JNCC has today published the new UK Biodiversity Framework on behalf of the Four Countries’ Biodiversity Group (4CBG).
The UK Biodiversity Framework (UKBF) has been developed in response to the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF), agreed at the Fifteen Conference of the Parties (COP15) of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in December 2022. It has been produced through the Four Countries’ Biodiversity Group (4CBG), which includes representatives from Scottish Government, and Welsh Government, with JNCC providing an independent secretariat role.
In the UK, environmental policy is a devolved function, and whilst specific policies and practices may vary, the countries share their core ambition of nature recovery and meeting the UK’s international commitments. The UKBF supports this ambition by setting out shared objectives for co-operation and collaboration across the four countries of the UK, establishing a governance structure for overseeing and achieving the shared objectives, and providing a means for the four countries to communicate what they are doing individually and collectively to meet the UK's international biodiversity commitments.
The UK Biodiversity Framework focuses on activities that provide opportunities for meeting the UK’s commitments more efficiently at a UK scale, that add value to delivery in all countries of the UK, and that contribute to informing UK positions. Through the UKBF, the four countries will agree on activities where joint action between them is required to implement the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF). As a key initial activity, the four countries will develop and publish the UK’s National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan, summarising how the countries of the UK will deliver/implement the GBF.
This new UK Biodiversity Framework replaces the former Post-2010 UK Biodiversity Framework, which was first developed following agreement of the CBD’s previous 'Aichi targets' in 2011.
For more information, download the UK Biodiversity Framework.