The draft of the first global assessment of the progress towards the Kunming Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF) suggests that the world is not on track to meet the targets set under the Framework.
The assessment shows that progress towards only one target — Target 8 — is on track. But even here, parties acknowledged that it is not being made at a sufficient rate. This pertains to minimising the impacts of climate change on biodiversity and building resilience. Others, like Target 19 on financing (mobilise at least $200 billion per year for global biodiversity by 2030), are not doing very well.
The draft will be discussed at the two meetings crucial for biodiversity that are underway in Nairobi.
The Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice (SBSTTA) begins on July 27, 2026 and will continue until August 1. A total of six agenda items will be discussed during this period. This meeting will be followed by the Subsidiary Body on Implementation (SBI) that will begin on August 4 and end on August 12, 2026, where delegates will deliberate on how the scientific messages are to be implemented. This meeting has 13 agenda items.
KMGBF was put in place in 2022 and has 23 targets that need to be met by 2030. This is the first time progress towards 2030 targets is being assessed.
The global assessment, State of Biodiversity Action, is based on 129 national reports, 160 national targets 80 National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans and multiple submissions from Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities. The overall message is that current efforts and ambitions are not enough to achieve the framework’s 23 targets by 2030, despite record global engagement for nature. This report was prepared after peer review of the first draft of the global report that was available in June.
At SBSTTA and SBI, delegates will discuss the reasons for the gap and also identify ways to improve the situation. Deliberations at Nairobi will provide evidence for the Global Review taking place at the 17th Conference of Parties to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (COP 17). The final version of the report to be considered at COP 17 will be made public shortly after the Nairobi meetings.
According to Asad Naqvi, secretary of the SBI-7 meeting, three messages emerge from the report: We are withdrawing more from natural capital than we can replenish; we have failed to mainstream biodiversity into our economic and financial planning; and financing and capacity needs must be accelerated. However, he added, the report also identifies what works.
“The negotiations beginning today are an opportunity for Parties to consider this evidence as they build consensus on the first Global Review and the decisions that will need to be taken to increase ambition, accelerate and scale up action for biodiversity at COP 17,” said Astrid Schomaker, executive secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity. We have a very solid information base that is encouraging but it also means that we can take very good decisions, she added.
SBSTTA-28 will also develop recommendations on issues including marine and coastal biodiversity, protected and conserved areas, sustainable wildlife management, synthetic biology, and the application of scientific knowledge to decision-making under the Convention, such as through the Business and Biodiversity Assessment published by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) earlier this year.
SBI-7 will negotiate the policies, finance and other implementation measures needed to accelerate progress. Recommendations will be developed on issues such as resource mobilisation, digital sequence information on genetic resources, capacity-building, biodiversity mainstreaming and implementation of the Cartagena and Nagoya Protocols.