With the approach of 2020 – the cut-off date for the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity and its Aichi Targets – the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity of the United Nations began the process of developing a Global Framework for Biodiversity Post-2020, as another step towards completing the 2050 Vision of “Living in Harmony with Nature”.

As part of this process, the Mexican government, through the Chancellery, the Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources (SEMARNAT), and the National Commission for the Knowledge and Use of Biodiversity (CONABIO), held the “First Workshop in the process of identifying Mexico’s potential contributions to the Zero Draft of the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework” to analyze and identify the country’s potential contributions to the negotiation process within this new framework, which will be adopted next October by the Fifteenth Meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP 15) of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). Around 180 specialists from state and federal governments, academia, youth, the private sector, civil society, indigenous populations, and local communities participated in this workshop on the 29th and 30th of October, which sought a better understanding of the alarming situation and biodiversity trends, as well as the identification of the challenges and opportunities for building new global targets in conservation, restoration, and sustainable use of biodiversity for the period 2021-2030.

During the workshop, GIZ facilitated the table “Searching for Sustainability on all Fronts,” where the main results from the Mainstreaming Biodiversity into the Mexican Agricultural Sector (IKI-IBA) were presented, and participants discussed the importance of including the productive sectors as allies in the strategies for sustainable use of biodiversity. Likewise, the Biodiversity Finance Initiative (BIOFIN) was in charge of the table “Mobilization of Resources,” where it presented the results of the work produced in coordination with the Mexican government between 2015 and 2018 for the Global Biodiversity Framework; in particular for “Mobilization of Resources” Aichi Target 20. What’s more, advances in the implementation of financing solutions for biodiversity were presented, as well as the support opportunities that BIOFIN can provide for the process post-2020.