The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

SwedBio supported the previous SRC director Johan Rockström in his role in the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN), and contributes to the development of SDG indicators and shares insights regarding financing for biodiversity to the finance for development work being carried out by SDSN.

The SwedBio support is also focused on the SDSN research project The World in 2050 (TWI 2050). The goal of this project is to explore the most pressing issues facing the global community post 2015: the feasibility and implications of the necessary transformative sustainable development pathways for key sectors to meet economic development goals within a safe and just operating space of a stable planet. Transitioning to a sustainable development pathway and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals will require inclusive economic development within planetary boundaries. Several international expert groups will make up the TWI 2050 consortium.

 

United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and synergies with Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)

Relevant SwedBio priorities relate to the contribution of biodiversity, good ecosystem management and resilience to climate adaptation and mitigation, and links between financing for climate and biodiversity such as Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES). Examples include comparison and analysis of safeguards for biodiversity, governance and rights under the CBD Innovative Financial Mechanisms (IFMs) with Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD).

 

The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)

Issues and meetings of priority are:

– The Strategic Plan (the Aichi Targets). The Strategic Plan is comprised of a shared vision, a mission, strategic goals and 20 ambitious yet achievable targets, collectively known as the Aichi Targets. The Strategic Plan serves as a flexible framework for the establishment of national and regional targets and it promotes the coherent and effective implementation of the three objectives of the CBD.

– Indicators for the Strategic Plan. This relates to for example ecosystem services indicators described under the IPBES, with partners such as the United Nations Environment Programme – World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC), and the work of the International Indigenous Forum on Biodiversity (IIFB) working group on indicators, on customary sustainable use and traditional knowledge indicators, including the work by Forest People Programme on aggregating data across scales from Community Based Monitoring and Information Systems. Other potential partners for this issue are Bioversity International and the Satoyama Initiative.

– Financing for Biodiversity. The focus is on economic flows from north to south including development cooperation; valuing biodiversity and ecosystem services to integrate the value in decision making; and innovative biodiversity financial mechanisms and their contribution to positive solutions and negative impacts. Safeguards relating to innovative financial mechanisms, or biodiversity financing mechanisms as it is now called, is also a prioritised issue, especially safeguards linked to indigenous peoples and local communities perspectives and rights connected to livelihood and biodiversity.

– Biodiversity for poverty eradication and development. SwedBio has long been involved in this issue, for example as chair of an expert group under CBD on the topic, and will continue to follow and contribute when strategic opportunities arise.

– The CBD Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice (SBSTTA). SwedBio normally participate as part of Swedish delegation and follows topics of relevance to SwedBio.

– The CBD programme of work on traditional knowledge, innovations and practices (8j). This programme deals with promoting and maintaining knowledge relevant to the sustainable use of biodiversity held by indigenous peoples and local communities, including encouraging the equitable sharing of benefits from such knowledge. This cross-cutting programme of work explicitly deals with knowledge as an important asset for poor and vulnerable people. SwedBio contributes to the participation of indigenous peoples and local communities’ representatives in the 8(j) working group meetings as well as SBSTTA and CBD COP meetings through supporting organisations such as International Indigenous Forum on Biodiversity (IIFB), Forest Peoples Programme (FPP) and Tebtebba in the Collaborative Programme.

– Assessment of collective action of indigenous peoples and local communities in biodiversity conservation and resource mobilization. This work follows up on decisions from CBD COP12 in the Republic of Korea in 2014 related to Article 8(j), where SwedBio through partners supported the development of Community Based Monitoring and Information Systems (CBMIS) and the Action Plan on Customary Sustainable Use, as well as the COP12 decision related to resource mobilization on the role of collective action, including by indigenous and local communities.

– The programme of work on protected areas and the follow up of the IUCN 5th World Parks Congress 2014, that contains new strategic approaches related to governance and management of protected and conserved areas, and indigenous peoples and local communities rights and responsibilities related to territories and resources in these areas.

Other topics of importance are agricultural biodiversity including biofuels, and sustainable use, including customary sustainable use.

 

The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES)

IPBES goals are to strengthen the science-policy interface on biodiversity and ecosystem services for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity, long-term human well-being and sustainable development. IPBES recognizes that there is a need for strengthening the dialogue between the scientific community, governments and other holders of knowledge and stakeholders on biodiversity and ecosystem services.

SwedBio, together with SRC staff, has been involved in:

– Capacity building, where SwedBio staff has from the start of the IPBES discussions helped out with bridging between north and south and explaining the need for capacity building. SwedBio is presently supporting BES-Net, an outreach match-making web portal under UNDP, with both funds and content support.

– Indigenous and local knowledge, SwedBio in collaboration with SRC researchers has been contributing to the possibility for holders of knowledge from indigenous peoples and local communities to participate effectively in IPBES, through initiating a dialogue process across knowledge systems in IPBES, and through work to develop the Multiple Evidence Approach.

– Policy support tools and methodologies regarding the diverse conceptualization of values of biodiversity and nature’s benefits to people including ecosystem services. SRC has been working with this issue for a long time, and SwedBio staff have been involved for example in the Swedish Government report “Making the value of Ecosystem Services Visible” (note that this has not been financed on the Sida funds).

 

Programme on Ecosystem Change and Society (PECS)

SwedBio contributes with a bridging role in facilitating exchange of experiences and information between PECS, the Sub Global Assessment Network (SGA) Network and IPBES, and further encourages the dialogue between scientists, practitioners and policy makers on both the local and global scales. In addition, SwedBio contributes to SAPECS – the South African part of PECS.

 

Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), the UN Committee on World Food Security (CFS) and the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA)

Engagement related to the FAO, ITPGRFA and CFS is of general importance for SwedBio’s work on poverty alleviation including food security, peoples’ livelihood and the sustainable use of biodiversity, in particular agricultural biodiversity, and ecosystem services.

 

Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), Water, Land and Ecosystems (WLE)

SwedBio contributes with policy and practice linkages. SRC is part of the Ecosystem services and resilience theme under the Water, Land and Ecosystems (WLE) programme, which is one of CGIAR’s seven Consortium Research Programs (CRPs).

 

Sub Global Assessment (SGA) Network

SwedBio is a member of the international advisory committee for this network, which operates through a joint arrangement between the UNEP-WCMC and The Cropper Foundation (TCF). This links to the SwedBio contribution to work by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) on Ecosystem Services indicators. This also connects to the Strategic Plan of the Convention on Biological Diversity and the indicators for the Aichi Targets, and is expected to result in closer understanding of linkages between ecosystem services and human wellbeing, which can contribute to policy-making. SwedBio serves as the coordinating node of a thematic hub on traditional knowledge under SGA. This work will also potentially have impact on developments of frameworks and guidelines in this area for the IPBES.

 

Ecosystem Services Partnership

In 2014 SwedBio became part of the lead team for a recently established thematic working group on indigenous peoples and local communities’ perspectives on ecosystem services, a thematic group that in terms of participants and mandate have strong synergies with the Sub-global Assessment Network and the hub on traditional knowledge mentioned above.