The Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN) has commissioned a research project with the title “The cross-cutting nature of biodiversity – towards mainstreaming and synergies.” It will contribute to the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development (CCICED) in general and the Special Policy Study (SPS) working group on Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Conservation in particular. The main outcome will be a study on the mainstreaming of biodiversity into different sectors and synergies among biodiversity-related conventions.

The kick-off meeting was held on 19 May. It brought together a group of experts in the fields of mainstreaming and synergies in order to a) introduce the research project and b) reflect on the focus and key messages of the report in order to ensure a useful contribution to CCICED and ongoing discussions on the post-2020 global biodiversity framework.

The mainstreaming part of the report will focus on individual sectors, for example climate mitigation and adaptation (including Nature-based Solutions), urban planning, green finance, environmental accounting and/or biodiversity and health. The part of the study focusing on synergies between biodiversity-related Conventions will provide a synthesis of ongoing work streams and shall inform the discussions on the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework, the development of joint National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs), Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and National Adaptation Plans (NAPs) as well as approaches on monitoring, reporting, capacity building, etc.

The first draft of the study is expected to be delivered by September and the final draft by November 2020.