UNEP-EC Virtual Workshop on Regional Seas Programmes and the post 2020 Global Biodiversity Framework

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and European Commission (EC) held a virtual workshop to kick off a project on Regional Seas Programmes and the post 2020 Global Biodiversity Framework on 27-28 October 2020. The EC underlined the importance of marine biodiversity issues to be incorporated into the Convention on Biologicaly Diversity's (CBD) post-2020 GBF to which this project could contribute.

The objectives of the virtual workshop were:

1. To share lessons learnt and experiences on the use of regional seas programmes’ indicator systems in tracking down achievement of their regional targets and objectives;

2. To share good practice of regional seas programmes in taking up global frameworks (CBD, the UN's SDG) in their own regional policies and frameworks; and

3. To formulate recommendations on the engagement of the regional seas programmes in the implementation and monitoring of the post 2020 Global Biodiversity Framework.

The co-chairs of the working group developing the CBD post-2020 GBF presented ongoing work in developing the framework. They informed that currently the targets for fresh water, coastal waters and marine waters are combined with a view of bringing across important objectives for all biodiversity issues. Work is ongoing on defining a tiered system of indicators and targets. Reporting of these indicators is foreseen to be happening at national scale, however for marine topics it was considered that regional reporting could be relevant and in such a case the member states would need to discuss the issue of mandating regional reporting.

OSPAR will continue to share lessons learned on developing an indicator-based assessment system and to facilitate reporting of Contracting Parties as contributions towards global commitments.