Colombia here: GYBN UK LinkedIn Article

We'll be updating this page with more information soon! :) Stay tuned!

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