Action for biodiversity

Introduction

Covering Europe, the Caucasus, Central Asia and North America, the UNECE region is a diverse and ecologically rich area with a wide range of climates, landscapes, and ecosystems, from forests to grasslands, drylands, wetlands, rivers, lakes, and mountains. The region is home to iconic species such as bears, lynx, wolves, and American and European bison, as well as a wide variety of and plant species.

However, the region also faces threats to its biodiversity from agriculture, pollution, urbanization, transport infrastructure, climate change, and invasive species.

UNECE supports countries with practical tools to address these threats and assist the implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF).

Key trends in the region’s biodiversity

The UNECE region is still failing to halt land degradation (SDG target 15.3) and the loss of biodiversity (target 15.5). Only a third of countries have lowered species’ extinction risk (indicator 15.5.1) since 2015i and the 2022 Pan-European Environmental Assessment warned of a lack of evidence for a clear positive overall trend in the status of ecosystems.

At the same time, the region demonstrates restoration of degraded fragmented habitat and landscapes, and conservation efforts. For example, forest areas designated primarily for biodiversity conservation have continually increased over the past 30 years and, in contrast to global trends, forest areas have grown by about 33.5 million ha.

Forests

Today, forests in the region account for 42% of the global total with a higher forest cover rate (37%) and more forest per person (1.4 ha), than the global average. The region accounts for nearly half of the world’s primary forests. With boreal forests (63%), temperate forests (29%) and 7% of sub-tropical forests, forest biodiversity varies considerably also based on the intensity of forest use, population density, settlement history, forest land ownership structures and forest landscape fragmentation. Ongoing sustainable land management efforts have created ecosystems which provide substantial livelihoods and income to millions of people. This multifunctionality requires balancing biodiversity issues simultaneously with e.g., carbon storage and sequestration, wood production, recreation, landscape values, use of non-wood products in the same landscapes.

Water

The significant imbalances in renewable freshwater resources in the region are intensified by the effects of climate change. This leads to a multitude of evolving threats to water quality and ecosystems with e.g., a growing need to enhance the monitoring of emerging pollutants. Ongoing efforts focus on National Policy Dialogues and incorporating biodiversity and ecosystem-based approaches into transboundary climate change impact and vulnerability assessments, adaptation strategies, and water basin plans.

Planning and policy making

Many countries have adopted National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans and policies. Impact assessments are widely used to mainstream biodiversity into planning and decision-making. To help address data gaps, digital technologies, citizen science and crowdsourcing are used. In some countries, challenges are linked to inter-ministerial coordination, policy assessments, public involvement, crime prevention, and efficient law enforcement. Environmental defenders often face strategic lawsuits against public participation and other forms of retaliation for exposing wrongdoings.

Cities

Urban green spaces and forests contain high levels of biodiversity and urban environments, and increasingly play a role in mitigating biodiversity loss. The EU Nature Restoration Law foresees no net loss of green urban space and tree cover by 2030, and a steady increase in their total area from 2030. Many cities in the region implement urban forest biodiversity analysis; replace invasive species, increase tree planting, create greening plans.

UNECE support for biodiversity

UNECE assists countries to integrate biodiversity across different sectors and policy areas and targets of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) through legislative, normative and capacity-building efforts.

Promoting Integrated Sustainable Forests Management (GBF Target 10)

To mainstream biodiversity and GBF’s target into the integrated sustainable forest management approaches within multifunctional forests, UNECE’s Committee on Forests and the Forest Industry builds capacities for implementation mechanisms, stock taking and needs assessments. UNECE’s National Policy Guiding Principles for Forest Landscape Restoration further support these efforts.

Mainstreaming biodiversity in cities, mobility and spatial planning (GBF Target 1)

On urban trees, a simple, proven nature-based solution for increased biodiversity, UNECE is working closely with cities via its Informal Network on Urban Nature and the global Trees in Cities Challenge. To address the special situation of cities in drylands where tress can benefit biodiversity while slowing and even reversing desertification and soil erosion, UNECE together with partners established the Trees in Dry Cities Coalition. Adopted in 2023, the San Marino Regional Urban Forestry Action Plan guides collective efforts at local, national and regional levels for a greener and more vibrant urban environment, with multiple benefits for biodiversity.

Strengthening Monitoring and Assessment (GBF Target 21)

The UNECE Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Programme assists countries in their monitoring and assessment efforts through Revised Guidelines for Environmental Indicators and the first of their kind Guidelines for national biodiversity monitoring systems

UNECE monitors biodiversity via biodiversity-related forest indicators in the pan-European region. To help upgrade forest biodiversity monitoring systems, UNECE developed Guidelines for the Development of a Criteria and Indicator Set for Sustainable Forest Management, and contributes to the “European Forest Biodiversity Indicators at a Glance“.

Reinforcing Participatory and Responsive Governance and Respect for Human Rights (GBF targets 14, 21 and 22)

UNECE’s Environmental Performance Review (EPR) Programme and work on biodiversity conservation and protected areas management provide countries with practical recommendations for monitoring SDG 15 (Life on Land), improving legal, policy and institutional frameworks, and implementing activities.

The Aarhus Convention supports governments and stakeholders in ensuring effective and inclusive public access to information, participation in decision-making, protection of environmental defenders – including through a dedicated Special Rapporteur –, and access to justice in matters related to biodiversity, including in relevant international forums and regarding Generically Modified Organisms and Living Modified Organisms (GMOs/LMOs). UNECE collaborates with the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and its Cartagena Protocol on various capacity-building resources related to GMOs/LMOs matters. The Aarhus Convention’s Task Force on Access to Justice has also addressed biodiversity protection.

Environmental impact assessment under the Espoo Convention’s helps countries cooperate to identify and mitigate risks of damage to fauna and flora before it happens, while its Protocol on Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) ensures that significant effects on flora, fauna, biodiversity, and natural sites are included in sectoral planning for forests, raw materials, mineral resources, water, wind, geothermal, tidal, and solar energy, as well as transport and land use . These instruments can be applied to marine biodiversity and in synergy with international agreements on regional seas.

Protecting Water Ecosystems (GBF Target 3)

The Water Convention addresses biodiversity issues, particularly in transboundary basins, and has organized capacity building on water-related ecosystems, ecosystem services, ecosystem-based adaptation, water-food-energy-ecosystems nexus, the source-to-sea approach and financing ecosystem conservation. Promoting conservation and restoration of transboundary freshwater and water-related ecosystems is part of the Convention’s 2025-2027 work programme. The Protocol on Water and Healthalso promotes the protection of water ecosystems through better water management, and prevention, control and reduction of water related diseases.

Preventing Pollution and Industrial Accidents (GBF Target 7)

The Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution (Air Convention) addresses biodiversity issues resulting from air pollution through science-policy dialogues, access to emission, measurement and modelling dataiv, and information on effects of air pollution on ecosystems, health, crops, and materials. Its scientific international cooperative programmes on forests, water, vegetation, and soil and biodiversity data monitoring, have advanced the understanding of the complex interaction between pollution and biodiversity and helped develop pollution management concepts (e.g. empirical critical loads) to sustain policies and actions to reduce air pollution and protect biodiversity.

To safeguard biodiversity from the impacts of industrial accidents, countries under the Convention on the Transboundary Effects of Industrial Accidents cooperate to implement preventive, readiness, response, and restoration measures.

National pollutant release and transfer registers in compliance with the Protocol on Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers help assess routine and accidental pollution effects on ecosystems, and implement mitigation measures.

Advancing cross-cutting cooperation

To reduce pressures on ecosystems, UNECE supports countries in Europe and North America – whose natural resource production and consumption has significant global impact – to accelerate their circular economy progress. Helping to respond to this key priority for its member States, UNECE’s normative and policy tools for sustainable resource management, value chain traceability and beyond are already supporting concrete efforts.

The eight-fold increase in global trade and the six-fold increase in the global economy over the past 30 years has doubled the demand for living materials from nature, according to IPBES. This puts significant pressure on biodiversity. The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) regulates trade in over 36,000 species of wild animals and plants among its 183 Parties. Joint work between the CITES Secretariat, UNCTAD and UNECE’s UN/CEFACT supports the exchange of electronic “eCITES” permits to strengthen control measures on international trade of CITES-listed species.

The United Nations Fisheries Language for Universal Exchange (UN/FLUX) provides a harmonized message standard that allows fishery management organizations to automatically access electronic data from fishing vessels and automate the collection and dissemination of the fishery activity data needed for sustainable fishery management and for detecting and combatting illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing.  

Policy recommendations

To address key drivers of biodiversity loss and enhance ecosystem protection and recovery, the UNECE region is recommended to focus on:

Effective implementation and monitoring of the region’s national biodiversity strategies and action plans.

Mainstreaming biodiversity considerations into the region’s land use, spatial and transport infrastructure planning and measures to curb pollution.

Stronger legislation and enforcement mechanisms to protect biodiversity and prevent land degradation, including sanctions for illegal activities, and ensuring access to justice and protection of environmental defenders.

Strengthening cross-border cooperation on conservation measures, joint institutional cooperation mechanisms, implementation measures and information sharing.

Encouraging the enlargement, consolidation and effective management of protected areas, ensuring connectivity also through cross-border biodiversity corridors.

Promoting sustainable resource management practices, e.g. in forestry, agriculture, and fisheries, to steward biodiversity beyond protected areas and to reduce pressures on ecosystems.

Supporting restoration of degraded and vulnerable natural ecosystems e.g. forest and freshwater ecosystems.

Enhancing monitoring, modeling, and use of digital technologies, utilizing crowdsourcing, and citizen science projects for deeper insights into biodiversity issues and input for decision-making and policy formulation.

Improving public and private sector stakeholders’ understanding of the importance of biodiversity, while also increasing access to information and encouraging the participation of local communities and other members of the public in decision-making related to biodiversity, to better integrate their knowledge, interests, and rights.

Promoting sustainable, long-term investment into biodiversity-positive actions in the region on a consistent basis at national, regional, and global scales in various sectors, while avoiding the financing of activities that contribute to biodiversity loss.

Recommendations featured in the joint UN Regional Commissions publication