Biodiversity Law & Governance Day 2024

8:30 – 15:45 COT / 13:30 – 20:45 GMT on Saturday, 2October 2024

During the COP16 of the Convention on Biological Diversity in Cali, Colombia

On 26 October 2024 at COP16 of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in Cali, Parties and Observers to the CBD and other biodiversity accords convene experts, practitioners, scholars and stakeholders from law, governance and other fields, in order to scale up efforts to address the main drivers of biodiversity loss, implement the post 2020 Strategic Framework and the global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through legal and institutional measures. 

The 2024 Biodiversity Law & Governance Day seeks to facilitate dialogue, engagement and action to implement the CBD regime, engaging a growing global biodiversity law and governance community of practice. The Centre for International Sustainable Development Law (CISDL) and partner universities, with guidance from leaders in the Convention on Biological Diversity Secretariat (SCBD), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), United Nations Environment Programme (UN-Environment), International Union for the Conservation of Nature World Commission for Environmental Law (IUCN-WCEL), International Development Law Organization (IDLO) and other organisations are honoured to bring Parties, UN bodies and agencies, intergovernmental organizations, academia, private sector actors and civil society together, building upon the success of the inaugural 2016 Biodiversity Law and Governance Day (BLGD) held in Cancun alongside CBD COP13, the 2018 BLGD held in Sharm-El-Sheik alongside CBD COP14, and the 2022 BLGD held in Montreal alongside CBD COP15. By tracking trends, sharing knowledge and practical experiences, and building capacity, BLGD 2024 advances legal elements of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework; strengthens the effectiveness of CBD and its protocols; and enhances synergies between biodiversity treaties and other international regimes. 

Themes of Biodiversity Law & Governance Day 2024:

  • ​​Advancing legal elements of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework: CoP16 is the first since the adoption of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework at COP15 in December 2022, and Parties are expected to show how their National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs) have aligned with the framework. Much can be learned from law and governance reform experiences, including Indigenous law and philosophies, and ways that all levels of decision-makers are integrating the different value systems that nature embodies, in their implementation of the GBF.
  • Enhancing nature-based solutions, sustainable use of natural resources and synergies with biodiversity and other treaties: Many international treaties and processes are key for biodiversity and ecosystems, including the CITES, the Convention on Migratory Species, the Ramsar Wetlands Convention, the UNFCCC and its Paris Agreement, the UNCCD, the oceans and water conventions, human rights covenants and accords, trade and investment agreements, and indigenous treaties. Parties to the CBD and international organizations must strengthen and improve cooperation to enhance synergies and address intersections between regimes.
  • Strengthening the effectiveness of the Nagoya Protocol and addressing genetic information: The Nagoya Protocol entered into force in 2014. Many lessons can be learned from recent national and regional Access and Benefit Sharing (“ABS”) agreements implementation and capacity building efforts. For these agreements to be truly equitable and fair, and agreements to be meaningful and accountable, these concepts should mean the same to all involved, providers and users alike.

Offering dialogue, keynotes, and parallel roundtable/panel sessions, BLGD 2024 stimulates knowledge exchange, builds synergies for capacity building and research collaborations, and inspires cross-pollination between different fields of law, policy and jurisdictions to encourage innovation in legal and institutional tools for mainstreaming biodiversity, to:

  • Profile and share innovative multi-level biodiversity law and governance mechanisms, challenges and best practices;
  • Catalyse knowledge exchange between delegates, legal practitioners and the legal academic community to co-generate new law and governance knowledge and approaches; and
  • Facilitate collaboration within the law and governance community to support capacity development for implementing the CBD, the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and SDGs 14 and 15.

For the full Programme, please see below: