Synergies between biodiversity and climate policy frameworks

The paper series’ overall objective is to enhance the understanding and policy uptake of such synergies, including through nature-based solutions, their enabling conditions, and the support mechanisms required for joint implementation and mainstreaming of biodiversity and climate change policies at the national and local levels. It seeks to inspire negotiators, policy- and decision-makers, and practitioners to identify and advocate for strategies and solutions that achieve multiple benefits for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity and climate change adaptation and mitigation.

Overall, the Thematic Papers highlight ample scientific evidence and existing policy opportunities to pursue a synergistic response to the interlinked challenges of climate change and biodiversity loss. Coordinated policy responses to ensure such synergies, however, are still scarce. Some of the key messages include the following:

• Legal tools and policy mechanisms that can support synergies between the CBD and the UNFCCC, as well as the coordinated implementation of the biodiversity and climate commitments, currently exist but are not used to their full effect.
• The urgency for action for addressing climate change and biodiversity loss requires coherent policy approaches that support transformative instead of incremental changes.
• Science can provide knowledge, tools, and methods for assessing the interlinkages between climate, biodiversity, and sustainable development and contribute to participatory decision-making processes for navigating synergies, trade-offs, and uncertainties.