Browse through our blog posts where we share more in-depth information about the UN CBD, the United States' role in it, youth advocacy work, and more!
Browse through our blog posts where we share more in-depth information about the UN CBD, the United States' role in it, youth advocacy work, and more!
The USA chapter of the Global Youth Biodiversity Network deeply opposes President Trump’s recent Executive Order to withdraw the United States from the Paris Agreement, the global accord which implements the objectives of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which was signed into order on Monday, January 20.
Comprising two of the three Rio Conventions derived from the 1992 Earth Summit, the histories of the UNFCCC and CBD are deeply intertwined. And, as was formally acknowledged in a recent decision adopted at the CBD COP16, biodiversity loss and climate change are interdependent and thus, “need to be addressed urgently and in a coherent and balanced manner.”
President Trump’s recent Executive Order conveys that in the name of putting the American people and economy first, he will discontinue using taxpayer dollars to support countries that “do not require, or merit, financial assistance in the interests of the American people.” The Order also states that the Paris Agreement has the potential to “damage or stifle the American economy” and “unduly or unfairly burden the United States.”
The notion that other countries do not deserve support from the United States is an abdication of our moral obligation to our planet and a dereliction of our responsibility to contribute toward a just transition for all nations to sustainable energy and climate resiliency. It is the United States’ disproportionate contributions to greenhouse gas overabundance that have caused the very climate disruptions and increased natural disasters the Paris Agreement seeks to redress.
Biodiversity is intricately linked with climate health. As GYBN USA works to integrate the CBD into American conservation efforts, we are disappointed in our federal leadership for making the decision to withdraw from the UNFCCC Paris Agreement.
Note: This blog was written by Seth Thomas, a GYBN USA member, for the National Wildlife Federation Blog, where it was originally posted on January 10, 2025. The original can be found here: https://blog.nwf.org/2025/01/un-biodiversity-conference-cop16-marks-major-wins-for-indigenous-peoples-falls-short-on-climate-finance/
The U.S. is one of only 17 countries across the globe classified as a megadiverse country; it is one of the most biodiverse places on the planet. Despite this, the U.S. did not get a vote at the United Nations (UN) biodiversity negotiations this year. While all eyes were on the upcoming UN Framework Convention on Combatting Climate Change (UNFCCC) COP29 in Azerbaijan, the UN biodiversity COP16 in Cali, Colombia, was just getting started.
I attended the COP16 as the Youth Delegation’s U.S. focal point at the negotiations, working to connect them to the massive American network of research organizations, NGOs, state delegations, and federal representatives in attendance.
What is the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity?
The UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) is an international legal treaty which governs all aspects of life on our planet. The three main types of biodiversity are genetic diversity, species diversity, and ecosystem diversity. The treaty encapsulates everything from large landscape conservation to the sharing of DNA sequencing information.
While incredibly broad in scope, an agreed upon decade-long set of goals called the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) guides the treaty. These targets include many of the same objectives as the U.S.’s domestic policy goals such as conserving 30% of lands and waters by 2030. There are 23 targets in total, covering topics such as financing nature conservation, nature-based solutions for climate change, and ensuring equitable participation in decision-making processes.
What is America’s Role in the CBD?
The U.S. originally had reservations about provisions in the CBD relating to the sharing of benefits from DNA harvested from wild plants and animals. What would it mean for American corporations if they had to share profits generated from the use of wild animal DNA in products such as pharmaceuticals? The U.S. and the Vatican are the only two countries that did not ratify the convention.
Despite this, the U.S. still has immense influence and importance in shaping CBD decisions. The U.S. federal government possesses a massive amount of technical expertise, so in the early drafting stages of many resolutions they provide expert advice and input. The U.S. is also one of the largest funders of the CBD through their contributions to the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and houses some of the foremost biodiversity researcher programs and advocacy organizations in the world.
Where the federal government has stepped back, states and NGOs have stepped up to fill the gap. This year California sent over 100 people in its delegation focusing on sub-national governance and how we can meet global biodiversity goals at the state level. Major American-based environmental groups also sent large delegations, paid for pavilions, and hosted a constant stream of events at the venue.
Their advocacy efforts to shape the treaty and create strong and ambitious agreements were strengthened by their large presence at the COP. While the U.S. cannot vote on any finalized text, this combination of inputs means that they still have a large influence in the outcome of negotiations.
What Were the Key Outcomes of COP16?
COP16 delivered major wins for empowering historically marginalized groups, strengthening synergies between climate change and biodiversity, and the sharing of genetic resources.
A permanent subsidiary body for Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities was created to give them a formal platform for interacting with the CBD.
The important role of afro-descendants in protecting nature was also formally recognized by the Convention for the first time.
A motion also passed to create aligned workstreams between the CBD and the UNFCCC to address the climate change and biodiversity crises simultaneously.
Lastly, after years of negotiations, an agreement was reached on sharing the financial benefits of digital sequence information (DSI). Negotiators agreed to create the “Cali Fund”, where a percentage of profits made from the genetic information collected from wildlife can be contributed and the money would be utilized to support marginalized communities and conservation.
This year was the first chance for countries to submit their national biodiversity targets since the adoption of the GBF. However, at the start of COP16 only 26 out of the 196 member countries had met the deadline of submitting their targets before COP and by the end of the conference that number had only risen to 44.
These national targets are important as they are the material used to measure a country’s progress toward implementing the GBF. Alongside this shortfall, the parties also failed to agree on how to mobilize biodiversity finance and monitoring and implementation protocols before the conference closed. Due to the urgent need for these agreements before COP17, negotiations will resume in Rome early next year, but the failure to come to timely and ambitious consensus has already cast a shadow on whether these talks will move forward.
In two years the first major stock take of GBF goals will take place to see if the world is on track to meet our goals for safeguarding the environment by the end of the decade. As we race to combat biodiversity loss by 2030, the U.S. federal government, NGOs, and states must actively participate in the CBD, before we lose our chance to make a difference.
Written by Madison Jennings. Posted July 21, 2025.
Of the 195 UN-recognized countries and member states, 193 are signed on to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), an international treaty that creates targets to protect global biodiversity. The two holdouts are the Holy See (Vatican) and the United States of America. The USA was heavily involved in the process of creating the CBD, participating in every stage of its drafting and sending the Administrator of the EPA to help introduce it at the Rio Earth Summit in 1992. Then there were two Congressional attempts to ratify it; once under president George H. W. Bush and again under president Bill Clinton, where it was signed by the president with some amendments but not ratified by Congress. Still, the USA remains engaged with the bi-annual meetings for this convention, also known as the biodiversity COPs (Conference of Parties).
A country can only fully participate in the CBD’s negotiations and decision-making process by being a “party” to the Convention. Yet, non-party nations and nation states can still act as observers of the CBD. At the most recent biodiversity COP (COP16) that took place in Cali, Colombia, in October of 2024, the Biden administration sent a delegation of over 30 people. This delegation was comprised of various city and state government officials as well as representatives from the State Department and the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ). The delegation mainly focused on encouraging and providing expertise on the scientific and technical aspects of implementing targets, the essential guides in the process of reaching the CBD’s goals.
Despite its non-party status, USA domestic legislative targets can concur with those laid out in the CBD’s Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF). Two examples introduced by the delegation in Cali are the America the Beautiful initiative, which aims to protect 30% of domestic lands and waters by 2030, and tax breaks for landowners who conserve biodiverse resources. Furthermore, the US has formerly acted as a major funder for biodiversity action globally, such as pledging $600 million over four years to the UN Global Environment Facility and allocating millions of dollars to environmentally focused projects under USAID. However it is important to note the plasticity of these programs’ effectiveness under different administrations. For example, in 2025 the Trump administration withdrew funding from the UN Global Environment Facility, dismantled USAID, and terminated the America the Beautiful initiative.
Individual states or provinces can also sign on as subnational observers of the CBD and play a role in treaty sub-discussions, participate in CBD committees, and provide examples of how the targets are applied. As of July 2025, California is the only U.S. state to be an official subnational observer of the CBD and participant in the GBF, and sent its own 80+ person delegation to COP16. California has already implemented some GBF targets into its legislation, including a governor executive order to protect 30% of California's land and 30% of its sea by 2030. The state also co-chairs the High Ambition Coalition for Nature’s Subnational Task Force with Quebec, working with other subnational governments from around the world to strengthen biodiversity regulations across borders.
Despite the current engagement efforts, there are multitudes of benefits to the USA and its states joining the CBD. With the world’s largest GDP and immense influence on most industry sectors, the USA could steer much needed reforms that aid biodiversity. Existing federal and states’ legislation provides a starting point to strengthening protections on biodiversity in the US, and further aligning with the CBD could lead to the USA becoming the leader of conservation policy it once was. Additionally, the USA delegation would be able to participate in decision-making for the treaties in a way that incorporates their concerns, such as negotiations around digital sequence information. Because a president has previously signed the treaty and Senate hearings were already held, the USA would only need a 2/3 Senate vote in order to ratify the treaty today. However, the current administration under Donald Trump has signaled that this will not occur in the next four years. The USA’s withdrawal from other environmental agreements and weakening of environmental protections communicates that the country will play a smaller role in international treaties around the environment, while the failure to send representation to the resumed COP16 talks in Rome suggests the USA will not play a part in the CBD for the foreseeable future.
Sources:
https://www.vox.com/down-to-earth/379295/cop16-biodiversity-why-us-global-treaty-protect-nature
https://constitution.congress.gov/browse/essay/artII-S2-C2-1-1/ALDE_00012952/
https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/publications/papers/SDLP_10Spring_Snape.pdf
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/dec/17/cop15-us-biodiversity-cbd
https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/cccaf594b32744a4a220e447df2498c8
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959378024000967
Every other year, the parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) hold a Conference of the Parties (COP). At CBD COPs, parties discuss and decide on ways to advance the CBD’s implementation. At COP15 in Montreal, Canada, the parties adopted the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) following a four-year consultation and negotiation process. The GBF is the most significant agreement under the CBD to date.
The GBF is comprised of four goals to achieve by 2050 and 23 targets to reach by 2030.
The four goals are, in short:
(1) to halt human-induced species extinction;
(2) the sustainable use of biodiversity;
(3) equitable sharing of benefits; and
(4) closing the biodiversity finance gap.
The 23 targets are categorized into three areas:
(1) reducing threats to biodiversity;
(2) meeting people's needs through sustainable use and benefit-sharing; and
(3) tools and solutions for implementation and mainstreaming.
One target that many Americans are familiar with, whether they realize it originated as a target of the GBF or not, is the preservation of 30% of land, water, and coastal and marine ecosystems by 2030. President Biden declared this a policy goal in the United States just before the GBF was adopted.
At COP16 in Cali, Columbia, one of the main goals of the conference was to review progress of the parties towards their National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs), which are the national goals countries set to achieve the GBF goals and targets. By the end of COP16, just 44 out of 196 party countries had submitted their NBSAPs.
This blog was originally written for and published by the National Wildlife Federation Blog and was written by GYBN USA member Seth Thomas, and the original can be found here: https://blog.nwf.org/2024/12/raising-youth-voices-at-the-iucn-u-s-regional-conservation-forum/
Only seven hands went up, when a room filled with over 100 conservationists was asked “Who here is under the age of 35?” Conservation leaders from around the country flew to Conservation International’s headquarters to attend the IUCN’s U.S. Regional Conservation Forum. Standing at the front of the room, my hand was one of the seven raised. I had been invited to speak on the opening panel of the forum, as a representative discussing youth issues within conservation. It was clear that the issue needed attention.
At this meeting representatives from government agencies, IUCN commissions, and conservation charities would work to set the policy agenda for the U.S. delegation at the World Conservation Congress in 2025.
Member organizations came with proposals for possible resolutions they wished to push forward and topics they wished to explore. While I had raised issues related to youth involvement on the opening panel, I was also there to chair the youth policy working group to help shape proposals to increase youth involvement across the organization.
However, before we get into what happened, it is important to understand the broader context of the IUCN. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is a global organization dedicated to conserving nature and ensuring that natural resources are used sustainably. Founded in 1948, the IUCN brings together governments, NGOs, scientists, and experts to address pressing environmental challenges through research, policy advocacy, and on-the-ground projects.
The IUCN is most famous for its work creating the Red List of Threatened Species; a comprehensive inventory that assesses the conservation status of thousands of species worldwide.
The IUCN uniquely has government agencies and NGO’s sitting on equal footing when debating conservation issues. Because of this, it acts as a proofing ground for ideas before they make it into international treaty negotiations. Which was exactly what this regional conservation forum was for—to provide a testing ground for debating key ideas that American nature organizations wanted to make a reality.
The IUCN Regional Conservation Forum is held only once every four years. Members from conservation organizations and government agencies around the nation come together to begin sharing updates and ideas surrounding the future of conservation in the United States. However, this experience is not unique to just the United States, across the world eight other regional forums are held in preparation for World Conservation Congress in 2025.
The U.S. Regional Conservation Forum is small compared to its international counterparts. While international forums can garner massive attendance the U.S. RCF only has about 100 attendees. This is not for lack of interest, but almost the complete opposite. The United States has more IUCN member organizations than any other country, with some of the world’s wealthiest and preeminent conservation organizations being based out of the U.S.
The U.S. RCF focuses heavily on policy and key gaps to address at the World Conservation Congress. Speakers discuss novel and new projects, areas of future work, and key areas for growth. IUCN North America invited me to speak on how to involve youth in conservation programs and decisioning making processes—an area in dire need of more advocacy.
The IUCN defines “youth” as those under 35 years of age. As one of only seven people in the room to fall under this threshold I knew that I had to make the case for why there should be more young people at this meeting.
In my opening remarks on the 2030 conservations visions panel, I felt and acknowledged the weight of this responsibility. I spoke of my experience with the Global Youth Biodiversity Network USA chapter and attending the UN Convention on Biological Diversity as a youth delegate. I also highlighted that experience and expertise are incredibly valuable, but aspects of institutional knowledge cannot be shared and passed down if a younger generation is not invited to be in the room where decisions are made.
On the second day of the forum, I chaired a youth resolutions working group where attendees shared ideas for how to empower youth within the organization. We brainstormed solutions to the challenge of youth involvement, such as creating youth spots on the IUCN board, new funding arrangements for youth to attend decision making conferences, and even a potential way to track youth attendance at each IUCN event.
Attendees brought excitement to bolster youth involvement and even after our session time slot expired, people gathered in the halls to further discuss more ways we could help add young people into the IUCN process.
While no radical revolution of youth involvement occurred over those two days, the Forum began a needed conversation to increase youth conservation leadership. Institutions must continue to work on creating space for meaningful youth participation at all levels of decision making. It is also up to participating organizations to send younger members of their team alongside senior staff.
When provided these opportunities, young people can provide unique insights and begin building their skillsets to lead conservation organizations into the future.
This blog was written by GYBN USA member Justin Gulino, NCEL’s Conservation Associate, who attended COP16 (the 16th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity) from October 23 to November 1, 2024.
This article was originally published by the National Caucus of Environmental Legislators (NCEL) and is reposted here. The statements expressed reflect those of NCEL, a non-lobbying and non-partisan organization, and do not necessarily represent the views of GYBN USA. Original post here: https://ncelenviro.org/articles/cop16-takeaways-u-s-states-help-to-rebalance-biodiversity-on-a-global-scale/
As the world gathered at COP16 in Cali, Colombia, to confront the biodiversity crisis, states like California stepped up to bring the American perspective to the global conservation stage. The conference included collaborative discussions around conservation policy and thought-provoking reminders of humans’ impact on the natural world, including The Biodiversity Game, a towering Jenga-like sculpture symbolizing the fragile balance of nature. This blog explores why state leadership in global conservation efforts matters more than ever in preserving nature’s delicate balance.
“The Biodiversity Game,” COP16’s premier art installation, offered one answer to why action to conserve biodiversity is crucial, making it clear that losing biodiversity threatens our children’s and grandchildren’s futures.
Designed by Benjamin Von Wong, The Biodiversity Game is a Jenga tower where each block represents different environments in the natural world, with three children perched atop. Scattered blocks on the ground show how human development, from sprawling suburbs to factory farms, has led to the decline of key ecosystems. As more blocks vanish, the tower teeters, symbolizing the growing instability of nature.
Recognizing the threat nature faces, a 100-member California delegation – including legislators, Tribal representatives, state agency officials, academics, business officials, and environmental professionals – attended the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity’s 16th Conference of the Parties (COP16) last October to showcase American state-level conservation leadership. The California Delegation and other subnational actors were among the few American officials attending COP16, as the federal government remained largely absent from the global conservation talks.
While the Convention aims to safeguard global biodiversity for future generations, the U.S. remains the only nation, aside from the Vatican, that has not ratified the global treaty to conserve nature. Despite helping to draft the agreement in 1992 and the Clinton Administration signing on, the U.S. never secured the votes needed in the Senate to ratify the treaty into law. As a result, the U.S. holds only “observer” status, limiting its role to informal participation without influence over final decisions about the CBD’s implementation.
The United States’ “observer” status ultimately limits its ability to lead on global biodiversity action, despite a legacy of shaping conservation policy worldwide. The American Endangered Species Act has influenced the creation of similar acts in Canada, Australia, Ireland, the Philippines, and across the African continent. All of these nations’ statutes share a similar conservation ethos to the United States: protecting endangered species improves both the long-term wellbeing of nature and each country’s citizens.
U.S. influence is also seen in the endangered species trade laws of the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Nigeria, and Singapore, specifically in regards to implementing the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of Flora and Fauna (CITES).
California took a leading role in highlighting recent American conservation action at COP16 with California Secretary of Natural Resources Wade Crowfoot and state legislators Sen. Limón, Assemb. Kalra, and Assemb. Haney serving as ambassadors for California’s national-leading conservation policies. These officials shared the state’s progress on biodiversity conservation with the world through panel discussions, individual meetings with fellow policymakers, and even a press conference.
COP16 offered a vital space for collaboration, with Californians joining global voices — from Indigenous leaders to academics and business experts — to educate the audience on how differing approaches can drive meaningful progress in conservation. The conference also presented the opportunity to form long-term partnerships: California now chairs the Subnational Taskforce of the High Ambition Coalition for Nature and People, launched in partnership with Quebec after the state’s 2022 attendance at COP15 in Montreal.
International partnerships are necessary when considering the scale of biodiversity loss facing every state, nation, and the planet. Over 1 million species of plants and animals are at risk of extinction within current lifetimes, being threatened primarily by habitat degradation, nature’s overexploitation, climate change, pollution, and invasive species. While some of these drivers of biodiversity loss can be addressed locally, others, such as pollution, require collaboration. COP16 officially came to a close in February 2025 with new commitments to protect biodiversity worldwide.
COP16 largely sought to refine the implementation of the Global Biodiversity Framework, a roadmap established in 2022 to provide the countries and subnational units with strategies to halt and reverse biodiversity loss by 2030. Key outcomes from COP16 include:
Adopting the action plan on biodiversity and health within the One Health Framework.
Establishing the Cali Fund so that companies that profit off digitally accessed genetic resources can contribute funds for biodiversity conservation.
Recognizing the role of Indigenous people in conservation and establishing a platform for their formal involvement in the Biodiversity Convention.
Agreeing to establish a permanent funding mechanism to implement the Global Biodiversity Framework (a 30-year achievement).
Emphasizing the need for countries to synergize their environmental work across the Biodiversity Convention and Climate Convention.
The next Biological Diversity Convention Conference is in 2026 in Armenia. While the US will likely continue to be an “observer” at the Convention, it will come down to states joining together in 2026 to protect biodiversity for generations to come.
Visit NCEL’s Biodiversity Issue Page to learn more about state-led efforts to conserve nature as well as pending legislation across the country.